Dead Industrial Atmosphere
"Don't Fuck With Pandora's Box" - Frankie Stubbs
It’s hard not to feel the heavy weight of our current political climate crushing down upon us. Stuck in a world where fascists are tearing their masks off in real time and people are so enamored with it they swallow it whole. Musicians have been warning us against this for years.
Some of the best punk bands were just kids so fed up with the fascists that they had to scream about it. Punk music is political. It is inescapable if you listen to the music. Politics is such a dirty word for most people. Something that the world of punk rock taught me is that not taking politics seriously is a luxury for the privileged.
That was a hard lesson for me to learn. It meant a lot of introspection into my own behaviors. The indoctrination that burrowed deep into my heart, starting the moment I was born. Learning about gifts that were given to me that I never even fathomed. Learning to look at my actions through the eyes of those affected by them.
Punk rock is loaded with grifters too. People who worm into this world as a means to get rich. Fascists also try to infiltrate punk rock communities. White Supremacists. Men’s Rights Activists. Emo has a very rough history with misogyny and incel culture, even before it was a thing.
Life feels like resistance training. Every day another weight is added. We all have limits. A point where it’s too much and you feel like you’ll break.
Over the weekend, Joe Biden dropped out of the election.1 This outcome has been looming for a while, the fires stoked by media outlets and bot farms with vested interest in a Discordant States of America.234 With Kamala Harris as the prime candidate to replace him, the future is on unstable ground.
I got up Sunday morning and saw Robot Dreams with Adrianne. She went antiquing with Gray while I played Taverns of Tiefenthal, Scout and Furnace. My friend Jefferson stepped away from the table to answer a call from his wife Chrissy. He shared the news.
It gave me PTSD flashbacks to watching the news of Hilary losing the election. 8 years ago, my life was so different and yet still the same. This election likely won’t directly hurt me or my family. We are insulated from so much of the harm of fascism. The laundry list of privilege that shields us makes it so easy to ignore what is coming.
Fascism feeds on isolation. Disaffection. Cruelty. Pain. Exploitation of vulnerabilities. Cities tend to be more progressive because community is the antidote. It’s why fascists work so hard to integrate into community builders - art, spirituality, recreation, anything that brings us together.
They promise you a salve for everything that ails you. Deny accountability or culpability. You aren’t the problem, it is everyone else. You’re a victim. Isolate. Insulate. Boogeymen are out to get you. Every hundred years or so those people get their act together world wide. They embolden each other.
You see it right now. The USA. China. Russia. Israel. England.567 France is fighting tooth and nail to stop the rise in their nation.8
Resistance training works. It makes you stronger. Able to weather more. This year has been a lot already and we are only halfway there. Community. Mutual aid. Resistance. What punk rock taught me is how important it is to keep fighting.
A key element in the success of fascism is wearing you down. Overwhelming you. Disorienting you. The feelings of despair and hopelessness are by design. Find diversity in your community. Open yourself to other voices and use yours.
Whatever future unfolds, we can stand united. We can push back the rising tide. We have the antidote.
Here’s a playlist of punk (and punk-adjacent for you genre purists) songs that inspired my own political journey: