Monday, October 24, 2005

Please don't ruin my language

What do skulls, CEOs and test scores have to do with each other? Have you noticed that everything we say often means the exact opposite? Am I being vague? Then I will spell it out, my dears.

As a proud 80s punk, I liked skulls. Skulls scared the popular girls away. Boys didn’t mess with girls who wore skulls (although they may have wanted to in private) and mothers certainly didn’t want anything to do with girls who wore skulls. Skulls were gross and badass back then, and all was right. Well, about five years ago I heard someone in the fashion industry call skulls the new “happy face,” and although I didn’t exactly know what the sell-out whore meant, the phrase stuck with me. Oh, to be blind again. Now, one can go into any Mandee, check out Delia’s Online, or visit the trendy poseur capital of the world, Hot Topic, and find skulls on underwear, sneakers, scarves, hats, jeans, jackets, sweaters, purses…I won’t go on. Pink skulls. Pink skulls. NO SKULL SHOULD BE PINK! A skull should ONLY be pink if the oozing blood of its crushed brains has been diluted by the acid rain pouring down upon it! They have smiley faces, even! Why? I will tell you why, my humble reader – money. How do we make the hellacious set of the 80s a nostalgia that everyone wants to buy? Make their anger pink. Happy pink fu***** skulls.

But this mentality isn’t limited to the punk subculture that created independent music and film that is now owned by Disney. It attempts to wrench the life out of much of the creativity that tries to revive culture in the U.S. There is an ad that has been running nationally for a while now where a CEO explains to his underling that he is “sticking it to the man” by purchasing a certain product. The underling claims, “But you are the man.” Ah, but what the little underling doesn’t realize is that even THE MAN HIMSELF longs to stick it to the man. So now, when the man sticks it to the man, it really means that there is no sticking done at all. Hell, WE could be the man, thus making the man nonexistent. Right. It’s kind of like when someone who knows nothing of street culture tries to use its language. Ewww. To quote John Leguizamo, “Please don’t ruin my language.” Must you, Mr. Man, take what little strength we have in our own poetic phrases by appropriating them? Thus, sticking it to the man has no strength now. Pink skulls.


Not only are phrases weakened, but also some phrases are outright lies. Believe it or not, I am not inspired by the Orwell classic, 1984. When I read that novel, even though I am prone to a theory or two, I wholeheartedly believed that his portrayal of names and statements that meant the exact opposite of what they said was a possibility that might happen after I was dead and buried. No, my inspiration comes from all around me. We have “fat free” foods that have so much sugar in them that the sweet stuff ends up being stored as fat because our bodies are not equipped to break it down fast enough. We have a mayor in New York who dismantled the Board of Education and allowed teachers to work without a contract for years and is claiming to be the “Education Mayor” now that elections are coming. We had a “war on drugs” during the time our country was forging a new international drug economy that still exists today. We have countless vendors claiming that we can SAVE money if we just SPEND X amount of dollars. We have a Justice Department that often has very little to do with that; don’t mess with me on that one – my grandmother’s name was Justicia (not kidding). I shouldn’t go on, but I haven’t gotten to the test scores. Ah, yes, the test scores. We have a program called NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND and just because it isn’t in the news as often anymore doesn’t mean its shadow isn’t lurking around the corner. Some states have taken the tests already. In Chicago, Illinois, it is estimated that over 30 schools may close due to inadequate test scores. Under NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, schools that have low test scores get no money from the government, and schools that have no money often close. Students in wealthier neighborhoods have test scores that are just fine (ensuring their schools will stay open). An upbringing without poverty and knowing your teacher cares for you are the two things that have shown the only consistent results in better student performance, so I guess the poor kids are screwed unless they have loving teachers (which is all we can hope for). If not, where will the poor, uneducated kids go? Who knows, but they sure as heck won’t get LEFT BEHIND! Maybe they’ll stick it to the man by wearing a damn pink skull.

These are a few of the ways I’ve noticed that we say the opposite of the truth. I’m sure all of you wonderful readers are aware of many more. Post ‘em!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my biased opinion, I couldn't agree with this article more.

