amountainfar:

I apologize for how jarring that title is, but it’s an actual direct quote from a tirade directed at me last night. Let me explain in greater detail…

Before band practice I met up with my guitarist to split a pizza. He was having a rough go of things and we were just chatting and poking fun at each other as usual. Enter two men easily in their 30s drunkenly kicking the door to the Pizza shop and yelling. Unfortunately this is not unusual for Queen Street in Toronto, so no mind was paid by us. It was while I was mid sentence that the one particularly volatile guy yelled the above quote at me. He literally told us not to open our mouths while he was still in the shop, and before leaving called us faggots a few more times and threatened to wrap my friend’s guitar around his head “because that’s what punks do.” To clarify, neither myself or my friend look very punk, but neither did these premier examples of the human species.

The incident got me thinking about how it is possible for the concept of ‘punkness’ to be so completely distinct and removed from each other as ours and these men’s were.

I’m not going to turn this into a rant about “PCness” or declaring that I have a grander understanding of what punk is, but I did what to say that I was very saddened to hear a word that I would use to describe myself being hurled at me with supposed authority and justification of violence and homophobia. Yes I am aware of the very nihilistic and violent roots of punk culture, but to be blunt, I don’t give a shit. Many people have moved towards the DIY punk ethos and culture not because it is defined in such obtuse ways as: I believe xyz, I eat xyz, I only like xyz; but because it has evolved into a medium for discourse that is honest and pure with a very basic tenement: mutual respect. 

I know this is an unusually personal post on a blog that normally caters to certain kinds of bands, but I felt this is relevant as it connects to a culture we are a part of whether we like it or not.

Your punkness is not a flag, it does not justify exclusion, violence, hatred or the dismissal of those around you. If you ever want to truly change the concept of what a ‘punk’ is, do so by asserting your accountability, and maintaining honest discourse and respect with those around you. 

I think it also saddened me that as a young(ish) queer, feminist man in a big city, I have learned to normalize such violence towards me. I to be honest, barely felt surprise at what was happening to me…But I suppose that’s another issue entirely.

In summation, with a world as violent, sexist, homophobic, racist and competitive as ours is; it is important to remember that punk is supposed to be about our rage against the tides of complacency and bullshit. At least that’s how I feel…

This guy, you guys.