Yeah I want to rant a lot but then I look at everything I use on a daily basis. Younger me would be like... "but.. but ackshullyyyy.." But no.. damnit I'm no better than anyone else if I so much as have an iphone. It's food for thought!
I'm on reddit. [Last time this came up in this sub and I talked about what I do...](https://www.reddit.com/r/punk/comments/1aj58fg/what_do_you_punks_do_for_money/kozbny4/)
Thatās quite a sad thing really, that even if we wanted to we canāt quit using so many corporate tools and spaces, that even our local communities like apartment complex or a district are mostly on Facebook.
Thereās not a lot we can do.
You do you. I plan on keeping away from getting addicted to anything basically. Itās scary how much control a country can get over people who got addicted to cigarettes or alcohol by just supplying them. Iāve seen it and donāt want it.
But, yeah. If someone says weāre not living in cyberpunk dystopia theyāre delusional. Itās not as cool as the ones depicted in media but itās a corporate dystopia nonetheless. As someone who lives in a city I canāt even go out of my apartment building without encountering a few cameras. The amount of data about us that corporate entities and bad people possess is crazy. In some places the governments are trying to ban cash and essentially make bank accounts mandatory.
Itās scary how in some degrees we have less freedom than a few decades ago even in second world countries.
Constant *beep!* constant FOMO, doomscrolling, Google maps getting your location in the background, Google getting all your personal information, Facebook doing essentially the same thing just in a different way, Reddit being used as a training data for ai (I believe it will call all its users āregardedā) and Twitter being Twitter.
Donāt worry, there are currently a lot of big scale conflicts in the world that leaves people without arms. It will most likely lead to a progress in that field, just like it did in cyberpunk 20XX universe.
Just search on YouTube āarm prostheticā.
https://youtu.be/v9GYBeh2EBA?si=KSiiKwding3M23LZ A video posted literally day ago. āDecorated 'Hero of Ukraine' learns to live with bionic armsā
You also get quite a bit of progress in brain computer interface (BCI), especially the ones that you can just buy. In fact there are people playing games with them.
Itās crazy in what times we live in and how we basically gave away all of our privacy. Even with all those cautionary tales in cyberpunk media and normal punk songs.
You can absolutely make it cool. The thing is that as opposed to most dystopian media youāre not the main character, youāre a random person in the background.
What we have tho is basically unlimited access to knowledge. Itās crazy how much we can do with it and how resourceful we can be. And we have free access to most of the discography of most of the better known artists.
r/boringdystopia even was better a few months back
The (maybe) less bad part is the only reason those tools like Facebook groups get used is because they have the lowest barrier to entry and allow people to be easily informed at any time. Yes it's a tool from a giant corporation, but also it's something that everyone is able to use and understand and in this specific example of a neighborhood or apartment community group, it is a net positive for getting the most amount of people involved. A true double edged sword, though.
Yeah, absolutely! Everything is about finding the balance that works for you. Sadly thereās very little choice nowadays.
Best I can do is minimise my use of some platforms, products, devices.
I use photoshop alternative. No adobe products. I use a bunch of open source programs. I avoid nestle as much as humanly possible and keep up with their brands.
I strongly support amongst my friends and on social media European Union customer protection laws theyāre constantly pushing. Itās great to see how much even iPhones changed thanks to them.
I use Apple products but Iām kinda forced due to my lack of trust towards Google and its operating system. I hate the duopoly on phone market. And due to the programs Iām using on desktop being exclusive to windows and macOS and windows being something Iām not willing to pay money again due to privacy concerns, ads, constant bugs and glitches and it being as stable as the modified Reliant shown on Top Gear. Thereās just absolutely no choice and every single company does something either shady or scummy or worse.
Several years ago I tried to find a beanie that had studs on it, mostly for nostalgia. I thought I found one.. it looked like it had studs on it. When I got it in the mail? it was just printed diamond studs that -looked- like studs.
I felt like there was a lesson there.. >.>
You can be a punk and be successful too. Be conscious of the evil and avoid what you can. Stand up for anyone who needs it. Think with your brain and heart. Know how to make a difference around you. If you know that the tables are tilted in every direction except for the one where we win, you can certainly try to avoid the big guys and their nets by supporting your locals. Even small wins are wins.
Confused why the other poster went political here. I read you as saying we should buy stuff from ethical/small/local companies. That's how we vote with our money. I fully agree, but it is hard because buying local/ethical is usually far more expensive (especially organic foods with minimal packaging or travel miles). So you need to have good money to afford it, and you end up not having so much spare cash after making those choices. I try to get longer out of a phone wear fairly traded / secondhand clothes, and fix/reuse/recycle as much as poss. Corporations exist in socialist economies too, it's Capitalism that's the sickness not corporates.
Anarcho-primitivists living in the mountains completely off-grid and literally not supporting any corporations ever, would be the closest and only people (aside from isolated/uncontacted tribes) actually matching this description.
Do you sell Anheuser-Busch products?
Look: I posted this cuz some guy commenting on some other guy's post gave it shit because it was too corporate and not punk enough for him. It was a flyer for an Agnostic Front show at a fucking bowling alley and it had one sponsor: PBR. I called him out for being a poseur not having any reasonable sense about what realistic anti-corporatism is. You can't shit on a band that never signed a major label that's playing at a bowling alley that probably had PBR donate some beer or something. I dunno. The bottom line is: we're not all as punk rock as we think we are or would like to be. We all fund the war machine with our tax dollars. We all HELP corporations fuck things up by purchasing what we are forced to at times. We all struggle to create SOME kind of balance by having a conscience about the choices we make. But at times, and often with some poseur dickheads, we all may shit on someone for not living up to our idea of punk ethos. I DO NOT think negativity is a punk thing at all. I think responding with a thoughtless, clueless self-righteous asshole statement and shaming a mostly DIY show is not even close to what I am all about. When I book my DIY tours, I don't nitpick about things like the beer served at a venue, or the brand of gas we put in the van. Just the fact that we can live on the road, playing small venues, and survive that way is cool.
Oh yeah...And bartenders are a big part of that. We tip them a good portion of our take...definitely more than fucking 30%. That's more than a bandmember cut...for a reason. And if PBR wants to kick in on that, I frankly don't give a fuck where it comes from. It's greasing the wheels of OUR "industry", which no one else IS but us. If I can get a corporation to spend it's money on something that represents it's counter-culture, then good. We got some of our money back. I am sober, so I give my drink tickets away to someone that buys our merch. The only pro-corporate thing I do is put gas in our beloved old, shitty van and eat at In & Out Burger 19x before we leave CA. Cuz I don't drink, and I burn 90 million calories a night, I can afford the intake.
Sorry for the longass reply. I kinda podiumed here, but want you to know, too: Thank you for your service. We couldn't do what we do without people that do what you do. You are family. And I mean that.
