Tangential Thoughts of the Millennial Thinker

Bowie wrote The Man Who Sold The World at 19. Kant published his first work at 21. Jesus died at 33. Yet in the 21st century, young people are to speak when spoken to. Throughout the 20th century the mean age of philosophers went up and the respect for young people went down; look up Mose Allison if you don’t believe me. Some of our most evocative contemporary thinkers are millennial or ‘Gen-Z’, whatever that means; I’ll prove it.

Punk, The Punk Aesthetic, And Dads

Once a friend asked what I was listening to in my headphones; it was the Dead Milkmen, more specifically their song Punk Rock Girl. Great band, great song. He said, “Oh cool so you’re a punk?” Looking down to my Doc Martens and frayed Dickies, it made sense. It made me laugh, am I a punk? I’d never thought about it but considering how many of my sentences ended with “…You know what I mean maaan?!” and how often I frown it made sense to me too, I suppose I’m a punk or whatever. The next time I saw that friend he said “Eshays brah, I didn’t know punks wore TNs” referring to my Nikes (Eshays is a term used by ‘Lads’ in Sydney, a street culture attributable to low socio-economic Inner West locals that rich schmucks love to make fun of. How dare poor people express themselves) I was silently livid, what the fuck did that mean? Why would punks ever not wear something and how could there be rules for punks, did I not know what a punk was? I didn’t say that though, I just laughed. A year later, in film school, we watched the film Repo Man; what a flick, I loved it so much- totally affected, I’d never seen such on-the-nose disestablishmentarianism except for maybe The Eric Andre Show. The discussion after the film introduced me to a new term ‘The Punk Aesthetic’. My lecturer was not only the greatest academic on the philosophy of film in Sydney, maybe even Australia, but also the prime example of a punk. His description of the Punk Aesthetic answered all these questions my good buddy posed when he pissed me the fuck off in Newtown that one time. What he was referring to wasn’t punk at all, in fact most people aren’t referring to punk when they mention it; what they mean is The Punk Aesthetic, how boring.

The t-shirt you got from the Iconic with the cover of the only Bad Brains album you’ve ever heard is unfortunately not punk. It is, however, very cool and stylish and certainly adheres to the punk aesthetic; it’s also not punk to get mad about someone wearing a band shirt of a band they may have never heard, it’s just lame, like relax mate it’s just a shirt. Johnny Depp’s crop-top in Nightmare on Elm Street is an example of ideologically punk attire, the same can be said about Harry Styles’ recent dress clad Gucci campaign, it’s a departure from the social norm and expectation for the very sake of that; ‘I like how dresses look and I don’t care that I’m not meant to.’ By this token, the bald head-banging and singlets of Repo Man are not punk, what’s punk is the cans labelled without artwork or the television ads that don’t lie. That’s disestablishmentarian, buying band shirts is the opposite of that you’re supporting the establishment that rapes the music of Bad Brains to sell shirts. (Which, I’d like to reiterate, is okay!)

Obviously, music is where punk and the punk aesthetic found their beginnings. Blossoming in the 70s after rising up out of the patriotic post-war-pre-war sports coat ridden shit of the 60s. While this was the beginning of the ‘Punk Movement’ and certainly the Punk Aesthetic, disestablishmentarianism has existed since the establishment* (*the government industry and industrialisation of labour, life and space) itself. Simone De Beauvoir set an early example for 20th century punks, paving the way for the evolution of feminism through the 1900s. Her husband Jean Paul Sartre’s existentialism also deviated from the philosophy of his contemporaries, specifically other existentialists; Drawing closer the concepts of existentialism and nihilism which are otherwise seen antithocratically. In the music landscape, Blue Note Records was only a decade away. Two German Immigrants, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, form a recording studio in New York for Jazz and Blues. Blue Note records for the likes of Thelonious Monk, Lou Donaldson, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and John Coltrane to name a few. The music of these artists inspired, or was inspired by, the growing civil rights movement for Black Americans. It was seminal in the formation of Hip-Hop and inspires artists like Madlib, Kamasi Washington, MF Doom, J Dilla and the rest of modern Hip-Hop, albeit less directly. Later in the century the road to punk was paved by the obvious, Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground and Sonic Youth appearing as early punk records. Around this time, the punk aesthetic reared its beautifully hideous head, it was pretty on-the-nose with bands like The Ramones, FEAR and the Sex Pistols (Who suck.). These examples of punk are unarguable, they’re punk as hell and it’s obvious; though I’d love to argue that other bands of the era are more punk even while their aesthetic, visual and musical alike, do not harken to that. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young release Ohio; What the fuck man, that’s Dad rock that ain’t punk at all, asshole!? Please bear with me. This is a protest song, not only is it anti-war, it’s anti-government. These dad rockers that every bloke named Rodger loves are arguing against Nixon and the asshole patriots who demand discounts at Dunkin’ Doughnuts for murdering people in their own country (This is hyperbole. I respect and appreciate the sacrifice of veterans, particularly those who were forced into a war they didn’t know about or agree with; they are victims. But there are some sickos out there.). Those elitist punk creeps who would cringe and argue with that statement would suggest a band like FEAR or Misfits, who are rad, but oppressive assholes. Take for example FEAR’s song New York’s Alright: New York’s alright if you wanna get pushed in front of the subway, New York’s alright if you like tuberculosis, New York’s alright if you like Art and jazz, New York’s alright if you’re a homosexual. Likening homosexuality to tuberculosis is not punk it’s fucking lame and it’s exactly what the Nixonite republican scum were doing, making FEAR conformists. These scumbags are still around, poser ‘punks’ who say the words ‘retard’ or ‘fag’ or sexually assault girls at gigs, they ought to be punched out.

