Part IV: Rebel Inc.

This is the belated final episode of a little miniseries I started weeks ago. I was gonna have a 5th episode after giving ppl time to come to their own conclusions, but I don't think I can expect anyone to have that big of an attention span. It was hard enough for ME to remember what I'd been ranting about before. So part V is pre-packaged with the part IV.

Part I was about fascism. Is it a thing of the past, or is it just more disguised these days?
Part II was about racism (but could easily be substituted for sexism). Did the Civil Rights movement win equal rights or has racism become so engrained into society that we can barely spot it nowadays?
Part III was about business and it's environmental responsibilities. Has big business turned over a new leaf (pun) or just swept the dirt (hey, another pun, this is fun!) under the proverbial carpet?
My opinion is the latter of all these questions.

And now for our Feature Presentation

This is gonna be a tough one. It's much harder too articulate my thoughts on this subject because this one takes us so far down the rabbit hole, that sometimes even I don't know which way to go to get out. I'm just gonna dive in and hope it all turns out coherent. I'll try to provide some examples and go from there.

-I grew up seeing the skateboarding scene as rejection of the mainstream. Those skaters didn't care about what's 'hot' and what's 'not, they'll buy their plaid shirts at a thrift store, while the upper echelon of the social scene paid 10 times more just to have a Polo logo on them. The skaters could care less what the rest of us think. I thought that was pretty cool. Then either the times changed, or I just took a closer look. Wait a second, some of these kids aren't wearing used clothes, they're wearing clothes made by skate companies, that are charging just as much as Polo for the same shirt, just with a different logo. So what I thought was counterculture, was really just a subculture. Ever since, I've been appalled by skate companies. There's nothing fundamentally different about skate companies. Maybe it used to be a sacred scene, but not anymore. Same shit, different fashion.Oh and some of the biggest skate companies out there (Hurley, DC, and others that I couldn't confirm) are owned by Nike. Think about that for a moment.
-Adbusters now has their own line of shoes.
-Emerica has a shirts with "Enarchy" on the front.
-there's no words these days that haven't been co-opted by the advertising world. Didn't the words hardcore, radical and extreme used to mean something?
-Rage Against the Machine was on Sony's Label. Rise Against is on the same label as 50 Cent. Anti-Flag is putting out a record for a subsidiary of Columbia Records
-I've seen commercials where a lady describes something as a "shopping Nirvana"
-Starbucks advertises an atmosphere that invites beatniks and the like
-Warped Tour is sponsored by Vans
-Tony Hawk made a video game
-Save-On sells organic food

I'm trying to illustrate to things. One is how often legitimate entities seemingly sell out (and I don't use that word that phrase to often). Two is how big brands have succeeded in usurping meaning from their opponents. What's the point in telling people I'm an Anarchist when the first thing to pop in their head is that shirt that Emerica put out. Why go see anti-capitalist punk bands that are sponsored by a fashion company? Why support underground bands if they're just planning their move to a big label? Is nothing sacred anymore. Or was anything ever sacred to being with? There's a book out there that Drew has that puts my cynicism to shame. It's called The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can't be Jammed. This book puts forward the theory that underground and mainstream are just different markets, that's all. There's nothing to sell out too, because there was nothing to sell out from. They aren't arguing that counterculture has sold out, they're arguing that counterculture doesn't exist. Just like I was saying about skate culture, but in a broader sense. Counterculture is subculture, nothing more, nothing less. Whether you're definition of cool is Prada or mountain biking, you're still supporting the capitlist system. Even if you reject capitalism, you're still supporting it by buying from the companies that claim they're 'different'.

Now this book takes it a step further than I do. In fact, I don't agree. I'm not that jaded yet. The authors seem to be saying, "don't try to rebel, there's no point". Kinda like in the 1984 with the Brotherhood. It's all part of The System. But I don't buy that. In fact, I think it's shallow. Granted, I haven't read the book, but I'd been giving it some serious thought, and have read all about the book. So maybe I should be sharing my opinion until I read it. So this should be taken as my opinion against the concept, not the book itself. This concept seems to completely ignore that part of society that practices simple living. Reducing spending, growing your own food, are these efforts in vain? Hell no. But I do believe that we need to take everything with a very large grain of salt. In my opinion, there's no excuse for buying ethically made clothes, instead of buying second hand. Consumerism is the problem.

I knew that was gonna be a sticky topic. I hope you took somethign from it. I know I still have a lot more pondering to do.

Now for the conclusion. The things we assume are dead and gone, are still with us today. Fascism is a very serious threat, even within North America. Racism is a very serious problem, even within Canada. This new wave of corporate responisibility is as shallow as a dried up reservoir, and if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that real meaning can't be branded. The things that our parents fought against have come back from the dead, only now their new and improved. We have to be aware of all the repercussion of our lifestyles. What am I supporting by spending this dollar? Who made this, where did it come from, and what message is the advertising for this product trying to convey. Why are natives reserves so avoided, underfunded, and ignored? Why does it smell like fascism everytime I see a certain President on TV? Does Shell really give a damn about the environment, or is it just smoke and mirrors? We live in a world composed of many layers. Which level are you operating on?