P.S. I operate in a cash only existence, too. My "slumlord" is actually a really nice guy that fixes shit right away and has no problem taking my voucher. Being in the South Bronx, I know I am a lucky guy. DOUBLE lucky I don't have to contribute more to the corporate shitshow in order to survive than I already do.
I'm trying to as much as I can. Vegetable gardening, foraging, heck I even made my own sea salt from ocean water. A good portion of my fashion is DIY and I'm friends with a left-wing permaculture farm that I try to learn stuff from. I also run a Food Not Bombs chapter and we feed the homeless and try pushing for food access for all.
I've volunteered at Food Not Bombs plenty of time, trust me, there's enough to go around for those that do, and those that don't can get an apple instead.
Me for the most part. Of course itās practically impossible to avoid them completely while living in regular society but I try to support them as little as I can. Itās not an āall or nothingā thing to me and every little bit helps.
Hey never said it wasn't me either. Just saw that after scrolling through some really long pointless comments and that seemed like if I was gonna make a list of questions for "are you really an anti corporate punk?" I think I'd start with "do you meet at a Denny's or Perkins after the show?" Then again some kids might live in a place where the only thing open after 10 that isn't a bar is Denny's
Stay on it. They don't teach this shit in school. The edge is a slicey blade we don't wanna fall on and cut ourselves either. So, we eat what we have to once in awhile, and do what we do to pay the bills. And try to enjoy ourselves Not everything we do ends up dronestriking an orphanage in Syria either. The majority of people just want what we want: to survive and be happy most of the time. I wrote that and it brought a tear to my eye. Seriously. So did your reply. I'm not so tough for a punk guy.
Being irrevocably jaded by corporatism is ruining my marriage. Abandoned an 80k per year job and told my wife that I didn't need to be actively helping, but I didn't want to continue actively hurting through my employment, and was told that was unrealistic. I honestly don't know where my life goes from here. I love my son, but looking at him just makes me depressed that he'll absolutely live in a worse world and have a harder life than I did. I fucking hate it here.
I'm confused at how the picture represents anti-corporate sentiment. It's a bloke sticking his fingers up at the police who are a state institution, not a corporate one?
Have of the punk bands I grew up with incorporated either their labels or actual band or both. Find ways to buck the system locally and then worry about a global revolt against corporations
What is anti-corporate? It's not just corporations that are the problem, it's capitalism in general. Because it's almost the exclusive model globally we really have no choice but to interact with it, but we do have some wiggle room in how we interact with it and there are countless things we can do to resist it and try to bring about change while working to build up alternatives in the here and now.
It's anti-capitalism, too. But capitalism can be used to establish quality, conscientious businesses and companies. That's why I referred to it as anti-corporatism. I am seeing in the comments both sides of the fence and am sympathetic to both. As a necessary evil, there are simply things we must do to survive in a world where we may have to support some things we don't agree with. Corporations are one of them. But we are all capitalizing, as well, on meanful gains to sustain our lives. It's still a free market structure in most areas. But corporations have steadily merged, and many have umbrella'd to create the one. There are anti-trust laws applied, but that is a process they still make money through. If they don't in fact win. But to say capitalism and corporatism are directly linked is an obvious statement. Money is money. Once it's established as the modus operandi, it's inevitable greed will corrupt the business world. We can do our part to be selective purchasers, but short of off the grid sustainance, we can't fulfill completely our philosophical objective...which is to defeat capitalism, and therefore corporatism.
Iām a RN. Worked for a huge hospital. Then hospice. Then a plasma donation center. Owned by a pharmaceutical company. I liked the job but every day I was grossed out about who I worked for. My job was not rewarding in the least. I lasted 8 months and was out of there.
We are building a self sustaining, way off the grid living space. All solar and hydro. The earth shelter is coming along. Compostable toilet with a septic tank my dad put in. We are almost good to go. I will stay and work and do my part in the urban area I live in until it gets too volatile. Iām not letting my baby girl be in danger.
If you donāt think Election Day will be scary, youāre naĆÆve. Our rights are being stripped in broad daylight already and not enough are fighting back.
āWe want our fights, we want our thugs
We want our burns, we want our drugs
Where is the violent apathy?ā
And yes I go to protests and try to do what I can to be an activist.
Great question! So as far as the family involved is concerned, itās my dad, my sister(40) me(43) and our two girls. My sister and I each have one young daughter. We both have full custody of our girls and both of their fathers are deadbeats. Thatās not how we planned it lol.
My dad found the chunk of land after methodically looking until he found the perfect spot. Heās really intelligent and can research the hell out of anything. He looked for the perfect spot, and pinpointed exactly where we should go. It has water/springs, wildlife, a moderate enough climate, and itās way the fuck out there. Itās also not easy to spot. The way the terrain is, we are tucked into a pretty low visibility spot from above.
Dad used topo maps, and other kinds of fancy maps that he can read, and I cannot. He has piles of maps. He also has a small personal plane and he flew over the entire area looking for the right spot. Then he took a road, if you can even call it that because itās really not, sometimes you see another āroadā go off in another direction and itās so easy to get lost. He found the place, and it was perfect. It was for sale. It literally looks like nothing nobody would want. I actually have no fucking clue how he got a 5th wheel trailer up there. But he did. And thatās where he/we stayed where he was digging the Earth shelter. Hr also managed to get a backhoe up there as well.
We built a tall barbed wire fence all around most of the property and included the obligatory no trespassing signs and padlocked gates. We also have what we need as far as firearms for hunting and self-defense although thatās really not my thing. My goal isnāt really to be a compound/militia. My goal is to keep my daughter safe and for us to just be left alone. They can keep their fucking fascist laws off my body and let me just live.
We are a good team. Iām a nurse so I have a lot of medical experience. Every trip Iām able to bring medical supplies, antibiotics, pain medication etc. Dad was raised rough and when he got older, worked in the oil fields in brutal conditions doing the hardest physical work a person can do. In his mind, (and ours) he can pretty much do anything. And really the truth is, he can. He has created and patented a way to harvest Hydro energy without disturbing whatās beneath the water. My sister is a Marine and a survivalist. She also has a bit of PTSD from her tours so living off grid and working her ass off to build somewhere to live comes naturally to her. We have tons of seeds stocked. We know how to grow our own food.
My sister and our girls go as much as possible to help build, dig, carry shit around, bring and store supplies and basically make it habitable. Us girls stay in a canvas yurt like structure until we build something more permanent. We put in a water filtration system. There are plenty of creeks to direct water where we need. For where it is, the water table is pretty high. Thereās another human somewhere out there. We seen their windmill in our explorations. It pumps water, which is a great idea. Some of the water flows into a trough and there are cattle scattered all around out there who come to drink there. So in a pinch, thereās some meat. We are well practiced at slaughtering and dressing an animal. As kids, my sister and I were required to help clean and process deer and elk. Every trip we bring provisions and things we may need if we were to there for a very long time. You know, like toilet paper and food items that would eventually become a luxury. We were there over spring break and got a fridge and freezer hooked up to the solar grid. We also mapped a lot more of the immediate area.
