Musican Defends Straight Edge Lifestyle on Fox News

[rocktivity]

I love it when I get the opportunity to sneak in some shots at the Bush empire in my music column!

(c)2005 by Rocknation

GUEST EDITORIAL BY KARL BUECHNER, VOCALIST OF FREYA
It was a typical Fox News Channel setup. So typical, in fact, that the chief of their London bureau thought nothing of writing this in the European Wall Street Journal last week: "Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly." We wonder if Freya vocalist Karl Buechner would have appeared on the U.S. Fox New Channel's At Large With Geraldo Rivera if he'd known he'd be cast in the role of the leftie...Here is Buechner's take on his experience:

"On Sunday night, Fox News broadcast a story on violent incidents involving Straight Edge youth in Utah and Nevada. I was one of the guests in the discussion. In Salt Lake City, two Straight Edgers were sent to prison for the murder of a teen they killed in...(1988). In Reno, the police arrested Straight Edgers for beating kids with bats, and they have classified Straight Edge as a gang. The screen was split four ways: with Geraldo, the father of the murdered teen, a police officer from Reno and me.

"...I went on to say that it was disappointing to me that the media only seems to come around with the cameras in the rare event that something negative happens, meaning that these violent incidents are basically a footnote to the overall Straight Edge story...

"In my past experience, when journalists have taken the time to explore this subject in depth, the resulting coverage has been very even-handed. When...CNN did a story on...the Straight Edge scene, they were with us for three days and that documentary came out crystal clear. The same for my interviews on (an) MTV's anti-alcohol special...ABC News and 48 Hours...in fairness to the Geraldo program, the topic was only covered for 5-6 minutes...Straight Edge...has changed thousands of lives for the better, steering young people clear of many of society's problems..."

...There are "bad apples" on every tree from here to Abu Ghraib, and using sobriety as justification for violence turns it into just another drug of choice. And while our condolences go out to the family and friends of the murder victim, only one fatal incident in nearly a decade does not a gangbang crisis make. You can...(visit)...straight-edge.com and freya315.com.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Occulus]

1. WTF is "Straight Edge"?

And I bet it has to do with hating gays, right?

[htuttle]

2. Back in my day, it had to do with being sober

No idea what it means now.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. try...

http://www.straight-edge.com/

[aeolian]

6. Wow...they really need to get high and get laid...

[wicket]

11. Whoa aeolian!

One more post 'til you hit 1000! :D

[aeolian]

16. insert evilgrin smiley here.

:evilgrin:

[rocktivity]

10. Thanks, Treasonous

I'll add the link to my story!


rocknation

[AX10]

4. Why don't the cops use their "taser" toys on these thugs instead...

of 10 year olds who cut class?

:wtf:?

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Sobriety is "straight edge"

It's about being fashion-forward without drinking, drugging, and (for some kids) having sex. At least half the straight-edgers I've met in my area (Philly) have also been vegetarians, and include diet as part of their moral system.

But violence? No, almost every straight-edger I've spoken with has been anti-violence, and some spoke at length about the skinhead thugs and Nazi punks. (And as for a member of a band named after a Norse war god -- Freya -- a Nazi punk is the first thing that comes to mind.)

The big straight-edge vices seem to be cigarette smoking and skateboarding.

--p!

[DBoon]

9. Isn't/wasn't Moby "straight edge"?

and Fugazi as well?

[Dogmudgeon]

12. Moby

He fits the "straight edge" persona pretty well, but he's also fairly low-key when it comes to his crusades.

Best-known is his vegatarianism, but Moby is also a Christian. I believe he drinks, in moderation, but I'm not sure. I don't think Moby promotes straight-edge-ism though he is an activist for what he believes in.

I personally admire his approach to vegetarianism (though I don't follow that dietary system) -- he cooks tasty vedge meals for doubters! This puts him far ahead of the ranters, yet it is in keeping with his behavior.

Fugazi I'm not nearly as familiar with.

--p!

[livinginphotographs]

14. Ian Mackeye (sp?)

from Fugazi is credited with being part of the original straight-edge movement in the US.

And the straight-edge philosophy in no way advocates violence, at last not from the straight-edgers I (was) familiar with (I thought this particular fad was over, personally). In such a puritanical country, I'm thoroughly confused as to why a youth movement involving complete abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and drugs is portrayed as a bad thing. Maybe it cuts into tobacco and alcohol company profits.

[Dogmudgeon]

18. Ian MacKay (sp?) -- wasn't his band Minor Threat?

I've been away from the mosh pit far too long :)

Straight-edge was only "controversial" in that a lot of punk rockers smoked heavily, drank, did drugs, and would fuck anything that looked like a hole. But even these self-dissipating punks were almost always progressive and anti-violence.

I was a very early "punk", never a lifestyler but went to see most of the bands, and toward the end of my punk-rock days, was called "straight-edge" a few times, since I didn't drink or smoke at all, only tried drugs a few times, and confined my sexual behavior to my girlfriends, usually one at a time. I didn't take it as an insult at all -- I have always figured that a "free" person made the choices that would lead to happiness, not inclusion in a subculture. And I was never ostracized for it, which is why I liked most of the Punk scene.

"I knew Moby when" -- we're about the same age; he may be a little bit younger. I can't say I blame him at all for focusing on music rather than partying.

--p!

[livinginphotographs]

19. Ian is now the vocalist for Fugazi.

He was in Minor Threat back in the day.

It's also interesting because the straight-edge movement (I guess because of Minor Threat and Fugazi) got linked up with the skinheads as well, but they were not the racist kind, just modeled after the Oi punks in Britain, like a gang kind of thing for working-class white kids. That could be one reason why so many neo-nazi assholes end up in the straight-edge movement, and why people get beat up. I could be wrong, since I'm only 25 :) , and I was in diapers when all this was going on, but this is gathered from conversations with older punk rockers.

After admitting my age, I can also admit that most straight-edgers I knew were suburban posers who moved to the city, bought switchblades, and started hanging out with the hardcore/punk crowd with little to no knowledge of the movement's origins and are just looking to piss off their parents and look cool in front of their friends. Most of them actually remained "straight-edge" for about a year.

[Jim Lane]

8. Not anti-gay, but anti-promiscuity

It also involves abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs. Many of its adherents are also anti-war and pro-environment. It's a reaction against some of the stereotypes associated with fans of punk or hardcore music; the idea is that people can like that music without being drug abusers or nihilists.

[rocktivity]

5. Kids who were too young to drink in a club got an X marked on their hands

it evolved into "a lifetime commitment to abstain from alcohol, tobacco, drugs and promiscuity," as Buechner puts it. (Not sex, mind you, just promiscuity ;).) It doesn't specifically mention religion or sexual orientation, but there probably are a few neo-Nazi "bad apple" types. That's exactly why I stuck in that bit about sobriety becoming a "drug of choice." The only advantage hate-mongering straight-edgers have is they DON'T have to spend money on drugs, booze, or condoms!

:headbang:
rocknation

[devilgrrl]

13. Straight-edgers are living proof that you don't have to use drugs...

to be a completely violent flaming asshole!!!!

Fuck those tea-totalers! :nuke:

[livinginphotographs]

15. See my post above.

You can't characterize an entire movement by the actions of a few lunatics. These particular kids would be beating people up whether they were straight-edge or not.

[rocktivity]

17. DING DING DING! Devilgrrl , you're our grand prize winner!

Straight-edgers are living proof that you don't have to use drugs to be a completely violent flaming asshole!
LOL--If anything, it makes you look that much dumber! You're NOT drunk, high, or horny? Then what IS your excuse???

:rofl:
rocknation