This Is Not A Democracy

Across the road from our house, they're holding a talk with Gabriel Kuhn tonight, about his book on straight edge.

The book has contributions from Andy*, which makes it particularly interesting.

I'd really like to go, but shiny_starlight is working and I don't want to go by myself.

I'm a bit scared of the anarchists, to tell you the truth. I'm nervous that I won't be proactive enough for them and that I would be tempted to point out that organised anarchists with a designated and permanent HQ are possibly slightly missing the point.



* He did come back to me, btw; next tour I have promised to stay and say 'hi' properly... looks like we shiny_starlight will be driving to that gig, then.

I got a tattoo today, kind of on a whim. I've wanted one pretty much like this for ages, although I was considering getting it in the inside of my left elbow, rather than in the middle of my inner right forearm where it now resides.

It's a simple tattoo, I literally drew the whole thing myself while Julie was getting hers done, and I may well add to it later. Right now, I love it. It's simple, it's pretty (and it's not as crooked as it looks, although the little embellishments aren't symmetrical and were never supposed to be perfectly - if I'd tried to make them symmetrical, rather than just kind of balanced, I would have been so pissed when they inevitably weren't), and it pretty much means the world to me, right now.



The way I see it, I've been close to straight edge all of my life without even realising it; even during the time when I did drink, it would be occasional and minimal. When in the past I did drink, I didn't like the way it made me feel. Now I've chosen to commit myself to a lifestyle free from recreational drugs, intoxicants or narcotics of any kind and I plan to stick to it. Completely separate from any bands I'm into, and even the history of the scene (which for straight edge people my age and younger is probably so far removed from why we're doing this), this is who I am. I'm not as diplomatic about it as people like Dan and Alan - frankly, if you drink, smoke or poison yourself with unnecessary substances I think you're a bit of a prat, even if I generally like or even adore you as a person - because I know the people I know and care about are better than that. I know you're generally too smart to be subjecting yourselves to it, and that you don't really need this stuff to make your lives better or to enjoy yourselves. In the UK, in particular, it is so ingrained in society to drink heavily and regularly that alcohol consumption is encouraged on adverts for telephone companies and on TV shows for home movers. We're a nation consumed with binge-drinking. I fucking hate it. I hate everything it represents and everything it says about society.

So, yeah. I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on the history of straight edge - I know where it came from, I know how it developed, I know where the X symbol allegedly originated - but it has evolved since then; most of the sXe kids I know have no real interest in the bands who started the movement. It's stopped being about what bands we like and what they advocate (well, for the most part) and it's more about looking at the people around us and not wanting to be like them. Amongst my friends it's a sense of solidarity and shared disdain, I think.

But having grown up in a family where literally both my parents, both my eldest brothers, my uncle, my aunt, my mum's cousins, my grandad and god knows how many other people have been heavy pot smokers, alcoholics or all-out drug addicts, I know that this lifestyle is the right thing for me. And I'm proud of that and I'm damn well celebrating it.

So, yeah... that's my story for this tattoo.

Tonight we save the world, but today we need to save ourselves.