James Hutchings: How to Piss Off Authority in Eight Easy Steps

7/30/2019 James Hutchings: How to Piss Off Authority in Eight Easy Steps

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James Hutcings

How to Piss Off Authorityin Eight Easy Steps


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Contents

Work. Consume. Be Silent. Die. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Television the Drug of a Nation (not to mention radio stations,

magazines, newspapers. . . ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

More an Noise punk, from anarchism to those pompous old

men the Sex Pistols. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

We Believe in Freedom Heres Your Uniform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Rage In Favour of the Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Pull My String. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

We Fought the Law and We Won. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Youll Never Walk Alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6


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Work. Consume. Be Silent. Die.

Are you unhappy with your life? Do you hate being pushed around by parents,teachers, perhaps the church, perhaps the boss at your shiy four dollars an hour

job at Macdonalds? Our society isnt exactly kind to young people bossedaround by everyone, in a lot of cases were the victims of out and out abuse. Inthe Northern Territory, the government was considering forcing people under18 to wear identity bracelets at night. In Qeensland they can put teenagers inshackles for court appearances. And when you get the freedom of adulthood, itturns to ashes in your mouth: parents and teachers are replaced by bosses (or casemanagers if youre unemployed). Sexual harassment and racism dont go away.Our parents are just as helpless and frustrated as we are. If none of this bothersyou, please dont keep reading. If it does, then youre not alone (even though youprobably oen feel like you are). In fact, most teenagers would probably like toreplace this society with a beer one. However, most teenagers are also leing

their anger out in a way that wont do anything. If youre interested in how andwhy, please read on.

Television the Drug of a Nation (not to mention

radio stations, magazines, newspapers. . .)

If youre young, youll know how the media can distort things. If you believedthe TV, youd think that all teenagers are bludgers, heroin addicts, and all sorts ofother condescending bullshit. But media stereotyping isnt limited to programslike A Current Affair. eres no group thats lied about more than anarchists. every people who get upset about stereotyping of, say, the metal scene, will oenthen turn around and tell you that all anarchists are drug-addled nutcases with abeer in one hand and a molotov cocktail in the other. I cant stop you doing thesame thing. If you want to believe what the mass media tell you, that anarchists

are half terrorists and half crusty fashion rebels, then you do that. But next timesomeone stereotypes you for having the wrong hair or an earring in the wrongplace, dont complain, and dont think youre any beer or more open-mindedthan they are. (For those who are fairly open-minded, anarchism means believingin direct democracy ie no government, sharing the wealth, and equality. Youdont have to be into drugs, music or fashion to believe this, though we think thateveryone should be free to take whatever drugs, listen to whatever music, and

wear whatever they choose. It also has nothing to do with chaos and destruction,


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except the destruction of authority. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, you nowknow more about it than they do).

More an Noise punk, from anarcism to thosepompous old men the Sex Pistols.

If youve heard of anarchism already, its likely to have been through punk.Punk has always had an anarchist presence: from Crass to the Dead Kennedys(and Jello Biafras solo albums) to Propagandhi today. e D.I.Y. ethic, of havingself-sufficient local scenes instead of passively consuming what record companieshave to offer, is taken from anarchism. However, the punk scene isnt as good asit should be (or as good as people sometimes make it out to be). Punk is meantto be a way of fighting back. But, like a lot of rebellion, it can turn into a way of

running away.

We Believe in Freedom Heres Your Uniform.

e point of punk is meant to be the anger. at and doing something aboutit. is is the difference between, say, Smash Hits and anarchist punk zines likeMaximum Roc n Roll. Or why Jello Biafra does spoken word albums and theSpice Girls dont. However, punk can be used as just another fashion. It can bea lile in-group, where having the right hair is more important than having theright ideas. Some people will make fun ofpeople for dividing on the basis ofwhatfootball team you support, and then turn around and be worse on the groundsof what bands you like. A lot of people see punk aitude as just fucking shitup, which is exactly the opposite ofanarchism. If you really want to just wreckthings, youd be beer to go and join the government. is is a general problem

with subcultures. Most of them have some prey good points the gothic andmetal scenes can be very anti-religious, punk is oen prey anti-authority, and soon. But, it isnt enough. Some people act as if everything will be OK if you wearthe uniform, support local bands and boyco Macdonalds. Which is bullshit. Ifyou really hate being at the boom of the heap in this horrible world, then youshould do something about it not try and escape and forget, because you cant.e powers that be wont let you.


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Rage In Favour of the Macine.

Living yourlife based on what bands youre into isoneof the most un-rebelliousthings you can do. As long as the people at the boom of the pile express their

anger by dividing instead of by uniting, the people at the top will be safe. It doesntmaer whether you listen to Brujeria or Tina Arena, youre geing screwed bythe system either way. You listen to music because you enjoy it. It can give youideas, but by itself it isnt going to change anything.

Pull My String.

And the corporations will do all they can to make sure music gives you badideas. Whenever any kind of rebellious movement comes along, the powers thatbe will try and take it over. Yesterdays rebels can easily become todays bosses.

And turning something into a scene, with its own music, fashion etc, makes thatall the easier. ey can simply copy all those things, and leave out the politicalmeaning. How many punk bands just sing about love and are on major labels?e ex-members of the Sex Pistols dont seem to be giving away their millions,despite singing about Anarchy in the UK. Exactly the same thing happened inthe 60s: there were a lot of really good ideas around, like the early feministsand the Black Panthers. But all we really get to hear about are Martin LutherKing and smoking pot. e mass media is owned by a few very rich men. Andthey arent going to let people get hold of anything that really threatens theirpower. As Phil Spector (a record producer) said, I dictate to the kids what I wantthem to hear and what I want them to buy. eyll buy what I put out there. is

is true whether the music is mainstream or alternative (which is geing moremainstream every day). eres nothing sadder than seeing people expressingtheir anger by buying CDs and t-shirts from the very rich bastards who make lifemiserable in the first place.

We Fought the Law and We Won.

eres no point criticising unless you can offer something beer. Which Ithink I can. I wont try and bullshit you anarchism is a prey small movementin Australia. But its equally obvious that were growing. You might have heard

about the recent speaking tour of Lorenzo Ervin, the ex-Black Panther who ourgovernment arrested, bashed, called a terrorist and tried to deport. We wouldnt


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have been able to do a tour which 1000 people came to, in the face of persecutionby the government and Pauline stupid Hanson. e reasons why weve been quietfor the last few decades are important, but not that relevant to this article. Fornow, its enough to know that were waking up from a long sleep, where other

movements seem to be stagnating or even geing smaller.

Youll Never Walk Alone.

No one expects you to go out and start a revolution all by yourself. At best,young people face a life slightly worse than their parents a bit more frustration,a bit more anger, a lile less pay. At worst, the environment might completelyfall apart thanks to the greed of the rich. If you want more than this, if yourefeeling frustrated or angry, and very importantly if youre prepared to express itin a way that will actually do something, then you should join an anarchist group.

You might already know where to contact one. If not, you can get in touch withme email ( [email protected]), or write to me c/o Angry People(my group), PO Box 108, St Peters NSW 2033. I answer every leer and everyquestion I get.


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May 21, 2012

James HutchingsHow to Piss OffAuthority in Eight Easy Steps

Retrieved on January 1, 2005 from www.cat.org.au
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James Hutchings: How to Piss Off Authority in Eight Easy Steps