Here’s a short list of punk activities as dictated by disestablishmentarian nonconformism: Supporting local businesses, Carpooling, rocking up to work late because you felt like it, complimenting someone, complimenting a girls nails if you’re a dude, skateboarding, drinking coffee with sugar in it at a business meeting, cunnilingus, learning about endometriosis while being a male, respecting pronouns, buying doughnuts for your housemates for no reason, swearing at work, swearing at school, spending all of your money, punching racists, listening to music quietly, writing on paper, leaving your phone at home, learning about male homosexual intercourse as a heterosexual woman, wearing a crop-top as a male, eating healthy, shouting, whispering, piracy (online and oceanic), frowning, smiling, laughing out loud on the bus, smiling to your barista, not drinking coffee, respecting women, hating old people, cutting things, sewing, thrift shopping, growing your hair, plucking your eyebrows, metrosexualism, washing your face with cold water throughout the day, asking consent, hugging your friends, kissing people as a greeting (unless you’re Italian or in Italy), sleeping on the floor, getting 6 hours sleep or less, waking up before 8am on a day off while being less that 40 years old, buying candles while being a teenage boy, shoes on the couch, being scared of dogs, listening to music you hate, being angry, buying art from your friends and colleagues, being Trans, being a feminist, embracing your androgynous identity, learning, bettering your community, growing plants, giving things away for free, not taking advantage, drawing, fixing things, breaking things you own, cleaning up after yourself in public, using the respective rubbish receptacle for your rubbish.

This next part is very hard to communicate, it’s inspired many arguments at house parties and most classes while I was at university. Speaking completely superficially, Fascism is very cool, as in it looks so cool- everything is contrasty, black and red with chains and leather. Combine this with being anti-establishment and you get a bunch of English and American teenagers in the 70s and 80s who want to piss off their Republican/Tory parents, what better way than dressing like a Nazi? There was a crossover between punks and actual Nazi’s, which is not punk; notice it wasn’t included on the list above. The Italian futurists of the early 20th century displayed some pretty clear fascistic ideologies and adhered to, or rather created, a fascist aesthetic. This next bit is even harder to communicate, as an existentialist it is a struggle to label something as bad or good, rather it all just ‘is’. Much of the fear of fascism comes from the violence and oppression tied to fascist rule, which revolutionary leftists could argue exist in the present democracy of the western world; the difference being that fascists don’t try to hide it, by which token they might be in some ways better. I’m not a fascist, but I see the reasons why someone could possibly agree with fascism- for example a punk who has no fear of violence and would prefer to be openly oppressed rather than secretly oppressed and ostracised for revolting against that oppression. The Germs used Nazi paraphernalia in their artworks, with their infamous 7”, Lexicon Devil, toting an image of an armour-clad Hitler holding a Nazi flag on the front and skeletal Nazi caricatures of the band on the back. The band’s front-man, Darby Crash, was a self-proclaimed fascist for that very reason, hating being lied to by the American government about the ‘freedoms’ of the American people, with the other members of the band presumably finding the imagery funny, just as their audience did. Returning to the futurists of the 10s and 20s; Fascism always holds something with utmost importance, often sex, violence and industry, see Hitler and the Nazi party for example. The futurists held art and culture to this great importance, making artists, philosophers and musicians the bourgeoisie, it’s rather romantic. Sounds like the dream of modern revolutionary leftist who love to call their government fascists (myself included) even when their ideal society is akin to former unapologetic fascism. “When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor.” It’s infuriating how true Paulo Freire’s pretentious words ring. Angry teenagers feel oppressed, because they are, it’s not uncommon for a young person to hear their teacher or parent or some cop say, ‘because I said so’ and with the decline in paideia in education and rise in schools and universities acting as training facilities since the 1960s, these young people are left alone in their fury wishing it was them who could say ‘because I said so’ with their boot in your mouth. Someone with this mindset is the ideal candidate for fascist brainwashing, with coercion you can be in control- all you need is a little violence. Nazi punks are scumbags, but they’re victims of their own youth.

