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Chris
Category Archives: Culture Jamming
Book Review: DO iT!
Book: DO iT! Scenarios of the Revolution
Author: Jerry Rubin
Year: 1970
This is easily the greatest and most inspiring manifesto ever written. Even before you begin this delicious work of incendiary material, just gazing at the back cover clues you in that your in for one hell of a ride! It reads in giant letters: “DANGER! This book will become a Molotov Cocktail in your very hands.” To the left of this summary is a photo of author Jerry Rubin being escorted out of the halls of Congress by the “pigs,” while dressed up like an American Revolutionary soldier: bare chested (with lots of hair!), covered in war paint, reeking of stench from weeks of not bathing, a head full of acid, and well armed ( a toy gun! albeit very real looking!).
As we open up the subversive memoir we are commanded to “READ THIS BOOK STONED,” a theme that is prevalent throughout the book.
Next, we experience one of the finest introductions by Eldridge Cleaver, the Minister of Information of the Black Panther Party For Self-Defense. Cleaver explains how “if everybody carried out Jerry’s program- there would be immediate peace in the world. Amerika, in particular would cease to bleed.” So, what exactly was Jerry’s programs? Well, his program is very simple: Go out in the streets and be a revolutionary, your own legislator. He shouts, “All you have to do to be a yippie is be a yippie.” Transform your ideas into actions. Fuck Ideologies. Fuck Rules. Fuck Religion. Fuck Everything…in the streets and bring some dope and dynamite with you! Destroy the Schools. Burn the Prisons down. Kill Your Parents. Drop out of society. Burn Money. Actions speak louder than words, so cut out long boring speeches on what your goals or demands are. Instead, use Yippie (Youth International Party) tactics to highlight your agenda. The Yippies nominated an actual pig named Pigasus as their presidential candidate, illustrating the point that all the other candidates were equally filthy pigs. And after all, don’t most politicians like to roll around in their own shit anyway?! If all of this sounds irrational to you, then it should. Our menacing Yippie informs us, “Yippies know we’re sane and everyone else is crazy, so we call ourselves “the crazies.” Jerry Rubin was indeed “crazy,” he was a dedicated revolutionary and a relentless outlaw in the true sense of the word. You know you often hear badass musicians, actors, or comedians like Bill Hicks, referred to as “outlaws.” But, they weren’t constantly in trouble with the law. Jerry, on the other hand was. In fact, at the time of this book’s publication, he and seven other defendants (Abbie Hoffman, Dave Dellinger, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Lee Weiner, and John Froines) were on trial for conspiracy to incite a riot while crossing state lines at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Grade: A 9.5/10- One of the most subversive books I’ve ever read!
Chris
Radio Stations vs. DIY
How do you find out about music? Me, I primarily use the internet via various websites (YouTube, Wikipedia, last.fm, etc) to listen to and discover new bands. Doing this myself is quite convenient. I can stop the music or X out of band web-pages that I don’t particularly enjoy. With the radio, on the other hand, you have very little choice. The stations may allow you to request a song or two, but for the most part songs are pre-selected. That way, you are almost forced to like whatever they play. I find that the people who are predisposed to KISS 108 and JAMN 945 often become immediately attached to the songs that are played. These “club anthems” stick with them, but do any of these listeners actually go online, do research, buy albums, and most importantly listen to more songs other than the hits? Even with independent radio stations like WERS, I suspect the average listener doesn’t log onto wers.org and look up playlists. Personally I get the vibe that the DIY approach that I often take makes me like a song for a longer period of time. Good songs don’t just disappear after they’ve had their “time” on the radio; they become apart of my regular, personalized playlist.
Late Night comedian has it out for Harry Potter
If you watch as much late comedy (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmell, David Letterman etc.) as I do, you would see that one of these in particular has a target for Harry Potter fans. The one I speak of is Conan O’Brien. Over the past few nights, he has joked over the Potter fans dedication comparing them to that of Star Wars or Star Trek fans. Most recently, he shows a sketch which depicted Dumbledore drunk out of his mind, partying like a rock star. Now, when I saw this, I thought it was absolutely hysterical. However, when I showed it to one of my friends, they were offended as if I told an offensive black joke at the Apollo. Now, the point of this is to tell all people who worship all these entertainment icons to grow a pair. It’s a joke get the frick over it. That and I wanted to drop Conan’s name. Check out the show, its really funny. Again, Good Night and Good Luck.
A Note To The Public
Don’t become obsessed with any one brand. Every corporation depends on you becoming a part of their lifestyle, apart of their culture. Ignore this. You are your own person, not a slave to a brand. Ubiquitous marketing and branding is really what feeds consumerism. Be your own pet.
