The Death of Freaks and Rise of Cliques
Why are the Democrats in America attacking the Republicans for being “weird”? To me, this highlights their own limitations more than any revulsion for the overtly revolting Republicans. Weird should be the Democratic base if it were truly anti-conservative.
I’ve heard this insult, it’s little more than that after all, a lot from people who otherwise consider themselves outsiders and it’s telling on many levels.
Fashion, Turn to the Left
It’s fashionable and mainstream to pose as a freak or a radical in many circles, which is inherently incoherent but mightily convenient. You get to play dress up, shout at the “authorities”, all of which agree with you, and feign victimhood while bullying any dissenters into self-censorship or unemployment. This is a fashion without art, originality or empathy, they aren’t freaks, but conformist bullies.
This mutant child of hipsters and emos, the fashion crime of combining makeup and beards, has hooked itself onto causes and movements, rather than picking up a guitar, pen or paintbrush. When I first applied eyeliner in a McDonalds toilet in Kingsbury, it was as warpaint, not a badge of victimhood. I didn’t do it then try to persuade banks to #bekind, because fuck the banks!
The Pulp song Mis-Shapes from 1996 talks of how they would “... like to go to town but we can’t risk it”. Within a few years, the misfits they described got the internet and “revenge is gonna be so sweet”. Destroying people’s lives and acting every bit as repulsively as any “Chav”, it thus proved that misfits are often nothing more than shit conformists with resentment issues.
Le Freak, c’est Chic
One good thing about this, however, is it’s been quite illuminating seeing just how “brave” the satirists, artists and “misfits” of the era are. To say I’m underwhelmed would be an understatement, it feels more like a betrayal.
No matter where you stand on trans issues, for example, surely it should have been easy to both mock and criticise rape threats sent in the name of inclusion, but the brave satirists and comedians somehow skipped that and went straight to smearing the objects of the threats and abuse.
With censorship growing, the “anti-Fascists” aren’t just silent but are leading the calls, all to the delight of talentless technocrats and authoritarians.
I’m Caught in a Trap!
Much like politically, I’m culturally homeless at this point. The freaks have been taken over by normies with green fringes and any protestation leads to supporting the other side of the same coin, which is almost as tiresome. It’s a trap that I deeply resent, there’s no position you can take to avoid the binary, fake debate. There’s always a price to pay for being an outsider, I guess this is it in 2024. The insanity of extremism or nihilism.
The bullying, authoritarian culture led by institutions that weaponise Hallmark greeting card hashtags is winning. Its foot soldiers might as well be wearing “I love Tescos and Barclays” badges alongside their progress flags and anti-Nazi patches.
If I want, for example, to join an environmental march, I have to agree to anti-Capitalism and anti-Israel, as well. They want to own your every opinion, homogenising everything.
Super Freaks
Growing up in this era must be hell for any adolescent with a compulsion to express themselves honestly, it’s hard enough as a belligerent Gen X’er. They see that saying something wrong on social media can ruin their lives so they suppress and never develop. The talentless must be delighted, the talented never stood a chance.
I can only hope that there will be some special cases who find their voice and are allowed on some platform or other to express it, because these conformists aren’t leading us to the promised land, only Glastonbury.