This is dictated not only by those within the space of a teen but also the space itself, this will be covered more in an essay on the Suburban landscape so buy this book or whatever.

To be a punk, one doesn’t have to adhere to the punk aesthetic; the punk aesthetic, however, is innately punk and to adhere to the punk aesthetic is thus a ‘punk’ activity, whatever that means. The superficial aspect of punk, piercings, tattoos, haircuts, clothes etc. is directly attributable to protest against one’s parents or authoritative figures; particularly dads. Punk’s birth in the 70s and rise in the 80s is reflective of the fathers of the era, teens in the 70s and 80s were born to the Don Draperian stooges of the 50s & 60s. Greased down hair, suits, debonair, real straight conservative guys. Observing the punk aesthetic with their republican dads in mind it becomes clear that perhaps these guys didn’t even like the clothes they wore, they just knew it’d piss off their dads. Please note that this is being written by the perspective of a man, so the material is mostly about boys and their dads even though the same applies to girls and their dads, maybe even mums too; I just don’t know much about that. Part of what pisses off these dads is the camp nature of the style. Susan Sontag describes in Essays On Camp that the camp style is unapologetic and bordering on kitsch, the subject knows their taste to be undesirable or even ugly to the masses but the camp subject unironically enjoys the stylings. Think back to Johnny Depp’s crop-top or Harry Styles’ dresses, there’s no joke in the attire they just like it and wearing it is a middle finger to the strange force that suggests it to be strange. This is true to punk and the punk aesthetic alike, fluorescent hair, tattered clothes, sharp objects, oversized boots and studded belts are all reminiscent of the punk aesthetic and are all similarly hideous. The confidence that fills those who openly and sincerely brandish this style is inspiring and powerful, one is unoppressable with a great big Mohawk or safety pin through their nose, what are you going to say that could possibly hurt their feelings?

It’s clearly anger that drives the punk movement and the punk aesthetic alike, this anger is aimed at authority meaning it comes from a place within which the government has, in some way, failed the punk. Be they from a low socio-economic upbringing, perhaps they’re a victim of a crime or just hate to see a few hundred dollars leave their pay check every week and enter the hands of churches, cops and corporations. The patriarch of a family is the anthropomorphisation of the government body, at least in the nuclear suburban landscape, so this fury against authoritative oppression is naturally directed towards one’s father and the relationship therein; if the father abandoned the family that’s the cause of their strife, if the father is violent or coercive he is an active and blameable oppressor or if he’s uninterested the father is uninspiring and the reason for a teens’ lack of achievement. This all makes sense but how could one explain the ‘epidemic’ of punks in the suburban landscape of private schools and old money? I remember being such an ignorant elitist shithead thinking ‘what a bunch of posers’ when I met someone at a party or a gig who came from wealth and whose parents were still together, ‘The fuck do they know about anger? I had a terrible childhood, I know anger.’ How I wish I could go back and kick my little trauma-fetishizing arse. I ended up going to a private school and living quite comfortably in my later teenage years. Life and media is rife with the quintessential young punk whose parents are together and happy in their suburban home buying skateboards and leather jackets for their punk child, Repo Man is a great example of that. Catherine Malabou describes The Ontology of the Accident as destruction as a form of creation, a severed arm or a scar over an eye or a dead parent are all pivotal in the formation of character. Jean Paul Sartre suggests in On Being and Nothingness that what isn’t is just as important as what is; Sartre and Malabou in mind it could be the lack of a parental figure that drives the rage of the punk. More cryptically it could be the lack of a lack of parental support that forms this rage. Imagine hearing your friends complain about how angry they are at how terrible their life is and go home to your happy mum and dad, with whom you play board games and laugh and sing, but you still feel angry because you’re a teenager full of hormones, it’s very normal for a teenager to be angry, in fact it’d be worrying if they weren’t. With that in mind it becomes obvious how a lack of trauma can be potentially as destructive as trauma itself. Not only must one deal with the same anger and uncertainty as other teens but they also must deal with the guilt attached to a trauma free life, they didn’t ask to be born to the owner of a fast food chain or some wealthy investor who loves her kids. This isolated guilty person can belong with their rebellious troubled peers by simply subscribing to the punk aesthetic, suddenly they have a guilt-free reason to be angry and can express themselves without fear of self-imposed persecution, to judge them for that is most certainly not punk.

Again, this will be reiterated in more detail in regards to the Western Suburban Wasteland so please buy my book.