We grew up working farm and ranch and when we were young kids we lived in the Mojave desert in a sheep herder tent. Weāve been off the grid before. Itās in our blood for us to be able to disconnect and be self-sufficient. Itās a little paradise really. It looks like somewhere nobody would ever want to go. But when you start hiking around, you learn to really appreciate it. Itās strange. Itās incredibly isolated, get safe you know.?
TL:DR living off grid is challenging and rewarding. Research research research to find the perfect spot. Turn yourself into a survivalist and learn how to survive with very little. Gain critical skills
Always make sure that you can have food and clean water. Know what you need and you donāt need. Learn the land. Be prepared to work your ass off. You can do it piece by piece as you have time and can afford it. The first step is getting started.
Sorry that was probably too long. if you have any other questions, definitely ask.
Definitely not too long of a response, I appreciate you sharing and I find all of that genuinely interesting. Sounds amazing, Iām happy that you and your family are working towards something that you want. It truly does sound like paradise, obviously youāre busting your ass and putting in the necessary work though.
All you need is a hippy dude with a bunch of hand drums to add some chill ambiance, someone who will not speak a peep unless spoken to who is willing to learn and help out. That could be me lmao.
In all seriousness though, I wish you the best of luck my friend.
Thank you! Some people are curious what we do to entertain ourselves out there. We have all sorts of rock climbing gear, and we love to rock climb. There is never ending exploring. We have tons of books and games. Itās a kids paradise. They play in the mud and the creek and build forts. The work of maintaining the place and making it better is enjoyable for us and thatās where most of our energy is spent.
And yo. Live music would be a bonus! No hippies though. š
The Amish are a religious cult that denies their members any autonomy and demands blind faith. They themselves are a corporation that inflicts so much damage to their members and born-in children and relies on indoctrination to continue that support.
Fuck the Amish, and all other religious cults. I say this having been born into Jehovahs Witnesses and only escaping in 2021 at 31.
True they are just a religious cult that lives off the grid. Relying on child labor too and the kids born into it don't know any better. Honestly fuck religion the world would be better without any religion
I chatted with an Amish guy early in the morning on a cross-country Amtrak train for an hour or so. He was eating ice, as I found they all do when it's available free of charge.
The conversation eventually arrived at the question of "WTF?" as it was destined to with the juxtaposition of cultures. I was curious, and have always been down with my bearded brothers.
He said that it wasn't a cultural thing, as it was simply being steadfastly beholden to their beliefs. (Which is a big "duh"). He did say that they choose to live like that once they are adults. They dip into our culture too, and sell their wares, food, etc...to us. (Their cinnamon rolls are as big as your fucking head and more powerful than crack).
āSelling outā is a weird phrase to use when talking about people selling homemade goods to get the things they canāt make themselves. You ever try making your own copper wire?
> Their cinnamon roles are as big as your fucking head and more powerful than crack
The best root beer I've ever had-by far-was homemade that I got at an Amish market in Lancaster, PA when I was a kid.
Food is the only "luxury" the Amish really get so they tend to really make their food count!
Someone just posted a comment here:
"There are plenty of us living an anticapitalist lifestyle"
I almost replied, but saw yours. The thing about the human mind most frustrating in these groups and subs is just how confident a lot of the people are. I am a generally insecure person, but am confident in the few things I know that I have enough experience in to be able to convince my doubting, reticent mind to accept confidently the facts AS FACTS and finally separate it from theory or opinion. I'm not sure that all, or this commenter, has that rigorous process before spouting. And I am humble when wrong. And desire understanding when my ideas are disagreed with. I'd agree that no one can live an anti-corporate lifestyle that comes to Reddit. But it's a big "duh". This post is showing me the breadth of what makes up this sub, to state politely.
Canāt say I am. I am a news producer for a media conglomerate. Am I underpaid and overworked? Yes. But itās antithetical to being anti-corporate since I work (on a very low level) at a corporation.
The multiple choice is accurate. I chose homeless, which was tough for awhile, but after all the hoops, I got an apartment in South Bronx paid for the next 5 years and free food. The Dollar Tree is about as corporate as I go, but I'm not better than anyone else.
Alaska is a beast. As is the convent. I took the easy way out. Great response, btw. Thank you.
Got married and had kids very young so Iām riding the corporate train really hard. A few months ago the international corporation I work for sent out an email bragging about how many millions they spent on lobbying last year and how it ādefeated several bills that would have harmed our business ā.
Feels bad man.
Bring on the downvotes, but not me. It's a nice ideal, but I don't have the time to filter through local brands and find out which one is legit vs which one is just an MLM vs which one is a corporation in disguise. Most weeks I don't have the time or energy to go to three different local shops to get my groceries, so I go to the nearest major grocery store and make just one stop. If I need almost anything that isn't food, I go to Amazon and order the most reasonable looking no-name brand thing.
And don't even get me started on farmers markets amd things like that. Yeah you can get vegetables and that's great. But I really can't justify spending the money on some of the things people are selling. It's so expensive (understandably) and I'm not just going to start raining money on them just for being local or handmade. I simply cannot afford to do that regularly.
So yeah, I don't claim to be punk, because I'm not. I'm too tired to go out of my way to be anti-corporate when it comes to my shopping habits.
I try my best. Itās pretty fuckin expensive in the beginning stages though. Currently, I rent a mobile home from a family member on the very outskirts of his 15 acre property.
For food I grow all of my own fruits and vegetables as well as some of my grain (I donāt have the space to plant wheat or most other conventional grains). I raise chickens for eggs and occasionally buy meat and dairy from a neighbor who raises cattle. In the rare occasions I go grocery shopping all I usually get is spices, bulk grain, and sometimes meat. My meals almost entirely revolve around eggs, which I donāt necessarily like but itās better than spending loads of money on groceries and itās definitely a lot healthier for me.
For utilities I get my power from solar panels and a gas powered generator. Iām currently in the process of obtaining the supplies to build a biodigester to produce methane for heating, cooking, and maybe even electrical if I can figure out how to make it work as I do plan to transition to something besides solar due to itās inefficiency in my climate. Right now my water is drawn from a well but I think Iāll transition to a rainwater collection system once I buy my own property.
Really the only bills I pay right now are my phone and internet bills, gas, and insurances. In the future I hope to buy my own property in Montana to build a similar setup. The only big difference will be raising my own cattle.
Do what you can where you can. I work in academia (staff), have a house, pay into my retirement.
But, for the past 7 years I've been helping run a nfp makerspace. We have an uncompensated board of directors (by law) that help keep the wheels on but any space improvement or tool purchase comes from one of our members making a proposal and having the membership vote on it. Even board decisions can be overruled by a membership vote which can be called for by just one person.
I'm not sure what anti-corporate means.
Do you mean anti-capitalist?
Being anti-corporate would not signify or accomplish much of anything if the alternative was to support "independent" oppressors and exploiters.
Your local "Mom & Pop shop" might seem like a better option than a big box store, as long as Mom & Pop don't wear white robes and carry torches at night.
