There was never much indication to me that the dude who wrote the lyrics "I got something to say, I killed your baby today and it doesn't matter much to me as long as it's dead" had an incredible wealth of empathy.

We often think of punk in very defined terms. "3 chords and the truth!" Fast, power chords, harsh vocals, amateurish musicianship.

But that simply has never been the truth for the genre, not now but especially in the beginning of the subculture. (Cont'd)

The original CBGB bands The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Patti Smith, Suicide all pretty diverse. A lot of these many ppl wouldn't even consider punk nowadays but they were all there at the beginning. (Cont'd)

Even in England, not every band were of the same lyrical mien as The Sex Pistols or The Clash.

We look back at the past and we ascribe a certain set of attributes which we think define the genre.

Fast, aggressive, political, angry, disenfranchised. (cont'd)

...The sound of punk.

The look of punk: leather, spikes, tattoos, mohawks, torn clothes held together by safety pins. Pale, white and lower class.

Well not everyone looked like that or looks that way now. (Con't)

One of the greatest punk vocalists was Poly Styrene.

As with many subcultures there were all sorts of people. All genders, ethnicities, colours and races.

And they all had an influence on the genre and the subculture too! (cont'd)

A lot of folks had a freedom of self and expression. Women definitely could present themselves in a way contrary to the very stereotypical, post war suburban homemaker of their parent's time.

In England punk, reggae and ska were in the very same circles.(cont'd)

Joe Strummer and Sting's later interests in world music were no doubt influenced by the cultural landscape of city's like London.
(Cont'd)

And New York of the 70s and 80s was also a diverse place too. While punk was often at odds with the Black and queer friendly Disco. Punk and Hip Hop were not strangers.

Blondie's Rapture contains a rap (Rapture, get it?) about a man from Mars who eats cars and bars (cont'd).

So our retrospective view of the subculture and genre as being generally progressive is somewhat validated.

Howeverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, there were a lot of youths who were attracted to the genre because it allowed them to be edgy, brash and confrontational. (Cont'd)

Lest we not forget many of these icons of alternative culture were wee babes when they came into prominence. And musicians are any inherently immature group of ppl (speaking as the child of one )

So loud, bang, smashy sounds are always appealing to young men and boys (cont'd)

And being contrarian, brash and vulgar are often mistaken for profundity.

So it's no surprise to me whatsoever that a bunch of middle aged punk icons are very pro establishment and conservative (cont'd).

They've confused the censorship of ppl saying the f-word in records their mom wouldn't let them buy with you know, showing BASIC human decency towards women, queers, POC and disabled folks.
(Cont'd)

To them, they are forever that kid sticking it to the man. Back in the day he was telling them how to wear their hair, how to dress, get a real job, fall in line, respect your elders.

Now it's those damn kids with their phones telling them that racial/homophobic/ableist(cont'd)

...Transphobic slurs are kinda fucked up and other ppl deserves some basic goddamn respect.

But in their minds censorship always =bad contrarian always = profound

Edgy always = brave (cont'd)

Punk was a subculture or a genre not a movement. Punk didn't really have any goals in mind. Paraphrasing @Jello_Biafra_ here.

So again, not surprised by the pro conservative leanings of a lot of middle aged punks (younger punks too!) (Cont'd)

To conclude this rather long thread almost no one will read:
1.) Punk isn't a political alignment (remember there was a reason Nazi Punks had to be told to fuck off)
2.) A lot of punks were angry young, cis-het White men, who grew up to be angry middle aged cishet White dudes

3.) Our view of the past is kind of an aggregate of the most striking or effective examples.

We remember music from the past as being better because we only remember the GOOD music. For example (cont'd)

We assume all punks are these anarcho-socialist, progressive, accepting people, because a lot of them were.

Haha, typical Trash saying I'm done then continuing to ramble on! (cont'd)

4.When the original punk generation became the establishment some of OGs have a buck in their pocket and not a whole lot to rebel against (in their minds, mindless capitalism is killing us all!)
So they decided to rebel against "PC culture" because they likened it to the (cont'd)

Censorship in their day. A lot of which was actually quite harmful. But there's a whole heck of a lot of difference btwn speaking truth to power, or showing a butt and spouting hateful shit at vulnerable groups.

(Cont'd)

Also: THERE IS AN INCALCULABLE FUCKTON OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING CALLED OUT ON YOUR BIGOTED SHIT AND BEING CENSORED OR "CANCELLED"!

Y' clown assed, doof toodle!

Okay think I did it.
I'm done now.
I hope at least one person reads this shit.