73 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
73 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
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(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
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(*) (*) * (*)~*~(*) HOE E'ZINE RELEASE #884
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* 0 0 ~ 0 *
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~ 0 0 ~* *~ 0 hOGS ~ "The New Clique"
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( 0*~*~*0 ( ) 0*~*~ oF )
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~ 0 0 ~ ~ 0 eNTROPY ~ By: Ugliness Man
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* 0 0 * * 0 * 10-23-99
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(*) (*) ~ (*)~*~(*)
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Reading zines, both print and online, as well as rants and
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commentaries posted to newsgroups and various other internet forums, I see a
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wide variety of topics. Decriminalization of drugs, the mistakes made by
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those in office, vegetarianism, gay rights, corporate idiocy... and being a
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part of this scene as much as I can be, I, of course, have my own opinions
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and views on things, and I often get ideas in my head of things I want to
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write about. So I was trying to think of something to write about for this
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page, and I was munching on some candy. It was the new M&M's variety, with
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the cookie center. I got to thinking about how it's basically a rip off of
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the new candy called Astros. Then I got to thinking about how a lot of
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other candy products, as well as fast food chains, coffee shops, and
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countless other industries, are constantly stealing new ideas from each
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other. I also got to thinking about the cheesy concept of Aero's "limited
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edition" cappuccino bar. With all this thinking, I figured I was on to
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something, and intended to write something about all of this.
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But something was wrong. Almost instantly, I started thinking about
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how it wasn't "cool". It's not angry enough, it's not very anti-social. I
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found myself almost wanting to post a message to alt.anarchism and ask them
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if they thought it was too lame of a topic to write about. This is not a
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good thing. In the zine culture, at least the "alternative" and
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anarchist/anti-social variety, it should be an "anything goes" spirit.
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Instead, we sometimes find ourselves looking to each other for permission
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and validation for our thoughts. Should we? I don't think so. This is one
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of the symptoms of the clique attitude that "alternative" culture is so
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opposed to. We're supposed to be trying to destroy cliques, not form our
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own.
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We're all guilty of this. Both ends of it. No matter how liberal or
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"alternative" our friends are, when we're hanging around with them, just
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chatting, we will sometimes censor ourselves and decide not to say something
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that's on the tip of our tongue, for fear that our friends will think we're
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less "cool" for wasting breath on something so insipid. And on the rare
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occasion that someone forgets themselves and says something like that, they
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receive a look that says "that's just not cool"... or even worse, someone
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will actually say it out loud. Eventually, we all learn to shut up and act
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as we're expected, adhere to the rules. It all comes around full circle,
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and we become the clique clones.
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It's a double-edged sword, though. Part of the core of this culture
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is complaining about how boring, banal and insipid we find television and
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mass media, not to mention politicians and teachers. So would it not follow
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that we force ourselves to avoid that? To be honest, I really don't know.
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Maybe we can use our boring stuff to combat that of the mainstream. Next
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time your english teacher requires you to write a stupid essay, take my idea
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and complain for 5 pages about how M&M's ripped off Astros. Just a thought.
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Okay, so it's not a very good thought, but it's mine and I'm proud of it.
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And isn't that what it should be all about? Say whatever the hell
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you want! All of it! Yeah, some of what you say will end up being crap,
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but that's okay. If you train yourself to hold back, the good stuff might
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not ever come out. And no matter what others try to tell you, there is good
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stuff in there that has to come out. Interesting, I started out pondering
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the evils of the candy companies, and now I've come round to something
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totally unrelated. SPEAK YOUR MIND. SPEAK THE TRUTH. If you really want
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to, start your own zine. I haven't yet seen one print zine that I thought
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was boring (I've seen plenty of crappy ezines, tho). So what's holding you
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back? The cliquesters? Educate them, or cut them down, just don't give in.
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(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
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( *(c) hOGS oF eNTROPY pRESS* HOE #884 ~ BY: UGLINESS MAN ~ 10/23/99 )
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