I’ve been political my whole life since high school basically, but recently I’ve felt my age creep up on me. I’m almost 30 now, so I really should be more educated on my opinions if I want to be taken seriously.
I’ve done very little activism and I’m not a political science major, though I did want to add a political science minor early on.
If I’m going to be talking so much politics on here, I really should be more informed. Obviously fascism is bad, but many would call Trump a proto-fascist. But do I even know what that means? Do I even know what fascism meant in history? I know a little, but not a whole lot.
What ignited my interest in fascism? Probably the fact that many call Trump a lead-in to real fascism, and with the election coming soon it’s definitely nerve-wracking to think he could be in office again, or potentially lead to worse Republican front-runners in the future.
But I’ve also been interested in learning more about the history of punk rock. I’ve tried to read “Get In The Van” by Henry Rollins but never really had the time to. See, when punks were first coming along, they were pretty anti-authoritarian. But Sid Vicious wore swastikas (never mind that Johnny, now John Lydon supported Trump some years back). One of Black Flag’s early songs “White Minority” sounds a bit weird if you listen to it nowadays. And I think I heard from a documentary a while back that Johnny Ramone was pretty anti-Semitic towards Joey. Obviously they were kids just growing up while also dealing with the perils of immense fame and touring for the unpredictable punk kids (And Sid Vicious, as well as Nancy Spungen were, unfortunate tragedies of the Sex Pistols aftermath). But it’s hard to think that my current favorite genre of music could have led to neo-nazi attitudes later on. Don’t you think groups like the Proud Boys probably listen to songs like “White Minority” a little too literally?
I don’t know. I’m trying to stay off social media and take breaks from the news because it’s just exhausting for me. “If it bleeds, it leads,” they say, and that’s probably right. With established news sources struggling to really sell their subscriptions and newspapers, and this being an economic barrier for even watching presidential debates, it’s tempting to watch YouTubers and other political commentators/news outlets that give out their content for free. But the fact is that any independent political commentator or outlet may not be held to the same standards of more established news sources, and may not have the best resources or the time to really pump out free content with the best research possible. Not to mention who knows who’s being funded by political groups leading to a conflict of interest anyways. And the fact of the matter is, when it comes to politics in the Western world, whether it’s a presidential debate or just some YouTubers having a debate, it’s still probably the same. If it bleeds, it leads. And that shit can get exhausting.
Of course it’s entertaining, but if I’m going to vote I want to hear both sides with as much information and context as possible. Even Trump, assuming he becomes the front-runner, which as the previous president he probably will be. I might try to watch debates if possible, but who knows. Maybe I should just wait and hope Trump isn’t elected again.
