A couple of days ago, I made the mistake of listening to a new alt-right anthem, much to my dismay. In order to clean out my auditory nerves, I decided that a Gang of Four listening binge was in order. While in the midst of this binge, I found a great cover of Damaged Goods by a Chinese punk band:
Gotta love the bassist, she totally has that badass Dee Dee Ramone stance down pat, and she even has the same 'do as Dee Dee did. Finding this video almost makes listening to that horrible alt-right drivel worth it... but then I realize that, being a huge Gang of Four fan, I probably would have found it anyway.
Frankly, I'm not terribly comforatble with the 'alt right' euphamism. It helps them cement a kind of mainstream acceptance as just a faction of the American conservative 'right'. They love the title because it lets them participate, where 'White Nationalist' or even 'White Supremacist' would exclude them from the mainstream political discussion - as it has for decades.
ReplyDeleteMerely the fact that they couple their racism with a more coherent - though even more toxic - construct that includes a vicious misogyny and a strong bent towards tribal violence shouldn't allow them to re-brand themselves as something that belongs in American discourse.
I know - I've already lost this argument. But I'm going to continue to use terms like White Nationalist to describe them, because they shouldn't get that kind of ideological cover...
I agree with Mikey. Nazis shouldn't get cute nicknames.
ReplyDeleteGang of Four is still outside of my area of music knowledge.
Today is being spent listening to The Cure's "Pornography" album (1983). I had heard it was dark and brutal but I'd always been biased against the band because of their cute stuff later on. It has not disappointed,
mentioning the Gang of Four requires me to mention the Mekons, you should know that by now....
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