Informative Indulgence (FINAL) Part 9

Hazardous Pioneers :- ‘Getting tanks across tightropes since ‘09’

Today is the last in the series of Informative Indulgence.
Yes, I feel your pain, but have no fear. The rest of this week is going to be interspersed with all sorts of stuff, and two posts are going to be quite deep.

For now, today’s theme is : I WEAR MY SKIN

That’s the name of a song, from the first band I went to see live, at 13 years old! (As a result, I got in deep shit for it, as I snuck out of the house to go! But, it was FULLY worth it!)

The band were called ‘One Minute Silence’ and this is their video to ‘I WEAR MY SKIN’:


You can view the lyrics here :

Some of the lyrics ring so true in to what I wanted to talk about today:-

‘I wear my skin like it’s not a problem
Or is it a problem for you?’
‘I wage my war in the name of living’
‘Punch back punch back
You’re so fucking easy, punch back throw’

After watching that, keep in mind the message in the music.
Today’s article reference is all about ‘Hipsters’.
Are you a hipster?
Are your flatmates Hipsters?
What is a Hipster?
Well, check out this article; ‘The Hipster Must Die’
This article goes hand in hand with the ‘Rebel sell’ , which I posted last week.

Hipsters and all you ‘individualists’ out there are just the right fuel for the machine that is consumerism, resulting in corporate lock down. You are owned by what ever’s out there, simply because you think that you are being different, by following something ‘original’ or as a minority.
For Hipsters, they seem to be completely clued up on whatever is ‘cool’ at the moment, or more to the point, what is ‘not cool with the masses, something that only a minority know about. And to be honest, it is an impressive amount of dedication that is needed to ‘keep up’.
But I ask you this; how amazing would it be to see these ‘Hipsters’ break out of their shackles of ‘falsified individuality’, by using and channelling their energy in a more positive manner?
I think it would be incredible, and for the most part, we (that are the minority) who are fighting for what we believe in, would experience something like a 70% increase of numbers, thus becoming the majority, very, very quickly!
That is ideal thinking, but the fact is, the ‘Hipster’ generation won’t change over night.

Just like in the OMS video at the top of the page, it might take one person to turn. Then perhaps another two, four or ten.
But in time, at least half of them will have awoken and turn the fuck around. When we are even in numbers with those that are sleeping, the chances are they will wake up a lot faster than the first 50%.

Sometimes it is difficult to explain myself as I wish, and articulation (accurate) is something which is definitely a skill, and something I am trying to get better at.
So, to help me along the way, and to help you understand, I am going to quote some pieces from a book that I am currently reading, called ‘Expect Resistance’ by crimethINC.com.

To start, is this you, or someone you know, perhaps? -
‘Could it be that I had never lived? I had traveled, but everywhere I'd been people spoke my language, accepted my currency, affirmed my assumptions. I lived in rented apartments built and maintained by people I'd never met; I didn't know how to build a house, or even fix my own plumbing. I bought food products from the supermarket without any idea what was in them or where they came from; I didn't know what it was to hunt and kill an animal or rely on a garden for sustenance. I had donated to charities, but never seriously done anything to address injustice or even interact with the ones who suffered it. I had voted for politicians and signed petitions, but never organized anything in my community, never. stopped a bulldozer or started a riot. I had dreams and aspirations, but it seemed I'd watched more action movies on television than I'd ever had adventures in real life. There were things I loved doing, goals I hoped to achieve, but I'd spent a lot more time working to pay for that rent, food, charity, television.’

Whether the above quote represents your thoughts or not, keep reading.

‘I wanted so earnestly to live, whatever that meant, but I was cocooned in a society that seemed to make that impossible, that sold itself to its citizens on precisely the grounds that it made that impossible.’ - Most hipsters and 'individuals' are trying to express something but as a result, it is usually something synthetic.


'All the career options and status symbols I'd worked my whole life to accumulate were starting to look like so many constraints and charades.'

'Diego and I would mock the ubiquitous billboards. "Look at that one," he'd point out, "Nice cowboy hat, gringo! And to top it off it's called 'Colt 45'-ever notice how every fucking malt liquor company has a name like that? We're supposed to identify with the brand names, to feel tough and powerful as we wreck our livers-but the barrel's pointed at us."
"And the crazy part is I still want the stuff. What else am I gonna do with the rest of the night?" - Hipsters and 'individuals' think they are free and set apart from the rest, but the big picture is really that they are 'cocooned' in society.

For all you 5-finger-discounting-hipsters out there:-
"I know how to get everything for free, but I've got no idea how to get free myself."


‘Proselytizers (converters/preachers) seek footholds to claim territory within you, salesmen grasp for handles to jerk you around ... from new-age prophets to advertisers, from pornographers to radicals, everyone exhorts you to "pursue your desires," but the question remains: which ones! The "real" ones? Who decides which those are? ‘

‘It's a war for your soul on every front.' - This is so true. So many people that regard themselves as 'free-spirits' in today's society, have already sold their soul without realizing it.

'We "want" to go to work because in this society no one looks out for those who don't, because it's hard to imagine more pleasurable ways to spend time when everything around us is designed for commerce and consumption.'


'If our desires are constructs, if we are the products of our environment, then our freedom is a question of how much control we have over that environment.' - How do you think you are free, when you are bowing before the brands on your back? How do you think you have the power to choose, when on every block corner is a Starbucks, or McDonald's? How on earth are you controlling any of your environment when you are choosing to conform to it?

'It's nonsense to say a woman is free to feel however she wants about her body when she grows up surrounded by diet advertisements and posters of anorexic models.'

'It's nonsense to say a man is free to live as he pleases when everything he needs to do to acquire food, shelter, companionship, and a sense of accomplishment is already established and all that remains is for him to choose between prefabricated options.'

'We must make our freedom by forging the realities which, in turn, fashion us.'


'This sounds like a lot to ask. But change, revolutionary change, is going on everywhere all the time-and everyone plays a part in it, consciously or not.'



Everyone is playing a part in their own freedom, whether they know it, or not.
Whether they think they are free already, or not.

If you think you're already in the trap of being an 'individual', get out whilst you can.
If you're already out, stay tuned for the next couple of posts as towards what to do once you're out.

It is wearing your skin that is important. Not what covers it.


To close, I want to leave you with this thought that I came about with the other night;

‘Instead of spending so much time looking at your reflection, take a minute and see what’s behind it.’ - Hazardous.

Peace and Rice,
See you tomorrow, on Hazardous John's LAST day of exams! :D