Did the 70's Punk movement damage people's understanding or opinion of Anarchism?
https://feddit.uk/post/46159134
Did the 70's Punk movement damage people's understanding or opinion of Anarchism? - Feddit UK
As per the title. I have been a long time supporter of Anarchism, but mostly
following my own paths and reading random topics. One thing I find a lot, is
that peoples opinions vary massively on their opinions of Anarchism and what it
should entail (I am aware of the different types of Anarchism). One thing I have
noticed a lot over the years, is that, not only do many people not understand
what Anarchism is, most seem to think it means Chaos, revolting against
everything and destruction of many things. This imho stems from the 70’s Punk
movement. That’s where many people first heard the word, and it is what they
associate the movement with. Did the 70’s (+ 80’s to a lesser extent) Punk
movement damage people’s understanding or opinion of Anarchism in your opinion,
and if so, how badly damaged is it? In my opinion it did, and I guess I am
wondering how it would be possible to reverse or remove that opinion of so many.
Social Media not very effective as a tool for that sort of thing. Or at least
doesn’t seem to be anyway.
No.
Did mass media create false narratives, stoke fear, and misrepresent them. To sour opinion against them and preserve the hierarchy. Yes. If you knew one or are one you knew the narrative was BS.
I absolutely agree. To me, anarchism is, and always has been, about empathy, mutual respect and the dignity of life. Capitalist media made it about aggression and destruction, because that is the lens through which capitalism views the world. Conquest and subjugation.
Yes, the same can generally be said of the original punks. Those were broadly their ideals as well. You will always get those just aping the aesthetic like John Lydon (Johnnie Rotten), vs those politically activated like Eric Boucher (Jello Biafra). But like with the goths etc, capitalism has distilled it down to just a pop culture aesthetic to try and slap on random things. Without understanding the less visible core elements.
I actually had a thought about this in a discussion last night. Capitalism is based on the assumption of infinite growth, which is physically impossible with finite resources. So it turns inward, in a process of internal reduction. People are reduced to numbers, life is reduced to statistics, and so on. But that is also unsustainable, because this reduction weakens the core. To quote Yeats, the center cannot hold. These social movements like punk and goth get hollowed out by the commodification you describe, until they collapse. But hey, I’m a bit drunk right now, so maybe I’m just rambling.
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