Read on Twitter
Recently saw some folks ( @damnedgeisha @NWissdom @ritual_coffee) saying that goth is apolitical. Nope.
I have written about this issue in lots of places. Here are a few: https://twitter.com/industrial_book/status/1066712701064351744
I have written about this issue in lots of places. Here are a few: https://twitter.com/industrial_book/status/1066712701064351744
And here: https://www.academia.edu/37175977/Burning_Down_Freedoms_Road_The_Strange_Life_of_Brown_Baby_
And I really don't want to retype all of those arguments.
But in short—and I'm talking to people whose Twitter handles, in reference to geishas and coffee, are literally engaging with imperialism...
But in short—and I'm talking to people whose Twitter handles, in reference to geishas and coffee, are literally engaging with imperialism...
• goth says that the cool stuff is the past, the future, the dead, the epic, the hidden
• which means that it devalues the present, the living, the quotidian, the right-here-right-now
• which means that it devalues the present, the living, the quotidian, the right-here-right-now
• and that's fine. I've been goth since I was a kid. Lots of albums, DJing, ran a nightclub, etc. Literally wearing a Psychic TV shirt right now.
• But it means that we have a choice, and this is REALLY important:
• But it means that we have a choice, and this is REALLY important:
• Is our fascination with the Else, the Underbelly, and the Secret (think here of all that reverb!)…
… a vote for sweeping problems under the rug?
OR
… a vote for looking close at everything that's been swept under the rug?
… a vote for sweeping problems under the rug?
OR
… a vote for looking close at everything that's been swept under the rug?
THIS IS THE FUNDAMENTAL POLITICAL QUESTION OF THE GOTHIC—AND OF MODERN GOTH CULTURE. MAKE NO MISTAKE.
And given that goth's aesthetics already tend to idealize paleness, "apolitics" (= apathy), atomization, escapism, etc., it is triply important that we clarify, reclaim, and take a stand.
If goth can't stand up for the outcasts of the world, then it's just oppression reenactment. If it's just reduplicating the worst casual traits of everyday politics, but wearing black as it does so, then it's just fascism.
Where I'm from, we kill fascism.