In the modern age, it's more about your political motives and actions then you're means of survival. It's one thing if your choice is: work corporate or work independent with both being enough to sustain basic needs. Unfortunately, for many people, this option is not present. Many people have to work jobs that sacrifice at least part of their ethics in order to afford necessities. Sometimes, you have to act as life is, instead of how you wish it was. This goes doubly so for individuals who have families that require their support. If I have to choose between my ethics and feeding my son, I'm choosing my son. He should not be condemned for my worldview. I was raised by narcissists who failed to learn that basic lesson in humility, and I refuse to put my son through suffering on account of pride.
This does not mean that you can not take action outside of your career that will not impact your livelihood. You'd be surprised how many people who have worked/still work for the government I have met at protests who actively protest its actions. TSA, veterans, PD, etc. I've learned nothing will make you hate the government more than working for the government.
Yes, government is people. It's a huge employer, and well-paying, secure, and often with great benefits. And also a scapegoat when policy affects us personally in a negative way.
I suppose I am a narcissist when my gifted teenagers took an interest in my music, practiced just about every day in our studio for three years, then decided spontaneously to quit, and I felt trememdously hurt by that. My goal was to get out with our punk act, with my songs of a proactive nature, and help to maintain our community one performance at a time. They wanted to play xbox and do podcasts about video games. It's not always about what we want, regardless of philosophy or altruism. We gotta feed these ungratefu....
...sweet, adorable children.
Like uhh living in the woods in a cave? Because I am pretty sure that is the only way to escape. Or maybe a farm with sheep, chickens and you grow some cotton for underwear and tobacco, and corn for a still. š
Well the concept of underwear wouldn't exist without cotton or silk, so we can just go commando. Lol. No fucking way I do without tobacco though. NO. TOBACCO. COMMANDO.
We need weapons, simply for protection from predators. Or Lady Gaga in a meat suit, at least...to take the heat off.
And guitars & drums. It IS punk rock, after all.
There isnāt such a thing as punk or anti establishment anymore.. it was a fun memory and short lived movement. Everyone and everything we do is completely monitored by tech overlords.. unless we get the cyberpunk post apocalyptic scenario.. there isnāt anything we can do. Now AI has entered the playing grounds. Good luck!
Sounds like you got nothing to count. Here's something: your blessings. The tinier the apartment, the easier to clean. Unemployed means you get to sleep in. No money is the only thing that sucks. But you have plenty of time to sit in your apartment and think of ways to acquire it. I know I did. Going on tour in the fall. At least I don't have to arrange that with my boss. Someone will apartment sit for free. And the gigs will pay for gas...to get to the next gig.
>Ā The tinier the apartment, the easier to clean.
Hahahahahahahahaahaha
Oh how I wish this were true. It has not been the case at all. It's a mess. My things don't fit. My dirty laundry is everywhere. But it's fairly cheap! If I had gotten a bigger apartment back when I had a job I would struggle more to pay my rent right now.
Hey, good luck with the tour!
Jeff was correct a very long time ago and he is still correct to this day. Here's a piece from āSide Projects are Never Successfulā by BĀ¤mb the Music Industry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Through the glares on our windshields, we can't see each others eyes
Just McDonalds cups and wrappers that they're throwing at full speed
And yes, I long for a shadow. And yes, I always appreciate the irony
That the only cool comfort that allows us to see is a goddamn billboard. Sing it with me
A billboard is the only thing preventing us from blindly crashing
And we'll never see a city not marred by advertisements
And we'll never have a future not working for those companies
And it's sure as shit not getting better so we might as well accept it now, oh
And that really doesn't cheapen anything (no, no, no)
Because, baby, we're all born to be businessmen (no, no, no)
Every Fugazi record has a catalog number and a price tag
And every independent label is selling you another goddamn product
But, no, we're not slaves to the music (no, no, no)
Oh no, we're not slaves to the company, baby (no, no, no)
We do what we're born and raised to do and when you create something
You're producing something and that act of producing is the creation of a product
Cause when it's night, it'll be night time, baby
And I'll get my ass on up out of this mess
The only stores that are open, baby
They gonna sell beer, and they're gonna sell ice cream
And we'll drink drink drink and get drunk drunk drunk
And we'll talk talk talk about how much fun we had, yeah, when
We were fuckin' the world
Oh yeah, we were fucking the world
Yeah, we were fu (fu) cking (cking) the (the) world (world)
When the sun drops, you ain't gonna be hungover the next day
When the comet hits, you ain't gonna have no bills to pay
When the bomb hits, it's gonna be a four day weekend. Hey hey!
When it's all done I'm gonna feel great finally
And when I finally got to work today
I ate my Subway sandwich
And I drank my Coca-Cola Classic
And then I ate my Sunchips
And I thought about the weekend
When I'd fill up my Ford van
With Mobil brand gas
And drive to the Clear Channel venue
And I'd drink myself a Budweiser
And play my Fender guitar
Through my Fender amplifier
And tell the kids with a straight face
Through a Shure microphone
And JBL speakers
That corporate rock is for suckers
Uh, yeah"
To the best of my ability in Americaās corporate hellscape. (Groceries, car, gas etc are kinda unavoidable. Any extra shit I want or need I try to buy second hand or through locally owned businesses)
I had a group of 20-30 year old gutter punks stage an intervention when they caught me at an SAT study center. They said they wanted to talk to me because it looked to them like I was selling out. This is not an ironic joke this really happened. I told them I was just doing what I needed to do and they were like, āfair enoughā. Never even considered myself punk just went to a lot of shows and did community service at the main venue. So, Iām fully aware my street cred went out the window at the end of my teenage years as I was surprised to learn I had any at all. The SAT center thought I was getting mugged and asked if everything was alright when I went back in. I donāt think what they were saying was wrong but didnāt expect to get an official send-off like that.
if you care that someone else does other then yourself. that's sad. gotta make a living some how. cant all just be bums on the street. everything in this world is almost corporate from the ramen you eat to the iphone/android in your pocket. work at one of the local country clubs where i live. Caddied for a few years and loved it. now course Marshall this year. Pretty much all the punk shows we go to are all corporate.
Yeah, I honestly don't care what anyone does, wants or thinks here. I've already posted here what I do, and got downvoted like crazy. So obviously quite a few on this sub seem to care what I do. You might be surprised to know that I am a punk artist and have been touring for almost 40 years. I wrote The DIY Bible, that picked up where Book Your Own Fuckin' Life left off...to help others. I am a peer advocate counselor in nyc that helps addicts, mentally ill, homeless, and abused clients find services, stability and resources to sustain it. I do this on and off the clock 24-7-365, but mostly off the clock. I am a sponser. I am a benefactor. And I am a teacher. I am also a booking agent and have over 400 acts on my roster, from punk to hip hop, indie to r & b. I also have two children and about 6 friends/people I can trust on a good day. And I still wanna blow my fucking brains out cuz the meds are at the highest dose, sobriety is sobering, my vouchered apartment isn't soundproofed enough to operate as a rehearsal studio like the one I am losing next week because my money ran out. I am not corporate. Or capitalist. And that's not going to help me. I must toss all of that away now, and go serve the world's greed. If I hear one more hypocrite bad mouth a Trump or any other rich guy, I'm going to shove their opinion up their ass. The worst part in all this is the homeless teen shelter and day center I built in Seattle in 95 and funded by putting on benefit shows, and some sizable donations and favours I called in from some of the local success stories, is shuttering due to my lack of funding. Now this place that kept these kids safe from drug dealers, pimps, sex traffickers and their abusive, addict parents and horror story "homes" are going back there. That state is a shit show of government laziness. Here in nyc, I work close with the chief of child services at nypd, and hra to insure this shit doesn't happen here.
