My Conclusions on Punk

We talked about in class today about what conclusions we came to about youth subcultures, in particular, punk. The conclusion I came to is that punk has different connotations to everyone, so no one can really be on the same page about what it really means or is about since everyone has different reference points about it. It seems to me though, that it has become a catchall marketing term for any type of rebellious attitude or behavior. I think people can still be punk after they become adults, even if they don't become musicians, because punk has expanded beyond music into an ideology of how one approaches life. Punks can channel their rebellious nature and frustration with the dominant culture into other avenues, working from within the system to change things, such as going into political activism. Really any person who refuses to conform to other people's expectations can be considered punk. The whole point of punk is not to prove how committed or authentic you are; the point is to be able to transcend any other person's expectations about how you should live your life or how you should be, so that you can be true to yourself at all times.

I am sure if young people were able to own the means of production and work from inside the system to improve the culture, they would; but the point is that they can't. Besides from feeling disenfranchised and having a lot of free time to indulge in alternative lifestyles, young people are resistant towards the dominat culture because it is controlled by people who take advantage of the young to push their own agenda forward. Since young people don't own the means of production, a lot of youth feel like they are helpless victims of a society that wants to be largely deferential only to those who have money, and therefore, power. Since young people are still affected by the decisions disconnected older people make on the macro level, the only way they can improve their lot in life is by doing things from outside the system.

Punk and a lot of other youth subcultures are radically resistant to the mainstream mainly because they are frustrated that the mainstream is illogically pushing archaic ideals on people that they feel need to change and progress since the world is also inevitably changing. Young people are going to be the ones who are stuck with cleaning up the messes of older people, so instead of just waiting until they are adults to change things, they want to prevent any further perceived regression in the first place.

If we all have to live in this world with one another and we all recognize that there is always room for improvement in civilization, it should be each person's responsibility to resist dominant forces that are trying to keep people apathetic. I think most punks, who are progressive, would agree that we should all try to push towards finding humanity's true, full potential and try to actually make things better for both ourselves and future generations.