I have an example for you: I don't know the actual name of the act but our current government has made it legal to plunder lands for resources that were once off limits for plunder. The act was named something to the effect of the environmental preservation act. I saw it on NOW on PBS.

Also to go with the skulls, what about all the Che Guevara t-shirts being sold? And (Eek!) Madonna dressing like him on her album cover.

Please don't ruin my language, indeed!

Anonymous said...

Bobby said...

Like all the new laws that are being passed quick as lightning right under our noses and the justices being appointed during this administration's watch... Hmm, I wonder how soon till' you can't even declare bankruptcy fully anymore... And what the fuck does that puppet idiot know about abortion? He ain't no woman. I say let them make their own damn decisions as they see fit. Roe v. Wade get ready you're next! But I've gone off on a tangen.

My example is that this administration sends our kids off to a bullshit war so proudly, without even the proper protection, save that they shouldn't even be over there imposing on the people of the Middle East and then tell us the sacrifice we made was necessary and honorable. What the fuck do you know about honor Bush??? You ducked out of serving when it was your turn but because daddy was there for you, he found a bullshit way of letting you slide PRICK! Off on a tangen again! It's Bush! He's my example. Everything he says is a fucking lie! Isn't that an impeachable act? The "MAN" is a condecending, patronizing liar. There's my example damnit!

Anonymous said...

And I heard that the Bush's are involved in antidepressants. The irony. The irony.

Anonymous said...

the corpuscles of life ooze from these skulls like max factor witches dripping k-y jelly in the arteries of america's youth. skull fascination my dears has swept girlies into the dustbin of history right alongside lee harvey oswald's grandmama

take away them credit cards get some crayolas and a box of hanes

Sincerely,

Jo-Rita

Anonymous said...

Okay, okay, let's keep it clean folks. Don't want to get kicked off of the site before I even have my first birthday, hee, hee!

Interesting about the antidepressants, though. Does this administration know what kind of mood it might inspire, or it is ensuring that we all feel surprisingly light and happy while we push our Target carts around?

Ooohh - that's another one! WalMart has a HUGE ad campaign right now, featuring mainly people of color, who have benefitted from the wonderfully low prices offered there (prices that remain low because of barbaric labor practices in various countries that employ people of color). In other words, WalMart is GOOD for you, not bad. Just take your antidepressants and forget about the sweatshops, forget about the sweatshops, fooorrrgeeeettttt.....

- WRITE TO RIGHT

Anonymous said...

p.s. the "clean" comment was meant for Bobby, cuz he's family like dat - no stress.

- WRITE TO RIGHT

ollav said...

Imitation is the highest form of flattery ;)

You mentioned your birthday in one of your posts. That's a misnomer if you think about it. Really you only have one birthday and the rest are anniversaries of your birthday. (credit that to someone else, I didn't come up with it)

I'm not sure about this "don't ruin my language" thing. I sympathies, but artists and those on the fringe of society always need to be changing. It's just how it is, because otherwise the fringe would get boring and safe and those from the middle would swarm into it.

One of our greatest assets and greatest flaws is that we can become used to anything. It lets people push on under horrible conditions and deal with great tragedy. It also means we become deadened to things and their impact is lost.

Real skulls used to be kept on desks in the home (18th century?) as a way to get children familiar and comfortable with mortality. Although I question the technique, the idea of it is that you become used to something you see all the time.

It's what scares me about the government and it's scandals. With Nixon the country was shocked and horrified, but at this point, it's not so new.

ollav said...

One other note, independent record labels is another smiling skull. Many of the "indy" labels are now owned by the big 4 record companies that have 70% of the market. (according to UTNE magazine)

Grisel said...

To Ollav,
Yeah, about the indie labels, that's precisely why I mention that they're now "owned by Disney." It is just plain silly to consider Miramax an independent film company. It is funded by Disney and I rarely see any unknown actors in Miramax films anymore. That situation is representative of the "independent" film and music recording industry. Personally, I like happening upon a poorly made CD or DVD because it increases my chances of finding art that is actually untouched by the industry, but most people prefer slick products.

- WRITE TO RIGHT