Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Get off the bandwagon (and put down the handbook)

This has been talked about a million times at a million places
by millions of people,
but there is only one thing that remains
the lack of change and lack of awareness of this growing,
annoying, irritating habit.

One:

On one hand, you get avid fans of a band willing to travel
halfway across the world
or even halfway down a country just to see that one band perform
before their eyes because it's worth it, to them.

On the other hand you get 'fans' who pay a few hundred
to enter the venue and watch a band only to walk out halfway saying "I was not close enough, I couldn't connect"
and say to everybody else "Oh, yes I've seen that band!"

Or 'fans' who bloat about how big a supporter they are of the scene
but when there's a gig,
where are they?
Nowhere to be found.

Kiddo, if I can stand 20,000-100,000 TALL people away from Rammstein,
Muse or Iron Maiden and still bloody connect with their set,
and kiss the muddy ground after because I am so grateful to even SEE them before my eyes,
why the hell can you not connect with a band you're locked into a stadium with?

There are fans all over the world, real fans,
who look up to bands and are inspired by them
and really, really hurt when they slip a chance of seeing them perform, seeing them live
but shake it off by listening to them on their CDs/cassettes all night long.
And there you get others wasting their money, showing off, and not even showing an ounce of gratitude or appreciation of what the bands sweat out to give their audience.

If you can't connect with a band just because of the distance or quality of venue or sound... you're not a true fan, so why do you claim yourself to be?

Be honest with yourself and be honest to people around you, why do music listeners nowadays need to be so pretentious, and claim they are a fan of so many bands and buy band t-shirts but when they're put in a situation where they can prove what a fan they are... they bail.

If you're not a real fan, just say "I listen to them, but not much". What's so difficult about that? Shame? Street credit? You have to say you know them well too, because everyone else does?
You're not going to lose respect if you're the only one who doesn't listen to Metallica, or Paramore or The Ramones.
The loss of respect is if you promote your obsession of the band 24/7, when really you only listen to the band when it comes up on shuffle.
Believe me, shame is what you get when one day someone finds out what a phoney you are.


Two:

After my previous posts, people have been sharing their views about it and a lot about 'ideology' came up. All sorts, of all subcultures, of all ages, of all forms.

I only have this to say:
instead of forcing and pressuring
and controlling people to believe your ideology is right
take a look at what you're doing
aren't you being the exact same as the ones
your ideology's against (the big man)?
Control, Pressure, Force.

And you call yourself a real deal but
you spend your time dissing other people
well, instead of cursing at people on your facebook group
why don't i see you do something worth the time
start a riot or fight for your right,
not fight for your social pride,
why don't i see you do something physical to show what you stand for?

Prove to me your ideology holds strong
and I will salute you.

That is all I have to say.


-----------------
With Love,
KL Mosher

Monday, October 18, 2010

Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot

It may be true that actions speak louder than words, but people forget nowadays that the real influences come from what we say. Lyrics, quotes from famous/favourite people, quotes from films. Jokes, riddles, stories, rumours... all these words that stick to our heads and stay because they left an impression on us. How many people have used, re-used, changed and edited the quote "To be or not to be", for example?
Words. Nothing more, nothing less. I do not care how many people read my lyrics, my poems, my prose on things that matter to me, but as long as I know I've managed to express myself, that's enough. Isn't it?

Violence? Forthright actions? What do you gain from it, except hurt, anger and enemies?
Many say they want to fight the oppression and injustice of the right wing, political, racist violence by fighting back with their own,
but hey, doesn't that make you the same as them?
You're lining yourself up in the same boundaries as the ones you hate and that makes you no better.
It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, when you act the way your enemies do, you're equal to them.
You call yourself a leader but you're just another carbon copy of the ones you despise,
because your actions speak no louder than the ones you victimize,
I'm not saying we should pity the ones who cause us all this headache,
I'm not saying we should listen to the politically minded who try to change our ways.

Sometimes it's true that anger takes a toll and you can't help yourself, but if you can't help yourself, do you think anyone else can? Do you think you can change?

