Cool Kids

“I guess it was just the kids that were too cool for school. They were geeky and they found their niche and then all the sudden, they became the assholes.” – George Rebelo on Hot Water Music’s first experience at 924 Gilman Street

Something I’ve wondered about ever since I started going to punk and hardcore shows is where a sense of elitism comes from. Yes, I know humans are humans, but one of the main draws of punk and hardcore is the sense of finding a crowd when you don’t think you fully belong anywhere else.

Thinking about George’s quote, it’s always struck me as odd when people who don’t fit in with the regular crowd find their own crowd, but then start acting like the people they hate from the regular crowd. Think of it as the bullied becoming the bullies. What’s up with that?

There was a time in 1998 when I thought I was straight edge. (Key words: “thought I was.”) I had no interest in smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or screwing around. Yet when I encountered ardent straight edge followers, I distanced myself from the label. Extremist followers can turn anybody off from whatever they believe in, and this was definitely the case here. I didn’t want to dress up like members of Earth Crisis, rip people apart for eating meat, or start fights at shows with people who drank and smoke. Years later, I met much more grounded people who were straight edge but weren’t extremist. Still, I can’t forget the extremists that put up roadblocks rather than present an open door.

Read more after the jump.

The same went for being a fan of bands like NOFX and Screeching Weasel. There were the few that tried to act like Fat Mike or Ben Weasel and came across as complete jerks in the process. Based on what I saw, the vocal minority ruined things for the majority. At the time though, I thought this minority group was the majority.

Maybe this has to do with youth, and a certain stage of it. I was nineteen in 1998, as were many of the people at the shows I went to. I was about to go off to an out-of-town college and thought about the world at large. The cruelties and unfairness of the world at large made me think about what I could do to either avoid them or combat them. That’s what drew me to straight edge, as it did for many then and still does for people today.

So the puzzlement continues, or am I just having a hard time understanding the difference in wanting to belong and belonging.