• jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
    2·
    11 months ago

    People who say “keep politics out of” anything are usually stupid. Most things are political. Implicitly supporting the status quo is political. Leaving things unsaid is political.

    Usually the people who pop out that line mean “keep politics that are different than mine out of”.

    But on topic, punk is extremely political. For example, please review these lyrics from The Clash “Know Your Rights”, 1982

    You have the right not to be killed
    Murder Is a crime!
    Unless it was done
    By a policeman or an aristocrat

    • hersh@literature.cafe
      1·
      11 months ago

      I’d go a step further and say “punk” is by definition political, and more specifically anti-authoritarian and non-conformist.

      That said, this is a relatively new usage of the word. 100 years ago it meant nothing of the sort.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
        0·
        10 months ago

        Care to name some media that’s about people that has no political dimension?

        For example, if a story has only white people or a story has non-white people, that’s a political dimension to the story. “Political” doesn’t only mean waving a flag.

        A story about rescuing a princess from a castle has a political dimension. Super Mario Brothers isn’t what most people think of as a “political” game, but that’s there. It’s saying monarchy is okay, and unremarkably so as it doesn’t really spend any time on it. That’s not even touching the gender role stuff.

        A story about a boy pursuing a girl is rife with political subtext. Why is he pursuing instead of her? Why not an arranged marriage? Why not gay? When does No mean No? All of that stuff is there, whether you like it or not. It might not be noticeable if it’s the dominant paradigm, but it’s still there.

        Someone might say “Well you’re just reading into things!”. Unfortunately for them, that’s like the entirety of literary analysis. Additionally, the author’s intent is one tiny sliver of what’s important, if it matters at all.

        Finding a political dimension in, like, lyric-less chiptune music might be more challenging, but most stuff that involves people has a political aspect to it.