When you read the news, you shake your head, but then you go and do something just the same,
and you're always the one pointing fingers,
like you do not dare to blame yourself for your own actions.
So who is the coward, you or them?

When you act with violence, you show a weak mind, and with a weak mind comes a loss of respect and pride from those by your side, and you end up standing alone with nobody to turn to.
Of course I believe in standing your own ground, but I won't want to stand my own ground if I did things I'm ashamed of.

All I am saying is if they fight us with control,
we fight them with restraint.

No use shouting profanity and ruining what they own,
when we can silently compile our thoughts and make a movement grow,
through speeches, through ideas we can rise against
not through violence, not through threats, not through physical provocation.

I believe strongly in determination, and if we are determined to change things, we can do it, but there is no need for all the hatred and all the angry actions that you will look back on and regret. We should start a sort of weekly gathering, where we can share our own ideas on an individual topic, and come up with ways to make it better. Without a rash mind, without irritation, just pure, civilized, sophisticated discussions.
We don't need to be part of a group, part of a class, part of anything materialistic and tangible to share our ideas, we just need to have the same minds, the same passion, the same determination.

Propagandas, zines, banners, poems, placards, flyers, blogs, websites, lyrics... all these form of expression we can use to get our words out there to the world, to the ones we want to attack, without physically attacking them.

As they aimlessly opress us, we stand and sing,
then we'll see in the end who's side will win.

-----------
With Love,
KL Mosher

Friday, October 15, 2010

You're The Only You

This is not a song. I guess?
-------------------------------


Want to be yourself but too scared to strip down to your individuality.
It's alright to feel uncomfortable when people stare...
Penny Rimbaud felt uncomfortable, but did he care?
If you want to be different you're going to have to face a lot more shit
and tell those conforming scums "Fuck you, because I don't give-"

Of course people are going to laugh, of course you'll get crapped on,
stepped on, pulled down,
but what's the point of singing all the songs about what you stand for,
if you can't even stand your own ground?
Why would you sing "Hey Ho, Let's Go"
if you don't know where you're heading?
Why would you dress up in extremes if your mind is laden like the rest of normality?

What's the point of buying badges and pins and patches if you don't understand what it means?
What's the point of shaving half your head off just to look good in the mirror
yet blush red when people snigger on the streets?
It's your own fault for the lack of independence,
not the society's, because without you to feed to,
there will be no feeding of bullshit ideas and fake reality
so don't blame or point fingers at society's leaders
for brainwashing you and your mates
if you can't even handle going against their oppression and slick manipulation
and walk out with everything they stuff into you and on you.

You say you're an anti-capitalist, kiddo,
but if you live in the city
and just newly exposed to the concept,
it's very hard to be one, unless you live with nothing but your pair of jeans
and cycle and walk, and forget about your handphones
and eat from the bin,
can you do that?
well, then, stop labeling yourselves
and do something about it.

because you don't need to be part of any clan
any subculture
any group or community
to prove yourself differently
because when you join a hundred, you become a hundred things
so what happens to YOU?

you don't need to be an anarchist
if you dislike the government,
you don't need to be a liberalist
or part of the GAP to do something about the shithole of society
to give money to the poor or scratch rich men's cars,
just because you dislike racists doesn't mean you have to start attacking
racist punks, unless they are racist to you, of course,
but even violence can't solve everything
violent actions are violent minds
and war starts from the inside.

anarchy? anti-christ? anti-fa?
those are just labels of what the society gives to the
failures, the outsider mentalities,
because in reality, these labels mean nothing,
they never existed and at the end of the day
our words and actions are louder
and we are not failures
for we stand as ourselves, individual and whole.

you don't need to be part of anything else
but your own mind.

Believe it. Trust it.
You want to be yourself, but you're too afraid to show it,
so who are you showing, who do you see when you look into the mirror?
Find yourself, be yourself before it's too late,
or you'll spend the rest of your life
watching yourself fade.

Thank you.

-Celine Belli