1) Regardless of what my hair looks like or what I wear, there is still a wall between me and a lot of the kids in the scene - I'm still a nigga. It was a little bit different when I had the mowhawk, but not a whole lot.
2) when these same kids "get over their phase", cut their hair and get their tats lasered away so that they can work a corp job for daddy (laying it on thick, but wait for it) or their uncle the CEO, I'm STILL gonna be a nigga.
It's like being black is more punk rock than punk rock ever was, could have been or ever will be, and you know that I'm right given how many white kids right now are giving their parents the shits by running around talking all that gangsta shit and listening to whoever it is that is getting paid to make black people look like greedy minstrels, barnyard animals and psychopathic weed-heads this week. These kids' parents WISH that they were into punk rock, lol. My point is this - with a few obvious exceptions, people here are in general pretty PC. Not me, now way, but a lot of you band members seem to have more in common politically with The Clash than a lot of old industrial bands.
So I use SLSK, send me hate mail. What I noticed way back is that the industrial chatroom on SLSK is literally the most racist place I have ever been on the web, quite literally. It's like a room full of kids screaming the most obscene things that they can think of, mostly racial epithets, although they don't hesitate to drag the two or three girls with low enough self esteem to go in there through the mud. It's almost cartoonish, as real racists tend to actually have an agenda, and the real fascists that I know personally LOVE racism, but don't engage in it at all: racism is an old trick designed to keep the unwashed massed busy fighting each other while 7 people run things and eat well.
I'm definitely not blowing this up - I went in there a few years ago, as Tape Operator, struck up a private conversation with this chick in there and shot her a link to my page. I'm still trying to think of something funny to say, and this chick is in the main chat posting: "TAPE OPERATOR IS A NIGGER", and again, this was a chick, or at least someone with links to pics of a (relatively plain) Goth chick. I mean, there's a user on there called 'niggersarenthuman' and the kid is not in the county music chat, he's in the industrial chat. Anyway, long post marginally shorter, these people are your fans.
What do you guys think about that? Has the total assimilation of fascistic imagery on the part of the scene combined with the music becoming popular amongst the masses, resulted in an audience full of racist assholes? Or were these people racist assholes when the gun went off, and for whatever reason, that the type of person who industrial music appeals to? Take a moment. Get on SLSK. Go in the industrial chat and lurk for awhile. Trust me, you are pretty self-centered if you don't leave that chat thinking about who's downloading your records."
Tape Operator has my deepest sympathy. Even the "anti-racist' responses to his post on SLSK are expressed in racist and sexist terms.
ReplyDelete> "I wish there was more "black" in industrial, it might actually have some good ol funk and groove then."
> "Actually, I like black women a lot."
etc, etc.
There seems to be a massive cultural chasm between the UK and the US industrial scenes and the way racists therein express their beliefs. Racists on the UK scene hide their racism behind symbols, insider reference and
signification rather than state their beliefs so baldly. Not that that is a good thing particularly. But it does suggest that broader social politesse in the UK dictates that racism is unacceptable, where as no such bourgeoise modes of behaviour temper racist expression in the US. The difference is only cultural of course, which is why blogs like this need to exist in order to shine a light on cowardly and closeted fascism and racism in the UK industrial and neofolk scenes.
kinda weird how you talk about how racist people are but then you call yourself a nigga a couple of times. That's kinda strange ain't it?
ReplyDeleteWhich detail is your favorite? Are you a fan of this rustic industrial kitchen as well?industrial polished concrete
ReplyDelete[niggersarenthuman] is a pretty prolific SLSK nazi. He also goes by [Three Reichs And You're Out] [1933-1945], etc. etc. etc. His real name is Jim Lears. He goes by various stupid names like that. It's hard to believe he's married and has a child. He's a designer at Tastemade. See his profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimlears?authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&authToken=jp5N&locale=en_US&srchid=87073061453093012938&srchindex=91&srchtotal=102&trk=vsrp_people_res_name_headless&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A87073061453093012938%2CVSRPtargetId%3A119370877%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary%2CVSRPnm%3Afalse%2CauthType%3AOUT_OF_NETWORK
ReplyDelete