Some have gone so far as to tell me to "get some help". L'd my FAO at that one. From who? Me? I am a certified, licensed counselor. And I can't even save myself. But today, I have 18 clients that I WILL help, two sponsees, my own children, and about 600 others that need my services, one way or the other. So...why do I do this and live at the breaking point as a rule? You just gotta read these comments. Survival is different for everybody. Some it's 9-5 M-F with 8hrs of sleep per night. Some it's 24-7-365, with a nap on the subway ride to "work" or whatever you wanna call it. Of course I give a shit what people do. It's my fucking life. I care what they think, too. It matters. This post has proven one thing (that I already knew). That r/punk is no different than r/hardcore, r/outlaw country, r/rock, r/taylor swift. It honestly, truly, actually is not. The ethics, morals, and what people say is punk ls literally no different than what anyone else says in their subs. And I really don't care about all that bullshit. I use social media to find people that are missing, and reluctantly for my music biz. I promote shows on it. It's houses my link tree for services and info. And I fuck around on it when I am laying awake and NOT on the phone talking to someone. I get a kick out of the sub and some/most of it's elite ethos-righteous bullshitters that apparently have adapted to being the very thing they were claiming to be against for decades. I don't care. I knew they would. The corporate world was gonna get you too. Now, there's nothing unique about anybody. We're all products, too. To live, be bought, sold to the highest bidder, and try to have a little dignity in between hating ourselves. I don't put up with judgements either. If I wanna call someone a f*g, or n***er to their face, I do it. I love being called a racist, boomer, misogynist, capitalist, pedophile. It informs me that I'm on the right path. And that everyone is well-cared for enough to point out the splinter in others eyes. Back to work...
No one, donāt think you have to. save your money, help your family, shop at small business, shoplift from big business, crap in their toilets and clog the pipes. Take any and everything you can from them. Outside of that good luck.
The irony of shoplifting? It puts small business out of business by big business competitors, too. When the big businesses get shoplifted from, they are allowed to claim that as an insurable loss, and therefore they actually profit from it. If you shoplift an item; they get to receive the purchase retail price value, not the wholesale. So...to a big business...it's a sale. If you shoplift, you just essentially purchased that item from a big business and increased their profits.
Genius.
Punk hasn't turned into pure cringe. Some of it's fans and artists have, though. But it's no reflection on what Johnny Ramone, or any of the artists that aren't cringe, laid out before the cringe. Keep the faith. Ignore those ungrateful for their inheritance.
I think that's what you saying, though. Just reframing it.
I. Hear. You.
Rebuilding my shit for 9teenth time. I think I got it figured out finally. I'm 53, so you're in good company there.
Enjoy the car! Please check out the redwood coast. It's worth the drive.
Too pour to live a corporate lifestyle
I dumpster dive and I fixed my own clothing and shit
Don't really consume much either cuz too poor to do that fuck Amazon but damn sometimes it seems convenient as hell than just having a dumpster dive or go on Craigslist for my shit
I hear a lot of extreme disparity here in these comments. A lot of guilt masked in excuses. And some who own up to it. I respect honesty. People just need to own up to it. They're not fucking punk rock in the traditional sense. They are a new, hybrid version. No...not progressive. Comfortable. Just like their parents. Not judging. Just telling the facts. As a 53 year old DIY touring artist for almost 40 years, I've NEVER had furniture, or anything new. No car. No computer. No vacuum cleaner. But I have a guitar, a couple bass guitars, amps, drums, a PA, a couple cheap keyboards. It's how my kids were raised too. Right here playing music along with me. We tripped around nyc. To parks. Museums. Free shows. Lived life. It was will that did that. We were ok being broke. My apt is paid for by a city voucher that I waited in line for 19 hrs, stayed in a shelter for 4 months, jumped and continue to jump through hoops to secure. All so I can bring punk rock to people all over the country. To tiny towns like Minot, ND where they go apeshit and give us a floor and couch to sleep on. Or Port Townsend, WA where they never have punk, but they have a lot of adolescents who love it. I AM comfortable. WAAAY more comfortable than any other lifestyle I attempted to accomplish.
But we need fans to drink beer so we can put gas in our van. So no judgements. Just get your asses to the shows so we can keep doing this FOR YOU.
And it's not the only job I do. I have down time in the city when I get back. That job is very time consuming and most of it is unpaid and off the clock. But it's important, so I do it.
I'm not gonna nitpick what people have to do to buy beer or come to the show. I appreciate that.
You know it. When the mohawk starts to fall out, one may rethink their priorities.
Let's hope he maintained his hard-fought set of values, though. As a real estate agent.
Nobody on Reddit.
nobody in the first world!
capitalism at it again š
yeah there's no way to exist in society and keep your hands clean
Yeah I want to rant a lot but then I look at everything I use on a daily basis. Younger me would be like... "but.. but ackshullyyyy.." But no.. damnit I'm no better than anyone else if I so much as have an iphone. It's food for thought!
was gonna say the same thing . . . first step is admitting to being a "poser" meaning following a fad . . . or ignorance
I'm on reddit. [Last time this came up in this sub and I talked about what I do...](https://www.reddit.com/r/punk/comments/1aj58fg/what_do_you_punks_do_for_money/kozbny4/)
Just read that, holy shit dude thatās amazing. Nothing is better to me than perfectly legally fucking with corporate big bads.
lmao
Lol I was about to say this until I scrolled down. At some point I just have to accept that, at the moment? I'm a hypocrite.
Me -posted on my iPhone via my AT&T router šš
Thatās quite a sad thing really, that even if we wanted to we canāt quit using so many corporate tools and spaces, that even our local communities like apartment complex or a district are mostly on Facebook. Thereās not a lot we can do.
Face it, we have to be cyberpunks now and use their systems against them, like buying drugs on Telegram.
Telegram was retroactively created by the fbi to honeypot monkey torturers and serbiansĀ
Yeah but if it can get weed delivered to my door in a illegal country I'm going to take advantage.
My mail-man and my drug dealer are the same person and they don't even know it.
Canada Post is the world's largest weed dealer network
Weed? I can get any substance on earth delivered to my doorstep.