The separation between punk and the punk aesthetic is clear, most punks don’t even know they’re punks; climate activists, warriors for race justice and young freelancers are the members of the punk movement, not assholes with hand tattoos that underpay their staff and hook up with underage girls. The punk aesthetic is incredibly powerful and affecting, few choices of aesthetic attire can express a person’s inner ideology quite like the punk aesthetic. That said, the aesthetic is little more than a tool for classification, the punk movement belongs to the women of the 70s who marched for gender equity, the Black Americans before that who marched for Racial equity, Simone De Beauvoir and Alice Guy-Blaché, the director of Les Résultats Du Féminisme [The Consequences of Feminism]- a film made in 1906 which swaps the gender roles to emphasise the inequality women faced in the opening years of the 20th century, these people and anyone else who noisily stands against oppression define the punk movement, not the fucking shoes you wear.

On Protest

We often think of protest as attending the rally,

This, in many ways, is quite the opposite,

The rally is a contribution to your façade^;

We all exhibit it,

It’s what you want people to believe you think;

True protest occurs when you listen to music,

When you watch movies;

You have rejected interaction,

You’re truly you.

^-This façade, or masquerade, is not negative, nor is it a new idea. Quite famous is the idea of the house-party masquerade; as one sits at the table and talks about all the things they’ve accomplished and not their unhealthy drinking habits or anger issues- we all play a caricature of ourselves. Instagram is the ultimate emphasis of this, your ‘Story’ is hand-picked and curated by yourself; your followers see of your life only as you allow them. When you attend the rally, your post calling for climate action is disestablishmentarianistic; the following photo of your double patty beef burger however, is not you slimy fucking poser. Similarly, I’ll happily call you a poser for eating meat while I rev out one of my cars or motorcycles. We’re all playing a role.

It All Begins With Language (Excerpt)

 Grice suggests that formal and natural language achieve the same goal and don’t vary in communicating meaning. This is because a successful conversation must align with a set of rules which he refers to as the ‘Cooperative Principle’; the desire for both the speaker and the listener to cooperate in understanding conversation. To cooperatively communicate, assumptions are made by both parties to reach the same conversational conclusion, these assumptions are an example of Grice’s unconscious reasoning. In order to adhere to the cooperative principle, conversationalists must observe the four maxims of communication: The Maxim of quantity, communicate only the information that is required; The Maxim of Quality, only communicate that which is known to be true and sound; The Maxim of Relation, only communicate that which is relevant; and the Maxim of Manner, communicate briefly and orderly without ambiguity or superfluity. These are the maxims of rationality and to achieve a cooperative goal of understanding must be adhered to. Through these maxims, Grice suggests that the power of communication lies not in the language and words used but rather cooperative principle; the joint desire to portray and understand what is being said. This aligns with Grice’s inferential theories where reason is unconsciously assumed within conversation. These Maxims are not a foreign concept. Gricean Maxims of cooperative principle are still considered as cornerstones in the study of language having provided a framework for natural conversation. The maxims were used in a 2015 psychological study into the comprehension of pre-schoolers in understanding violations in Gricean maxims [Understanding Violations of Gricean maxims in pre-schoolers and adults-2015. Otemon Gaikun University]. The research suggested children as young as 3-years-old were capable of understanding and expressing violations of Grice’s maxims, this is to support his claim that the cooperative principle is innately present in speakers. Capable rationality, therefore, must consist of these maxims.

Reference:


Allott, N. Paul Grice, Reasoning and Pragmatics- 2005. University of Oslo

Chomsky, N. Powers and Prospects-1996. South End Press

Grice, HP. Intentions and Uncertainty- 1972. Oxford University Press

Grice, HP. Logic and Conversation- 1975. Harvard University Press

Grice, HP. Studies in the way of Words- 1989. Harvard University Press

McGilvray, J. (2005). Meaning and creativity. In J. McGilvray (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky (pp. 204–22). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McGilvray, J. Meaning and Creativity- 2005. Cambridge University Press

Okanda, M . Understanding Violations of Gricean maxims in pre-schoolers and adults-2015. Otemon Gaikun University

Wilson, D & Sperber D. Meaning and Relevance- 2012. Cambridge University Press

Wilson, D & Sperber D. Relevance: Communication and Cognition- 1986. Harvard University Press

Warknock, G.J. English Philosophy Since 1900- 1958. Oxford University Press

Beuka, R. ‘Cue the Sun’: Soundings from Millennial Suburbia. 2003- Berkeley Electronic Press. Iowa, USA

Butler, C. Reading the production of suburbia in post-war Australia. 2005- Griffith University Press. Woolongong, Australia

Malabou, C. The Ontology of the Accident. 2012- Polity Press. Cambridge, UK

Maltezos, C. The Return of 1950s Nuclear Family in Films of the 1980s. 2011- University of South Florida. Florida, USA

McKee, A. Australian Television, Popular Memory and Suburbia. 2012- International Journal of Cultural Studies. Sydney, Australia