Glen
SATAN SAID DANCE!
I’ve always liked and admired this guy. Many of his philosophies can be found in mine.
Chris DeCarlo
Elementary Ideas on Propaganda
Let’s face it everything you see and hear is propaganda. Every day since you abandoned that womb, you have been indoctrinated by family, friends, school, church, the government, the media, and everything else. I refer to myself as a propagandist and therefore my mission is to honestly spread my radical agenda to as many as possible. I reject journalism because journalism claims to be objective reporting, without any hint of emotion or opinion. I can and do not do this and no one truly can. When you watch the news or any mainstream (as well as most independent, but they’re not as hazardous) media outlet they are being subjective because they choose certain stories, perspectives, or ideas and omit others. This creates bias, a major no no by traditional reporting standards. The truth is, as many have stated over and over again, the aboveground make propaganda for the state and private sector scumfucks, while the underground press makes propaganda for the working and middle classes, the anti-scumfucks. Propaganda is not only ok, it’s moral. Everyone uses it; who uses it? is not the question we should be asking ourselves. It’s how do they use it? That’s the real question to ponder. It’s only moral if the propagandists make their media open propaganda and do not portray it as news. Unfortunately, the mainstream society doesn’t do this. Their propaganda is “news,” “education,” “gospel,” etc. Well, I self-righteously say FUCK OFF! to the establishment with my propaganda. Keep your eyes and ears open kids!
Chris DeCarlo
New Left
Throughout this year I have embarked on a journey of self-education through reading inflammatory recipes for revolution and amongst the incendiary material on my bookshelf, works concerning the New Left appear the most prominently. The New Left, unlike the Old Left of the 1930s and 1940s, focused on social activism and American culture. Elvis Presley and the Lone Ranger were just as important as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Their main aims were ending the War in Viet FUCKINGnam, ending racism at home, and protesting the conformist, capitalist, greedy, Amerikkkan lifestyle, amongst other initiatives, As I mentioned, I’ve read several books this year on this subject that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. These include:
From Yale to Jail By: David Dellinger
Steal This Book By: Abbie Hoffman
The Black Panthers Speak By: Various Panthers
Kingdom of Fear By: Hunter S. Thompson
Flashbacks By: Timothy Leary
Soon to Be A Major Motion Picture By: Abbie Hoffman
Fugitive Days By: Bill Ayers
Do iT! Scenarios of the Revolution By: Jerry Rubin
It’s been fantastic learning about these turbulent times through such diverse, charismatic, and first hand accounts. It’s really funny seeing how certain figures are portrayed differently in various works. For example, acid guru, Timothy Leary paints Yippies Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin as pessimistic, Anti-American agitators that advocate violent revolution. Leary says some nice things about the boys, but he tends to omit their personal charm and dedication to social change. On the contrary, through the Yippies’ eyes, the sky is the limit, nope scratch that, after they levitated the Pentagon they could fly with it to the moon! You’ll have to do some reading to understand what the hell I’m talking about right now haha. All of these characters appear in just about all of these books at least once. And the aforementioned protests at the Pentagon, the 1968 (Un)Democratic National Convention and ensuing Chicago Conspiracy Trial are events that are discussed in depth in all of these works. I have also read about Tim Leary’s prison break through his perspective as well as his rescuers’, The Weathermen. Here are some other key New Left figures I haven’t mentioned:
Tom Hayden
Noam Chomsky
Howard Zinn
David Horowitz
John Lennon
Allen Ginsburg
Angela Davis
Mario Savio
Rennie Davis
That is by no means a complete list.
Chris DeCarlo
One Week…
In one week Leonard Peltier, veteran peace activist of the American Indian Movement and political prisoner (serving two consecutive life sentences since 1977 for allegedly murdering two FBI agents) is up for parole. Peltier has enormous, world wide support, hopefully it will bring justice to this ugly case this time around. We’ll keep you updated on the hearings.
Chris DeCarlo
Our Society Fails!
Because we choose*:
1. Impulse over deliberation
2. Feeling over reason
3. Play over work
4. Instant gratification over long term satisfaction
5. Egoism over altruism
6. Narcissism over sociability
7. Entitlement over obligation
8. Individualism over community
9. Ignorance over knowledge
10. Speeding things up, accelerating vacations, and quick-fucking over taking things slowly, prolonged vacations, and committed relationships.
*The majority of the ideas expressed above come from the book Consumed by Benjamin R. Barber.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 