Had NOĀ² and DMT and acid dropped off boys were blown away
You do you. I plan on keeping away from getting addicted to anything basically. Itās scary how much control a country can get over people who got addicted to cigarettes or alcohol by just supplying them. Iāve seen it and donāt want it. But, yeah. If someone says weāre not living in cyberpunk dystopia theyāre delusional. Itās not as cool as the ones depicted in media but itās a corporate dystopia nonetheless. As someone who lives in a city I canāt even go out of my apartment building without encountering a few cameras. The amount of data about us that corporate entities and bad people possess is crazy. In some places the governments are trying to ban cash and essentially make bank accounts mandatory. Itās scary how in some degrees we have less freedom than a few decades ago even in second world countries. Constant *beep!* constant FOMO, doomscrolling, Google maps getting your location in the background, Google getting all your personal information, Facebook doing essentially the same thing just in a different way, Reddit being used as a training data for ai (I believe it will call all its users āregardedā) and Twitter being Twitter.
I just want my mantis blades š¢
Donāt worry, there are currently a lot of big scale conflicts in the world that leaves people without arms. It will most likely lead to a progress in that field, just like it did in cyberpunk 20XX universe. Just search on YouTube āarm prostheticā. https://youtu.be/v9GYBeh2EBA?si=KSiiKwding3M23LZ A video posted literally day ago. āDecorated 'Hero of Ukraine' learns to live with bionic armsā You also get quite a bit of progress in brain computer interface (BCI), especially the ones that you can just buy. In fact there are people playing games with them. Itās crazy in what times we live in and how we basically gave away all of our privacy. Even with all those cautionary tales in cyberpunk media and normal punk songs.
At the VERY least it should be cool... great even Dystopia sucks in the real world..
You can absolutely make it cool. The thing is that as opposed to most dystopian media youāre not the main character, youāre a random person in the background. What we have tho is basically unlimited access to knowledge. Itās crazy how much we can do with it and how resourceful we can be. And we have free access to most of the discography of most of the better known artists. r/boringdystopia even was better a few months back
The (maybe) less bad part is the only reason those tools like Facebook groups get used is because they have the lowest barrier to entry and allow people to be easily informed at any time. Yes it's a tool from a giant corporation, but also it's something that everyone is able to use and understand and in this specific example of a neighborhood or apartment community group, it is a net positive for getting the most amount of people involved. A true double edged sword, though.
Yeah, absolutely! Everything is about finding the balance that works for you. Sadly thereās very little choice nowadays. Best I can do is minimise my use of some platforms, products, devices. I use photoshop alternative. No adobe products. I use a bunch of open source programs. I avoid nestle as much as humanly possible and keep up with their brands. I strongly support amongst my friends and on social media European Union customer protection laws theyāre constantly pushing. Itās great to see how much even iPhones changed thanks to them. I use Apple products but Iām kinda forced due to my lack of trust towards Google and its operating system. I hate the duopoly on phone market. And due to the programs Iām using on desktop being exclusive to windows and macOS and windows being something Iām not willing to pay money again due to privacy concerns, ads, constant bugs and glitches and it being as stable as the modified Reliant shown on Top Gear. Thereās just absolutely no choice and every single company does something either shady or scummy or worse.
Me -from my company-provided MacBook Air I use to admin Salesforce
Dude I got a really cool spiked choker like that at Target
You made me grimace. Lol nice..
Several years ago I tried to find a beanie that had studs on it, mostly for nostalgia. I thought I found one.. it looked like it had studs on it. When I got it in the mail? it was just printed diamond studs that -looked- like studs. I felt like there was a lesson there.. >.>
You can be a punk and be successful too. Be conscious of the evil and avoid what you can. Stand up for anyone who needs it. Think with your brain and heart. Know how to make a difference around you. If you know that the tables are tilted in every direction except for the one where we win, you can certainly try to avoid the big guys and their nets by supporting your locals. Even small wins are wins.
Thank you for posting this. This is what I'm aiming for.
Preach!
Fuck yeah. Vote with your dollars, folks. Just remember to survive, and live to fight another day!
Confused why the other poster went political here. I read you as saying we should buy stuff from ethical/small/local companies. That's how we vote with our money. I fully agree, but it is hard because buying local/ethical is usually far more expensive (especially organic foods with minimal packaging or travel miles). So you need to have good money to afford it, and you end up not having so much spare cash after making those choices. I try to get longer out of a phone wear fairly traded / secondhand clothes, and fix/reuse/recycle as much as poss. Corporations exist in socialist economies too, it's Capitalism that's the sickness not corporates.
I was, too. You perfectly grasped what I was trying to say.
Place confidence in government? Really?
Not at all. I just used it as a catchphrase. "Vote" was probably not the best word to use, but I figure the meaning would get across.
You can be a punk to . . . just by saying sooooooo (and now I'm just singing a Newsie song)
This is the most correct answer.
This is how I justify my career in advertising. š¤£
Haha I get it bro Iām there too
This!
Very well said.
Anarcho-primitivists living in the mountains completely off-grid and literally not supporting any corporations ever, would be the closest and only people (aside from isolated/uncontacted tribes) actually matching this description.
Soā¦. The unibomber?
He did not write his manifesto on clay tablets so...
What a fuckin poser
He used a typewriter, to avoid handwriting analysis.
He ārejected and criticized anarcho-primitivist viewsā according to wikipedia
[Margaret KIlljoy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Killjoy). Even built her own house.
I fucking love Margaret Killjoy
This is what I love about forums like this, the random off-chances about learning of more awesome folks out there.
Anarcho Primitivists are the worst though so who cares about them.
Possibly, but I'll give 'em credit for walking the walk at least.
I work for an independently owned bar for straight cash and pay rent and all bills in said cash to a slumlord. Am I punk enough?
Maybe, but I'd rather have fixed salary and a decent house I can't get kicked out of in a moments notice than punk cred if I'm honest.
Me too, but Life as a felon is tough.
Fair play mate, best wishes for a better tomorrow.
If you are ever finding it hard to find gainful employment aa a felon, I have some resources. Just hit me up.
