You see what roctakon said?
he seems like a smart and nice guy and i respect his sober opinions about the need for us to generally behave decently toward one another. but there’s certain moments in the growth and evolution of culture where lines have to be crossed, taboos transgressed, feelings hurt and sometimes stupid shit has to go down for progress to be made.
for things to expand there has to be heat. punk rock would’ve never happened if everyone behaved with the kind of calm forethought, maturity and moral restraint he describes and pines for (let alone nwa, biggie, nas…) calling the gonz out for being the gonz is weak, anal and opportunistic. if you don’t like it don’t watch it. as long as no one’s getting hurt or going to jail no need to publicly shame free spirits into submission.
i personally draw the line at peeing on the homeless (or anyone else) but i think there’s a gray anarchic moral place between the egregious and the benign that needs to be worked in for anything to move. nice guys are great but there’s a reason they’re boring and impotent and we have more than enough of them around to keep things orderly.
behaving badly, and sometimes immaturely, fighting asshole security guards (and generally resisting oppression and mindless authority) is not only a right of passage and very enjoyable but also a symbolic/cathartic act of defiance that i think is really healthy and important in the skate community.
those battles represent resistance to the larger societal issues at play in a progressively repressive society (verging on a police state) like ours. especially in the inner city where asshole techie gentrifiers are on every corner with their lattes drawing up ever more lines we can’t cross. and forget about all the menacing, imbecilic cops everywhere. there has to be some danger, some chaos, lawlessness, some resistance, some push-back (however symbolic) or we’re all doomed — at least those of us smart enough to not spend all our time acquiring money and power.
why me? because it’s my revenge on this robotic society, because someone has to do it.— gg allin
