Punk Never Died, It Just Became Conservatism
I was talking to a friend the other day about a popular concept that’s been going around for a few years now, and it’s that conservatism became the counterculture.
More accurately, it reassumed the title. America has always been something of a counterculture from its earliest beginnings to its formation as the United States of America. The revolutionary war was an anti-establishment movement that promoted the individual, not the collective.
This idea, like all ideas, evolved to look and sound different over the course of generations. The tricorn hat evolved into the mohawk, the pamphlet evolved into the distorted electric guitar, and the pro-revolutionary writing became California Über Alles.
It took a lot of people by surprise when some of the old punk bands ended up being conservatives later in life, but it really shouldn’t have been that big of a shock. While some of the later “punk” bands were so corporatized and belonged to the establishment (looking at you Green Day), the guys on the ground floor of the punk movement were idealists, and their ideal was one that revolutionary era Americans would sympathize with; the establishment sucks, it’s trying to control us, and it should collapse.
A few generations later and that message is being embraced by people who aren’t dressed in torn jeans, safety pins, and haircuts meant to upset the normies…they are the normies. They’re people who look like normal, everyday Americans who go to work, come home, raise their children, walk their dogs, make dinner, and pay their taxes.
Punk was a counterculture movement for people who felt like they didn’t belong in the establishment’s system, and that’s exactly where conservatism lives today. People are finding that mainstream (or corporate culture as it should rightfully be called) doesn’t fit them well. It’s too sterilized and rigid. Disagreement comes with consequences. Act, dress, and talk how they tell you to and they’ll leave you alone.
It kind of makes you want to dress and act exactly in ways that make outwardly signify how you truly think of them. Seeing as how the establishment is filled to the brim with neon-haired weirdos with bizarre haircuts and grotesque manners of dress, the new counterculture embraces a look of normalcy and even a healthier lifestyle. It says “f-you” to the system by showing up to school board meetings and speaking out about their ridiculous attempts at brainwashing kids, and speaking out openly against the latest “product” from its propaganda machine.
As I reported earlier, there’s a trend among younger Gen-Z boys to lean conservative and give the finger to the politically correct behavior that’s been forced down their throats. If young boys are embracing conservatism in their natural penchant for rebelliousness, then it’s a pretty safe bet that a cultural revolution is, once again, taking place.
We might be seeing the slow but sure swing of the cultural pendulum heading back toward the right, and if the left brought that pendulum to places it never should have gone then you can bet the reactive swing will only gain more speed and momentum as it attempts to hold on tightly to its power.
It’s not going to look like it did in the 70s and early 80s, but the punk movement is going to make a return. It’s not going to look anything like it did and you’re not going to hear the same kind of thrashing guitar chords, but you’ll definitely recognize the vibe. The words will be different but the meaning will be the same.
The revolution won’t be televised since the establishment owns the major networks, but it will be uploaded.
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