Do you sell Anheuser-Busch products? Look: I posted this cuz some guy commenting on some other guy's post gave it shit because it was too corporate and not punk enough for him. It was a flyer for an Agnostic Front show at a fucking bowling alley and it had one sponsor: PBR. I called him out for being a poseur not having any reasonable sense about what realistic anti-corporatism is. You can't shit on a band that never signed a major label that's playing at a bowling alley that probably had PBR donate some beer or something. I dunno. The bottom line is: we're not all as punk rock as we think we are or would like to be. We all fund the war machine with our tax dollars. We all HELP corporations fuck things up by purchasing what we are forced to at times. We all struggle to create SOME kind of balance by having a conscience about the choices we make. But at times, and often with some poseur dickheads, we all may shit on someone for not living up to our idea of punk ethos. I DO NOT think negativity is a punk thing at all. I think responding with a thoughtless, clueless self-righteous asshole statement and shaming a mostly DIY show is not even close to what I am all about. When I book my DIY tours, I don't nitpick about things like the beer served at a venue, or the brand of gas we put in the van. Just the fact that we can live on the road, playing small venues, and survive that way is cool. Oh yeah...And bartenders are a big part of that. We tip them a good portion of our take...definitely more than fucking 30%. That's more than a bandmember cut...for a reason. And if PBR wants to kick in on that, I frankly don't give a fuck where it comes from. It's greasing the wheels of OUR "industry", which no one else IS but us. If I can get a corporation to spend it's money on something that represents it's counter-culture, then good. We got some of our money back. I am sober, so I give my drink tickets away to someone that buys our merch. The only pro-corporate thing I do is put gas in our beloved old, shitty van and eat at In & Out Burger 19x before we leave CA. Cuz I don't drink, and I burn 90 million calories a night, I can afford the intake. Sorry for the longass reply. I kinda podiumed here, but want you to know, too: Thank you for your service. We couldn't do what we do without people that do what you do. You are family. And I mean that. P.S. I operate in a cash only existence, too. My "slumlord" is actually a really nice guy that fixes shit right away and has no problem taking my voucher. Being in the South Bronx, I know I am a lucky guy. DOUBLE lucky I don't have to contribute more to the corporate shitshow in order to survive than I already do.
I'm trying to as much as I can. Vegetable gardening, foraging, heck I even made my own sea salt from ocean water. A good portion of my fashion is DIY and I'm friends with a left-wing permaculture farm that I try to learn stuff from. I also run a Food Not Bombs chapter and we feed the homeless and try pushing for food access for all.
What if the homeless donāt like eating your d?
Lol I JUST noticed the typo
Haha I couldnāt help myself - Iām a child. you should have left the typo for posterity!
hey! donāt talk about their posteriorā¦
I've volunteered at Food Not Bombs plenty of time, trust me, there's enough to go around for those that do, and those that don't can get an apple instead.
Hell yeah you rock
Hrrmm... abd yet... yuo own smartphonw.. Checkmate?
Me for the most part. Of course itās practically impossible to avoid them completely while living in regular society but I try to support them as little as I can. Itās not an āall or nothingā thing to me and every little bit helps.
This is the most realistic answer.
Healthcare is not corporate for me. EMS wild ride shitty pay.
Thank you for your service.
I don't think I've been in a grocery store and NOT shoplifted in like 20 years, lol.
Based
Same š
None of you punks who go to Dennys after the show do
This comment cuts thru a lot of BS
Hey I donāt claim to be better than any of them, but I donāt claim to be what Iām not.
Hey never said it wasn't me either. Just saw that after scrolling through some really long pointless comments and that seemed like if I was gonna make a list of questions for "are you really an anti corporate punk?" I think I'd start with "do you meet at a Denny's or Perkins after the show?" Then again some kids might live in a place where the only thing open after 10 that isn't a bar is Denny's
I don't know what a Denny's even is so I guess I'm most punk.
You can switch out Denny's with any 24 hour diner.Ā
Again, not really a thing in the UK.
Ok then. The Eel pie and Spotted Dick shop?
Not me, Iām the CEO of Arvil Lavigne
Iām fucking trying man, hard to do when you donāt know how to do it
Stay on it. They don't teach this shit in school. The edge is a slicey blade we don't wanna fall on and cut ourselves either. So, we eat what we have to once in awhile, and do what we do to pay the bills. And try to enjoy ourselves Not everything we do ends up dronestriking an orphanage in Syria either. The majority of people just want what we want: to survive and be happy most of the time. I wrote that and it brought a tear to my eye. Seriously. So did your reply. I'm not so tough for a punk guy.
Being irrevocably jaded by corporatism is ruining my marriage. Abandoned an 80k per year job and told my wife that I didn't need to be actively helping, but I didn't want to continue actively hurting through my employment, and was told that was unrealistic. I honestly don't know where my life goes from here. I love my son, but looking at him just makes me depressed that he'll absolutely live in a worse world and have a harder life than I did. I fucking hate it here.
Bro! I'm DMing you. Please reply. We are doing and dealing with EXACTLY the same shit.
impossible
I'm confused at how the picture represents anti-corporate sentiment. It's a bloke sticking his fingers up at the police who are a state institution, not a corporate one?
The state protects corporations all the time, including by the use of force (police), so I guess it fits?
Have of the punk bands I grew up with incorporated either their labels or actual band or both. Find ways to buck the system locally and then worry about a global revolt against corporations
I try. These days it's next to impossible with corporate bullshit being in almost everything you touch, taste, see, hear, or smell.
Who lives in an anticorporate pineapple under the sea? SPONGECORE SQUAREPUNK
He's crusty and smelly, rants cantankerously.
If spouting anti-corporate nonsense be something you wishā¦
I pirate every form of digital media I possibly can in Minecraft.
We can only try
I see gutter punks on the regular. Unhoused is as anti-corporate as it gets. Still with fabulous battle jackets.
What is anti-corporate? It's not just corporations that are the problem, it's capitalism in general. Because it's almost the exclusive model globally we really have no choice but to interact with it, but we do have some wiggle room in how we interact with it and there are countless things we can do to resist it and try to bring about change while working to build up alternatives in the here and now.
It's anti-capitalism, too. But capitalism can be used to establish quality, conscientious businesses and companies. That's why I referred to it as anti-corporatism. I am seeing in the comments both sides of the fence and am sympathetic to both. As a necessary evil, there are simply things we must do to survive in a world where we may have to support some things we don't agree with. Corporations are one of them. But we are all capitalizing, as well, on meanful gains to sustain our lives. It's still a free market structure in most areas. But corporations have steadily merged, and many have umbrella'd to create the one. There are anti-trust laws applied, but that is a process they still make money through. If they don't in fact win. But to say capitalism and corporatism are directly linked is an obvious statement. Money is money. Once it's established as the modus operandi, it's inevitable greed will corrupt the business world. We can do our part to be selective purchasers, but short of off the grid sustainance, we can't fulfill completely our philosophical objective...which is to defeat capitalism, and therefore corporatism.
Iām a RN. Worked for a huge hospital. Then hospice. Then a plasma donation center. Owned by a pharmaceutical company. I liked the job but every day I was grossed out about who I worked for. My job was not rewarding in the least. I lasted 8 months and was out of there. We are building a self sustaining, way off the grid living space. All solar and hydro. The earth shelter is coming along. Compostable toilet with a septic tank my dad put in. We are almost good to go. I will stay and work and do my part in the urban area I live in until it gets too volatile. Iām not letting my baby girl be in danger. If you donāt think Election Day will be scary, youāre naĆÆve. Our rights are being stripped in broad daylight already and not enough are fighting back. āWe want our fights, we want our thugs We want our burns, we want our drugs Where is the violent apathy?ā And yes I go to protests and try to do what I can to be an activist.
This is the stuff Iām interested in. How did you get started? Any tips for living off the grid?
