Rebellion in general has always held my interest. Not that bullshit stick-it-to-the-man hogwash, but rebellion with a purpose. Resistance movements. Freedom fighters. Guerillas. Manifestos. Counterculture. All of those wonderful things.
Straight edge.
Think about it for a second. Hardcore and punk are obvious forms of rebellion in and of themselves. So what does that make straight edge? Aside from the one and only true path to self-liberation, it serves as an intelligent counter-rebellion to the mindless opposition of society’s accepted moral codes. So is straight edge then supporting the majority if it is rebelling against the rebellion?
The answer of course is no. A youth engaging in activities that he/she believes to be counterculture is indeed supporting the same social structure that he/she intends to disrupt. For instance, many of today’s young punks buy merchandise or compact discs distributed by major corporations. Those that claim they only purchase directly from independent bands and labels believe that they are one step above their mallrat counterparts. But they are wrong. They indeed support the two corporations largest of all: the alcohol and tobacco industries. Each of these two industries is a leading killer among the working-class citizens that these punks claim to represent. Where is the logic in that?
Abstinence is the answer, and that is why straight edge is gaining so much ground. Aside from all the health reasons, straight edge is a form of pure intelligent rebellion.
The argument could be made that jumping on the straight edge bandwagon is not rebelling, but nothing is original anymore and the same argument could be made for any situation.
The possibility of straight edge becoming affiliated with any established political party or religious organization is nonexistent, if not downright absurd. Straight edge seems to say, “sure, we’ve got values that the public deem appropriate, but we say ‘fuck you’ anyways”. Society can write off punks as a whole because of the way they present themselves, but it cannot write off straight edge. It cannot reject something that reflects many of its own moral principles. And yet we still reject society.
4 comments:
Note:
I wrote this maybe a year ago.
And when i called straight edge "the one and only true path to self-liberation," it was a joke.
glad you clarified that. Haha.
hey mate, i heard about straight edgers a while back but have never met any. Although I grew up listening to punk i have since grown into enjoying other types of music. I still really enjoy some punk and hardcore, but i would not call myself a punk. I am merely a man and yet I find the values of the straight edgers really cool. I mean, just like you said, a rebellion against the rebellion..really interesting..
viva la straight edge!
cheers from indonesia straight edge!
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