Conservative Punk

[Nie Trink Wasser]

I love you Johnny Ramone

http://www.conservativepunk.com/

1. To inform today's youth that identify themselves with the punk scene with the facts, rather than rumor and conspiracy theory.
2. To encourage today's youth to register to vote and become engaged in politics.
3. To encourage youth voters to draw there own conclusions rather than indoctrinate them into a certain way of thinking.

 

[Nasarius]

"Conservative punk is an oxymoron" ~ Brett Gurewitz

'Nuff said.

P.S. The Ramones were, IMNSHO, the original pop-punk band.

 

[chrisberez]

I love you Johnny Ramone

http://www.conservativepunk.com/

1. To inform today's youth that identify themselves with the punk scene with the facts, rather than rumor and conspiracy theory.
2. To encourage today's youth to register to vote and become engaged in politics.
3. To encourage youth voters to draw there own conclusions rather than indoctrinate them into a certain way of thinking.

And this is conservative how? These points you posted could be claimed by both sides. I'm quite far to the left, and yet I agree with all these points. I assume you are a conservative, as you labled the thread "conservative punk." I don't see any reason to try and choose sides here. These points hold true to anyone, no matter where they place themselves politiclly. While I disagree with the Right, I respect those that consider the issues for themselves and then choose a conservative position.

Teaching skepticism, critical thinking skills, and encouraging youth to take part in the political process is a point that we can all agree on, left or right. It would be a shame for either side to attempt to assimilate it towards their own view.

Besides, if one claims that such values are an attribute of one particular side (I.E. either Right of Left), one violates point three.

This aside, I find nothing else objectionable. Thank you for this post. And for the record, the Ramones rock.

Although I do still prefer The Clash and The Sex Pistols. But only by a slight margine.

 

[Nasarius]

Aha, found the full quote:

Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys had a song for conservative punk rockers. It went like this: "Nazi Punks ◊◊◊◊ Off". I agreed with it then and I agree with it today. The punk scene has always had an ugly side, a small nasty faction that threatened to undermine it's major ideals of free thought, dissent and indiviuality. There were racist skins like the band Screwdriver, and the nazi punks that used to plague DK and BR shows with their narrow mindedness and violence. This is the punk conservatism that I'm familiar with and it's still around today with a new gloss of respectablility thanks to the internet and a slick republican propaganda machine, more adept at manipulating mass media than any in history. Conservative Punk is an Oxymoron today just as Nazi Punk was when Jello wrote his song and it's no less insidious to our scene.

Conservatism, by definition, is defending the status quo.
Punk is challenging the status quo and thinking for yourself.

 

[RandFan]

Conservatism, by definition, is defending the status quo. Punk is challenging the status quo...

Yes, that is one definition and it is in part the reason that Conservatives are conservative. But it is wrongheaded to think that Conservatives always defend the status quo. It's also wrongheaded and ignorant to think that this is the only thing that makes conservatives conservative.

...and thinking for yourself.

It would also be ignorant to think that Conservatives never think for themselves. Though I must say that Liberals are far more likely to be independent and think for themselves. There is truth to this stereotyp but a punker can be conservative. The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[RandFan]

Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys had a song for conservative punk rockers. It went like this: "Nazi Punks ◊◊◊◊ Off". I agreed with it then and I agree with it today. The punk scene has always had an ugly side, a small nasty faction that threatened to undermine it's major ideals of free thought, dissent and indiviuality. There were racist skins like the band Screwdriver, and the nazi punks that used to plague DK and BR shows with their narrow mindedness and violence. This is the punk conservatism that I'm familiar with and it's still around today with a new gloss of respectablility thanks to the internet and a slick republican propaganda machine, more adept at manipulating mass media than any in history. Conservative Punk is an Oxymoron today just as Nazi Punk was when Jello wrote his song and it's no less insidious to our scene.

Tired old saw that conservatives are nazis, racist or facist which isn't true.

 

[LucyR]

Punk? I thought Punk was passé.

 

[chrisberez]

Tired old saw that conservatives are nazis, racist or facist which isn't true.

