Okay, yeah, I know old topic.
Okay, yeah, I know I'm probably stepping into a minefield here, and, among the cool new smilies here,
will probably be one that I would end up invoking, but I'm probably going to put my foot in my mouth repeatedly while I'm here, because it's my nature. 1) Open mouth, 2) Insert Foot, 3) Chew.
Let me state it this way: 1) I have some moderate to major problems with some aspects of the straight edge movement. 2) I have no problem with straightedge philosophy, or with straightedgers. See below.
However, I do think that it is at least inaccurate to say that all the violence comes from the relatively recent hardline movement. I also think that it is inaccurate to state that there are no a significant number of straightedgers who, if nothing else, take things too far, and often in an organized manner.
Okay, here's the story:
Back in New Orleans (more specifically, a specific suburb of New Orleans, which was about the only "bohemian"/left area of the normally right wing, Duke-country suburbs) we had a problem with a group of violent straightedgers.
1) They openly worked with the boneheads in the area
2) They openly worked with the cops in the area, buying drugs from people, then calling the cops to get them busted. They had their own little operation going. (Artsy metal part of the suburbs, still a Parish with racist, Duke-Country cops)
3) Two of them attacked a friend of mine for being gay, and curbed him. Hit him from behind with a bat, curbed him, and ran off. Of course, the cops said he was "drunk and fell." I guess the boot print on the back of his head was coincidence.
4) A bunch of them, four or five attacked a friend of mine just for walking down the street smoking a cigarette. Four of five beefy guys with baseball bats, against my friend, I'll call her Amy, who is one of these 5 foot even, 90lbs soaking wet people. Guess they figured they needed numbers. . . Beat he so badly, she is disabled to this day. (In addition to a broken arm, broken ribs, smashed out teeth, etc, they broke both her legs, and her pelvis. She has to walk with two canes, and due to the damage to he pelvis and uterus, she cannot bear children.
This is in addition to going to shows and starting fights, knocking drinks out of peoples hands, pulling cigarettes out of their mouth, throwing water in their face, etc. They also smashed the equipment for a couple of bands so they couldn't perform.
Later, when I was in college, I had a straightedger threaten to kill me for smoking a cigarette. Said he was going to find me in the parking lot and stab me. I told him I'd meet him by my car ("a red Mazada Protege" I told him) and he went out into the parking lot to wait. He wasn't the brightest guy in the world, since I was parked across campus, had classes for several more hours, after which, I got into my *black* Mazda Protege and went home.
Another friend of mine started dating a straightedger, who beat the living crap out of her on a regular basis, saying it was "so she wouldn't fall back with a 'bad crowd.'" until me and some friends ran him off, at which point his buddies started stalking her and us.
Needless to say, this soured me on the straightedge movement. But I assumed that this could have been a group of bad apples after meeting, a couple years later, a friend who was old-line actually-knew-MacKay Straight Edge, and openly said, "Real straight-edgers don't force it on anyone." It quickly seemed like the STraight Edge movement had lost it's way in a huge way, and I thought at the time, "in some cases."
So, I decided to research a little. I did a search, found a straight-edge message board, signed up. Openly told them I wasn't straight edge, that I had questions, and told them about the above instances. I asked what they thought. I was really hoping I would see a bunch of people telling me how much these people sucked and had lost their way, and I hoped that they would say the real straight edge was like my friend.
I got the exact opposite. They were all saying how the actions were justified. How it's was good they had "sterilized" my friend so she wouldn't "produce a bunch of crackbabies" and that they should have killed my other friend (the one who was curbed) "before he spread more AIDS." I was dumb enough to use my regular handle at the time, and one of them found me on ICQ and started threatening me. They said that if they saw me smoking a cigarette, they would be justified in killing or attacking me.
A couple months later, another straightedger contacted me through ICQ (thought I was a drummer for some reason. . .the only instrument in my band that I am totally clueless with) hoping this guy would be less violent, I talked to him about these issues too. Same reaction. A bunch of sexist and homophobic slurs, followed by telling me he'd be justified in attacking me if he saw me drinking alcohol, smoking a cigarette, or thought I was about to have premarital sex.
All a really wanted was more than one straight edger to say, "Those assholes were wrong." So far, in my whole life, I found one.
Now, I am fully willing to admit that the straight edge movement, like any other movement, can have bad apples. However, they seem very willing to justify the actions of them, and completely unwilling to get the violent, tyrranical nutcases out of their movement.* In my opinion, Straight Edge has completely lost it's way. MacKaye would never approve. How does a movement which is so into DIY and individuality tolerate such things, tolerate people using violence to force their opinions on others? I think we know what to call that.
I think at this point, I should state for the record, I have absolutely no problem with individual STraightedgers who aren't violent, and who don't try to force it on others. The old-school one whom I was friends with stated according to her, that anyone who tries to force "the edge" on others is *not* STraight Edge. If someone wants to not smoke, not drink, not do drugs, not have sex, whatever, it's, in my humble opinion, their business, none of mine, and something I would not normally concern myself with. I personally think people should be able to do their own thing, period. I guess that makes me a "freakin' hippie. . ."
*Now, to explain the asterix. I think that it is the responsiblity of a movement to kick violent/bigotted/whatever assholes out of their movement. My handle is a great oversimplification of my musical tastes, I listen to just about everything, but let's use it as an example. You will never see me do anything but oppose a New Orleans sludgecore band called Rat in a Bucket, because I think they are Nazi sympathizers. And, in this case, I have to deal with people who defend them, and, granted, in a scene with bands as generally misanthropic as EYEHATEGOD, it can be hard to tell. But, just judging from the number of boneheads who are Rat in a Bucket fans, I trust them about as far as I can throw the mid-90's lineup of Crowbar. One of the coolest things I've seen at a New Orleans concert was when the frontman of a grunge band called Mumpsie launched himself at a Rat in a Bucket bonehead who had been fucking with everyone the whole set, and beat the crap out of the guy, to the joy of all concerned. (REally cool, sort of a stage dive into a Lou Thesz Press.) In my opinion, it's the job of the New Orleans sludgecore and thrashcore scenes to get rid of Rat in a Bucket and their fans. Hope to get back and help do so.
So, to sum it all up, no, I don't hate Straight Edgers. I don't think that they are all bad. But I do think that they need to address what some of the people in the movement are doing. I think I still want someone to address what happened. But to say that there is no connection between the Straight Edge movement *now*, and far right wing violence, is just not true. It happens. I have person experience.
Sorry if I offended anyone, do we have a grain of salt smilie?
Okay, pretend the cursor is a grain of salt.
NOLAcreolemetal
