Venting
Morning Comrades.
A little late, I know, but that is predominately because I got taken a date last night to watch the latest Indiana Jones on the big scream, that I loved on every level. I also ended up having to do a shift on Saturday meaning there was no energy to really write anything worth your time come Sunday so here we are. Initially, I had planned my morning to write a little something from a conversation over the weekend, and that will happen Wednesday but for the time being, I am going to use a short moment to vent.
I woke up to an email from a dear friend over in the US with the picture on the left - it’s from the Urban Outfitters online store and, well, in short, I am too damn tired and broke to deal with these fucking corporations stealing shit from us. I do not want to single this out for own sake, this bullshit happens everyday to far more talented people than myself. There is absolutely fuck-all someone like myself can do other than point this out. I do not have the financial resources to go after a massive company nor, truthfully, the capacity to do so. It truly irks me though, so many of us spend their lifetime in precarity, partly self-imposed I know - and it is through this precarity that silly ideas come up that in simple terms encompass entire cultural zeitgeists - it’s called art suit wearing middle class mf’er - such as below.
I know, especially in this case, it’s hardly “art” let alone worth it wasting time over, but for what it is worth the above silly idea meant and means heaps to me, on a personal level. Metalheads and being into metal, even in the late 80s to mid 90s, the formative years of my teenage time, wasn’t cool. It sucked, the cool kids ostracized you, the even cooler kids beat you up for it - but it is what it is, that is where my heart is and will be. Moving on and working in Art & Fashion throughout my 20s and 30s I quickly realized how deep set up that sentiment was, that entire circus is built on party and bullshit and only some ten years later, with the first Black Lodges T-Shirt I wanted to say that yeah, I am a metalhead, being fully aware how much of a line that would draw in the proverbial sand of the “streetwear” community back then. That shirt, as unoriginal as it appears at first glance - is a distillation of 20 years of experiences and thoughts and I never ceased being stoked on it. For some faceless brand to just steal it is offensive on a personal level - and yet again, this happens every day to much more talented people with much bigger implications than this one. I am just tired.
Especially tired of the apparent impunity of Capitalism, that trickles down to every level of power, from industry to politics - democracies my ass - it’s might over right, the base unit of fascism and quite frankly capitalism. Again, I am tired. There is accountability - and again, do not confuse accountability with punishment, that’s something else entirely, and we so desperately need accountability if we ever want to move past this mass-psychosis we call existence under capitalism. Accountability and punishment are distinct concepts, although they can be related in certain contexts. Accountability refers to the responsibility or answerability for one's actions or decisions. It implies being answerable to oneself, others, or a moral framework. On the other hand, punishment typically involves imposing some form of penalty or suffering as a consequence of wrongdoing.
While accountability focuses on taking responsibility and acknowledging the consequences of one's actions, punishment aims to impose a negative consequence to deter or rectify wrongdoing. Punishment involves an external authority or system that administers the penalty aka courts and cops and 7000 years of human history quite frankly tell us that punishment might be necessary but certainly offers no solution to solve the problem at its root, let alone offer rehabilitation.
In any case, I felt like venting, blame fucking Urban Outfitters for, at the very least, not getting something worth your time today.
Bastards.
V