The Future Is Unwritten

Sometimes the struggling artist life really wears me down. For the last few months we've been putting ourselves out to the mainstream public. Mainly to college radio and newspapers. The response had been an amazing amount of hate and contempt. The people who don't like what we do - don't just dislike it - they hate it passionately.

It is very surprising to me how conformist and conservative college aged people are. They seem to really resent anyone who questions the accepted mainstream views. There seems to be a general consensus that music is wallpaper. Just entertainment that does not make waves or rock the boat. It especially strange because so many people are very into "punk." But again they think punk is a hairdo or a manner of dress. They have no understanding of the core values that were behind the music. I often read blogs where punk fans state that music should not express political ideas.

One of the concepts were are trying to promote is that music is a serious artform that can communicate ideas and effect society. But within college radio and press there is a real distaste for that idea. Actually distaste it too subtle a word, they seem to be completely offended by the idea.

Usually I take it all with a grain of salt, but after months of being attacked and beaten down it starts to make you feel hopeless. With no access to media an artist has no way to communicate to the public. Your voice cannot be heard.

I was speaking with a high school friend yesterday and thinking about my teen years. Even then I was very conscious of feeling like an outcast because of my view of the world. My high school friends seemed to live in a bubble where nothing existed outside of their immediate lives.

Throughout most of my life I kept my views secret because I knew the price of expressing them. Where I came from questioning church and state could get your beaten physically, as well as being socially ostracized.

It seems to me that a lot of this conformity comes from some kind of infantilism. People want to be like children and believe that there are others looking out for their well being. Those others seem to be politicians, corporate executives, and religious deities. It is a nice cozy view of the world. Although I would argue irresponsible.

But if you make people question their values that childlike sense of security is threatened, and perhaps that may explain why people have such violent reactions to alternative viewpoints being expressed. Thinking is hard. Life is full of uncertainty. And the unknown is scary. It's much better to just think like a child and believe someone with power is taking care of you.

After months of bashing my head against the walls of conformist thinking I began to lose hope and the will to go on. My sense of alienation became more heightened than ever. I've lived my whole life within this circumstance so I know to stay strong, but I was weakening.

Saturday night I went to see the movie about the Clash's singer Joe Strummer. (The Future Is Unwritten) The film really revitalized me. It's really important to know there are others out there who share your values. That you're not insane.

In the old Soviet Union they placed political agitators in insane asylums. I can see why because even in the US people who don't adhere to the mainstream value system are treated like deviants, and treated like an enemy.

The one thing that helps me deal with it all is listening to how intelligently people speak. Usually the people who are fighting for protection of the status quo cannot speak intelligently.
This is certainly the case with college media outlets. On Other hand I find that artists and activists that I respect are also respected by others that I respect. It's not random. The Joe Strummer movie was a good example of this. The documentary was filled with great actors, directors, musicians, and artists, who were inspired by Strummer and The Clash.