This blog is for my honors youth cultures class to reflect and share their thinking.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Week 4
Open for discussion about punk ideology, the development of punk over time (why did it happen that way?), whether the specific music technique matters (punk v. grunge), and the role of youth in critiquing society (Lipsitz).
I feel like I've been almost grouping all youth cultures together with punk, with the sense that they're all a rebellion towards the mainstream and can be seen as "negative". I know that this is wrong, that all of the sub-cultures have different purposes and means to display their messages. I'm looking forward to starting discussions on other sub-cultures and get a more broad view on sub-cultures overall instead of focusing in on one (punk).
I just finished the Lipsitz article and enjoyed finally moving away from the topic of punk subculture and focusing on youth subculture as a whole and how that has played out in the most recent subcultures seen today. However, I found the article itself terribly biased towards this common theme of hatred for the rich and the white and blaming them and their actions for all the wrongs ever commited by or to minorities, particularly youth. The author seemed to throw all youths an easy out for their actions by claiming that they were reactions for the wrongs done against them. Then when the Lipsitz ran across injustices acted out by the cultures themselves amongst themselves such as the treatment of men against women he had no answers except to speculate that it was through the diminishing of the mans self image through discrimination and racism. I did find the Operation Hammer facts shocking and very interesting. I don't wish to take one side in this seeming issue, teaming with either the rich whites or minorities. I dislike the seperation of "sides" in general, black and white discussions that we brush up against so often in out discussions, which is why this article in particular riled me with its one sided view of issues.
I agree with Lindsey in that the Lipsitz article focused on youth in minorities and the problems they have experienced. However, I looked more into the overall message I feel he was trying to put across. "Our time is a time of crisis for youth, a time of unprecedented damage and danger to young people" can be applied to any youth subculture at any point in history. I also agree with Lipsitz when he says that time has stopped, progress has halted, and the need for social change obscures everything in view. This can be experienced in any subculture. The hippies with the Vietnam war dropped everything to protest; the punks in the 80s put everything aside to start an uproar against Ronald Reagan.This sort of resistance plants the seed for subcultures to grow. Youth join subcultures that see the need for change and begin a continuous and persistent movement for that change.
It seems like we can't really separate different youth subcultures by their core ideology. No matter it is punk (early garage rock or British punk, New York Punk, or Grunge), Hip Hop, or other ones we have discussed, their main idea is to diverge from the mainstream, express their unsatisfaction with the society in some degree, and they usually distinguish them by identical styles. That makes me wonder if that is the definition of youth subculture. Is this tightly correlated with the rebelling nature of youth? And according to Lipsitz, it seems that the minority groups that are long suppressed are more likely to form a subculture to express their objections. In all these situations, young people are the most energetic ones who stand in front and present to the public.
I think the specific music genre matters, at least a little bit. The music is very important to the people in the culture. It would be like saying country music is punk. I wouldn't really consider myself punk or anything, but even I could tell that that one song we listened to in class was not punk (also on youtube it was even tagged as grunge). Like style of dress, the style of music is a way to express themselves and it gets across their message. The punk music tends to be fast and grating. That fits with the stand-out clothes and such.
I feel like I've been almost grouping all youth cultures together with punk, with the sense that they're all a rebellion towards the mainstream and can be seen as "negative". I know that this is wrong, that all of the sub-cultures have different purposes and means to display their messages. I'm looking forward to starting discussions on other sub-cultures and get a more broad view on sub-cultures overall instead of focusing in on one (punk).
ReplyDeleteI just finished the Lipsitz article and enjoyed finally moving away from the topic of punk subculture and focusing on youth subculture as a whole and how that has played out in the most recent subcultures seen today.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I found the article itself terribly biased towards this common theme of hatred for the rich and the white and blaming them and their actions for all the wrongs ever commited by or to minorities, particularly youth. The author seemed to throw all youths an easy out for their actions by claiming that they were reactions for the wrongs done against them. Then when the Lipsitz ran across injustices acted out by the cultures themselves amongst themselves such as the treatment of men against women he had no answers except to speculate that it was through the diminishing of the mans self image through discrimination and racism.
I did find the Operation Hammer facts shocking and very interesting. I don't wish to take one side in this seeming issue, teaming with either the rich whites or minorities. I dislike the seperation of "sides" in general, black and white discussions that we brush up against so often in out discussions, which is why this article in particular riled me with its one sided view of issues.
I agree with Lindsey in that the Lipsitz article focused on youth in minorities and the problems they have experienced. However, I looked more into the overall message I feel he was trying to put across. "Our time is a time of crisis for youth, a time of unprecedented damage and danger to young people" can be applied to any youth subculture at any point in history. I also agree with Lipsitz when he says that time has stopped, progress has halted, and the need for social change obscures everything in view. This can be experienced in any subculture. The hippies with the Vietnam war dropped everything to protest; the punks in the 80s put everything aside to start an uproar against Ronald Reagan.This sort of resistance plants the seed for subcultures to grow. Youth join subcultures that see the need for change and begin a continuous and persistent movement for that change.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like we can't really separate different youth subcultures by their core ideology. No matter it is punk (early garage rock or British punk, New York Punk, or Grunge), Hip Hop, or other ones we have discussed, their main idea is to diverge from the mainstream, express their unsatisfaction with the society in some degree, and they usually distinguish them by identical styles.
ReplyDeleteThat makes me wonder if that is the definition of youth subculture. Is this tightly correlated with the rebelling nature of youth? And according to Lipsitz, it seems that the minority groups that are long suppressed are more likely to form a subculture to express their objections. In all these situations, young people are the most energetic ones who stand in front and present to the public.
I think the specific music genre matters, at least a little bit. The music is very important to the people in the culture. It would be like saying country music is punk. I wouldn't really consider myself punk or anything, but even I could tell that that one song we listened to in class was not punk (also on youtube it was even tagged as grunge). Like style of dress, the style of music is a way to express themselves and it gets across their message. The punk music tends to be fast and grating. That fits with the stand-out clothes and such.
ReplyDelete