MENTAL MASTURBATATHON #1
Hello! This is the first in a series of features written by Tony Quilietti regarding “moods of my own mind” otherwise - the equivalent of mental masturbation.
Throughout the history of mankind there has always been bored teenagers who don’t fit into the norm, hanging out with the other weirdos and intellectuals until they grow up and calm down, taking with them some of the ethics they preached as a youth and applying them to the next generation – and so on and so forth – that has been the accepted general history of alternative culture for a good while now. However, for those amid alternative culture, there is no such thing as a unified youth-movement, the labels are tertiary, there are merely individuals acting against contemporary culture, disenfranchised and separated by their tastes, political opinions, perversions and (increasingly) their thoughts on the Beatles. Its only with retrospect that people can start to label things, eras and peoples. Everything comes back around, especially nowadays, culture is cyclical, and in the current age we see nostalgia for the NEW-WAVE resulting in regurgitation and commodification, removing the nuance and individualism that made it so special.
Alienation is all pervading, individuals experience their lives feeling as though they lack meaning or fulfilment because modern society does not promote human capacities, to this end, many individuals feel estranged, feeling not at home in the modern social world. I am guilty of this estrangement, I was never born in the Arthurian age of the NEW WAVE, I’ll never manage to see David bowie or Iggy Pop at their heights, but that does not mean that myself – and others like me – should resort to blind nostalgic regurgitation, instead, Individualism needs to be explored, fully and thoroughly. Blind self-serving mental masturbation (such as the material you are reading) helps no one, the true individual is to engage with others, deeply and carnally to understand themselves, Alternative Culture thrives on this basis, groups of individuals engaging with one another to discover themselves and others.
Continuing ad nauseum – This isn’t a call-out to anyone who wishes they were born in another generation – why wouldn’t you? Modern life is rubbish, but time-machines and Tardises are far beyond our mortal grasp, for now, you’ve got to learn from the past and put energy into the future, don’t regurgitate; just create. If you’ve got a tendency for cerebral laziness (like myself) then don’t resort to artificial intelligence, just steal, and if you’re going to steal; steal from the best and do your best to make it better.
Alternative praxis is not to continually consume commodified cultural alternatives, but rather to create and engage in those alternatives yourself. You, dear reader, are the Alternative Revolutionary Vanguard, on the front line of the war to cultural collapse, and I expect great things from you, you’ve heard it a million times before, and you’ll hear it a million times again, but SUPPORT your local scene, don’t just go to shows, engage with shows, write reviews, be scathing, be evil, be nice or naughty, just don’t be boring - be authentic, cheers dickheads.