Despite my leftest leanings, I strongly agree with this. I have many conservative friends who are very intelligent and nothing like that. Sure conservatives have people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity (name misspelled I think) and Anne Coulter. Oh and Michael Saveage. But I'm sure the left has it's versions too. I can't name any off the top of my head, but I don't want to give the impression that the left isn't without it's flaws. But either way, these people are only representative of a small minority. This would be like associating conservatives as all being like the KKK.

Name calling and reactionary labling will get us nowhere. Dialogue can never be opened if both sides immediately resort to presuppositions and reactionary name calling.

 

[Brian]

Aha, found the full quote:



Conservatism, by definition, is defending the status quo.
Punk is challenging the status quo and thinking for yourself.

That quote is the punk status quo. The non-conformist norm.

I dig punk more than most forms of music. For the driving energy. I love Fear, they swung to a cartoony right from the get go, just because everyone else was going left. Who cares what they really think?
Reminds me of Crass's "Reality Asylum", a wonderful thing/song. It's a feminist attack on Christianity. I remember saying to my friend in the process of explaining why I liked it so much "...I don't really give a sh!t about Christianity or feminism..." she finished my sentence "you just like the attack". That's punk rock.

Edited to add: destroy the scene.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

the status quo has been hijacked by the left, but they lack the honesty to admit what they are.

in most cases all they are capable of is blaming conservatives for everything they are guilty of.

that is why I fight the status quo.

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

Punk is challenging the status quo and thinking for yourself.

Is it? 'Punk' is a particular style of so-called music that has been around for thirty years or more.

What could be more conservative than still being 'punk'?

 

[Dancing David]

the status quo has been hijacked by the left, but they lack the honesty to admit what they are.

Care to support this assertion, I would be interested to read how the left has subverted the dominant cultural paradigm. Most cultural norms are conservative by nature, so could you expand and elucidate.

Do you mean the civil rights movement, or the income tax?

 

[crimresearch]

"...What could be more conservative than still being 'punk'?"

Mmmmm...still being Green?

Still protesting Vietnam and Nixon?

Still patronizing minorities?


After so many decades of the same old story (yeah, yeah, I know..REO...), do the names of the actors really matter?

Paul

 

[hgc]

Inform today's youth?

I love the Ramones, but then I was in high school when "Rock and Roll High School" was a staple of the midnight movies. Today's youth don't know or care about Johnny Ramone. I gave my 20-year old nephew Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which could have been subtitled The Drug Habits and Sexcapades of Johnny Ramone, to read, and he hasn't even touched it. Sorry, but anything Johnny Ramone has to say is relevant only to old-timers.

 

[rebecca]

Inform today's youth?

I love the Ramones, but then I was in high school when "Rock and Roll High School" was a staple of the midnight movies. Today's youth don't know or care about Johnny Ramone. I gave my 20-year old nephew Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which could have been subtitled The Drug Habits and Sexcapades of Johnny Ramone, to read, and he hasn't even touched it. Sorry, but anything Johnny Ramone has to say is relevant only to old-timers.

Um, is 24 old-timer yet? Because I love the Ramones, the Clash, and I just happen to be going to a midnight movie tonight.

 

[Dorian Gray]

The Ramones, while being pioneers, are NOT the Clash OR the Sex Pistols. The Ramones sung about being a punk, getting extensive therapy/lobotomies, dancing, etc., while the other two came up with the political punk that I think of when I think of punk. Bad Religion, you know?

Green Day, Blink 182, and their spawn Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, Brand New, etc., are very very pop. Early 80's U2 was vastly more punk than any of those guys.

Conservative punk is when a punk gets some money and wants to hang on to it.

 

[Nie Trink Wasser]

bad religion sucks

its that simple

 

[Skeptic]

I dunno. "Conservative punk" is a bit like "liberal talk radio", or "sexy republicans". Doesn't seem to be too much audience for it.

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

I dunno. "Conservative punk" is a bit like "liberal talk radio", or "sexy republicans". Doesn't seem to be too much audience for it.

Liberal talk radio? How about 'All things considered' on NPR?

Sexy Republicans? Without commenting on his politics, who can deny that W is sexy? Have you seen that picture of him chopping wood?

OK Ashcroft is not sexy. But that's just one guy.

And punk has been around since the 1970s. Yep, nowadays punk is conservative. The good old days!

 

[crimresearch]

Everything new is old again...