Gays against Gaga • "Real Punk Belongs to Fighters"

Gays against Gaga

Because some of us queers can see through the marketing machine,
Because some of us aspire to create our own culture, not just settle for being a target market,
Because we refuse to be pawns for companies like Target that funnel our dollars towards anti-gay extremists
Because we stand in solidarity against racial and economic injustice,
This blog collects dissenting voices.

"Real Punk Belongs to Fighters" - a misinformed view from NY Times

probrucer:

I think this is oversimplified and under-informed. She talks about the dangerous edge that punk lives on in many places around the world and uses that as an excuse to say that American music is vacuous and lacks revolutionary spirit by mentioning Springsteen, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, and the unfortunate Varvatos invasion at 315 Bowery. If she had done even the most minimal research, she’d have found that strong political, anti-theocratic, and anti-establishment spirit runs rampant through records by Anti-Flag, NOFX, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Against Me!, and even the reasonably mainstream-accepted Rise Against and the very mainstream-accepted Green Day. And that’s just a handful! I get the point she’s trying to make, but her thesis that punk spirit no longer exists in the western world is built on sand.

There’s a zillion more bands we could add to that list. Who is this woman and why is she allowed to offer her opinions in the New York Times?