Punk's Not Dead, But It Probably Wishes It Was

On Thursday, our class discussion weaved in and out of trivializing the punk subculture. Everything from attitude to appearance was slightly mocked or poked fun at. I can't speak for anyone else, but I think that the reason today's punk culture attracts a certain amount of derision is because the descriptor "punk" seems to have lost any connotation of authenticity. No one is scared that punks will bring around anarchy or social change anymore, today punk kids are perceived more as a nuisance crowding malls across the country. This is because, in the forty or so years since punk was born, the subculture has become heavily commodified. Whoever's in charge of creating our mainstream culture figured out how to pre-package punk, and is now shilling it to any young person with twenty dollars for a CD or 40 dollars for a pre-distressed t-shirt. Not only is punk readily available; it has become trendy. In the commodification of punk, it has lost its DIY ethos, making it anything but authentic; and it's hard to take anyone seriously who gets their punk gear at the mall at the store in between Cinnabon and J. Crew.