loose definition of terms

David Graeber has this great page-and-a-half screed, in Direct Action, about the difference between hippies and punks. Really, he's interested in talking about Situationism, post-68 divergence, and the loss of the traditional terms like "alienation" and "ennui" in lieu of new terms like "aporia" and "detournment" -- but in the process, he gives a quick breakdown of terms:

No one would ever use these terms to describe themselves. I've never heard anyone say "I am a punk" or "I am a hippie." They are terms you use to describe someone else. In East Coast circles, to call someone a hippie is always to make fun of them, at least slightly...("when you're proposing we organize a drum circle, are we talking *good* drumming, or just bad hippie drumming?" The term "punk," in contrast is almost never pejorative. It tends to be used in a more simply descriptive fashion: i.e., "I'm talking about Laura. You know, that kind of punky girl with the green hair?"

Most people, he notes, are an idiosyncratic combination of both. Still, the terms are mostly used to differentiate. "Hippie" in fact regularly becomes a synonym for "pacifist," and "punk" for "youneger, militant anarchist." At Occupy, you see that pretty clearly in the breakdown of different working groups -- between say, facilitation (interested in the rigorously structured principals of a just conversation) and direct action (fuck the police, let's go party).

I was listening to this song, the bit about "the hippies and the punks and the skinheads and the skaters," and I realized, "Fuuuuuuuuck! The hippies? They're all my friends." They're probably your friends too -- you know, the ones eking out a highly privileged existence running food justice trainings in boxcars, editing magazines, running school garden programs, and otherwise safely embedded in the world of real professionals. They're probably YOU, and everyone you know. Hardworking. Ethical. Hard to get to know.

The punks, on the other hand -- they remain beautiful and obscure -- a lot like David Graeber. John Darnielle is a punk -- a friendly, nerdy dude with a preference for boxing and death metal. Parts and Crafts is full of them: the nerds and the freaks, the folks who are ill at ease. "DIY became the basic punk credo. Make your own fashion. Form your own band. Refuse to be a consumer. If possible, become a dumpster diver and don't buy anything. If possible, refuse wage labor. Do not submit to the logic of exchange. Reuse and redeploy fragments of the spectacle and commodity system to fashion artistic weapons to subvert it."

Sound familiar? Sound silly? Sound romantic? That's you and everyone you know.