ALL THIS UNHEARD MUSIC

In The White Noise Supremacists, Lester Bangs ends with the following sentiment: At least when you allow the poison in you to erupt, that can be dealt with; maybe the greater evil occurs when you refuse to recognize that the poison even exists. In other words, when you assent by passivity or indifference. Hell, most people live on the other side of that line. It seems that one could read with or against this sentiment in a number of ways. In approximately 1200 1500 words, and by using the readings*, music, and diy knowledge from our course, discuss the rationale for why and how a community should define its inclusivity. In your response, please use the following questions to guide your response:

How inclusive is the punk rock community (based on the texts that we

have read, watched, and listened to)? What is the communitys responsibility to be inclusive? Who benefits from an inclusive community? How can any "scene" (or subculture) truly remove itself from the larger cultures out of which it sprang? Mimi Nguyen claims that we need to address the language, the words we use in describing us. Seems reasonable, but how possible is it that a focus on language encourages a superficial readings. In other words, is it possible that a good strategy for not actually dealing with issues is to keep the discussion at the level of language? Many of our recent readings claim that popular music has political dimensions (even if popular music claims otherwise). What are the strengths and weakness of such a position? What can popular music accomplish in the world?

*I encourage you to use any of the course readings, but make sure that you at least three articles in our second sequence of readings (Mailer Nguyen) and Rombes book Ramones. email your paper by midnight, Wednesday October 19