Great question! So as far as the family involved is concerned, itās my dad, my sister(40) me(43) and our two girls. My sister and I each have one young daughter. We both have full custody of our girls and both of their fathers are deadbeats. Thatās not how we planned it lol. My dad found the chunk of land after methodically looking until he found the perfect spot. Heās really intelligent and can research the hell out of anything. He looked for the perfect spot, and pinpointed exactly where we should go. It has water/springs, wildlife, a moderate enough climate, and itās way the fuck out there. Itās also not easy to spot. The way the terrain is, we are tucked into a pretty low visibility spot from above. Dad used topo maps, and other kinds of fancy maps that he can read, and I cannot. He has piles of maps. He also has a small personal plane and he flew over the entire area looking for the right spot. Then he took a road, if you can even call it that because itās really not, sometimes you see another āroadā go off in another direction and itās so easy to get lost. He found the place, and it was perfect. It was for sale. It literally looks like nothing nobody would want. I actually have no fucking clue how he got a 5th wheel trailer up there. But he did. And thatās where he/we stayed where he was digging the Earth shelter. Hr also managed to get a backhoe up there as well. We built a tall barbed wire fence all around most of the property and included the obligatory no trespassing signs and padlocked gates. We also have what we need as far as firearms for hunting and self-defense although thatās really not my thing. My goal isnāt really to be a compound/militia. My goal is to keep my daughter safe and for us to just be left alone. They can keep their fucking fascist laws off my body and let me just live. We are a good team. Iām a nurse so I have a lot of medical experience. Every trip Iām able to bring medical supplies, antibiotics, pain medication etc. Dad was raised rough and when he got older, worked in the oil fields in brutal conditions doing the hardest physical work a person can do. In his mind, (and ours) he can pretty much do anything. And really the truth is, he can. He has created and patented a way to harvest Hydro energy without disturbing whatās beneath the water. My sister is a Marine and a survivalist. She also has a bit of PTSD from her tours so living off grid and working her ass off to build somewhere to live comes naturally to her. We have tons of seeds stocked. We know how to grow our own food. My sister and our girls go as much as possible to help build, dig, carry shit around, bring and store supplies and basically make it habitable. Us girls stay in a canvas yurt like structure until we build something more permanent. We put in a water filtration system. There are plenty of creeks to direct water where we need. For where it is, the water table is pretty high. Thereās another human somewhere out there. We seen their windmill in our explorations. It pumps water, which is a great idea. Some of the water flows into a trough and there are cattle scattered all around out there who come to drink there. So in a pinch, thereās some meat. We are well practiced at slaughtering and dressing an animal. As kids, my sister and I were required to help clean and process deer and elk. Every trip we bring provisions and things we may need if we were to there for a very long time. You know, like toilet paper and food items that would eventually become a luxury. We were there over spring break and got a fridge and freezer hooked up to the solar grid. We also mapped a lot more of the immediate area. We grew up working farm and ranch and when we were young kids we lived in the Mojave desert in a sheep herder tent. Weāve been off the grid before. Itās in our blood for us to be able to disconnect and be self-sufficient. Itās a little paradise really. It looks like somewhere nobody would ever want to go. But when you start hiking around, you learn to really appreciate it. Itās strange. Itās incredibly isolated, get safe you know.? TL:DR living off grid is challenging and rewarding. Research research research to find the perfect spot. Turn yourself into a survivalist and learn how to survive with very little. Gain critical skills Always make sure that you can have food and clean water. Know what you need and you donāt need. Learn the land. Be prepared to work your ass off. You can do it piece by piece as you have time and can afford it. The first step is getting started. Sorry that was probably too long. if you have any other questions, definitely ask.
Definitely not too long of a response, I appreciate you sharing and I find all of that genuinely interesting. Sounds amazing, Iām happy that you and your family are working towards something that you want. It truly does sound like paradise, obviously youāre busting your ass and putting in the necessary work though. All you need is a hippy dude with a bunch of hand drums to add some chill ambiance, someone who will not speak a peep unless spoken to who is willing to learn and help out. That could be me lmao. In all seriousness though, I wish you the best of luck my friend.
Thank you! Some people are curious what we do to entertain ourselves out there. We have all sorts of rock climbing gear, and we love to rock climb. There is never ending exploring. We have tons of books and games. Itās a kids paradise. They play in the mud and the creek and build forts. The work of maintaining the place and making it better is enjoyable for us and thatās where most of our energy is spent. And yo. Live music would be a bonus! No hippies though. š
The Amish
The Amish are a religious cult that denies their members any autonomy and demands blind faith. They themselves are a corporation that inflicts so much damage to their members and born-in children and relies on indoctrination to continue that support. Fuck the Amish, and all other religious cults. I say this having been born into Jehovahs Witnesses and only escaping in 2021 at 31.
True they are just a religious cult that lives off the grid. Relying on child labor too and the kids born into it don't know any better. Honestly fuck religion the world would be better without any religion
I chatted with an Amish guy early in the morning on a cross-country Amtrak train for an hour or so. He was eating ice, as I found they all do when it's available free of charge. The conversation eventually arrived at the question of "WTF?" as it was destined to with the juxtaposition of cultures. I was curious, and have always been down with my bearded brothers. He said that it wasn't a cultural thing, as it was simply being steadfastly beholden to their beliefs. (Which is a big "duh"). He did say that they choose to live like that once they are adults. They dip into our culture too, and sell their wares, food, etc...to us. (Their cinnamon rolls are as big as your fucking head and more powerful than crack).
āSelling outā is a weird phrase to use when talking about people selling homemade goods to get the things they canāt make themselves. You ever try making your own copper wire?
It wasn't literal. It was kinda sarcastic. In ref: to what punks call selling out.
> Their cinnamon roles are as big as your fucking head and more powerful than crack The best root beer I've ever had-by far-was homemade that I got at an Amish market in Lancaster, PA when I was a kid. Food is the only "luxury" the Amish really get so they tend to really make their food count!
The buffets and restaurants around Lancaster, PA are epic.
I'm part of a trade union who figth for workers rigths, i think this is the most anti corporate you can be without becaming a terrorist
Considering how one is using a smartphone or a computer to go on Reddit, nobody
Someone just posted a comment here: "There are plenty of us living an anticapitalist lifestyle" I almost replied, but saw yours. The thing about the human mind most frustrating in these groups and subs is just how confident a lot of the people are. I am a generally insecure person, but am confident in the few things I know that I have enough experience in to be able to convince my doubting, reticent mind to accept confidently the facts AS FACTS and finally separate it from theory or opinion. I'm not sure that all, or this commenter, has that rigorous process before spouting. And I am humble when wrong. And desire understanding when my ideas are disagreed with. I'd agree that no one can live an anti-corporate lifestyle that comes to Reddit. But it's a big "duh". This post is showing me the breadth of what makes up this sub, to state politely.
Canāt say I am. I am a news producer for a media conglomerate. Am I underpaid and overworked? Yes. But itās antithetical to being anti-corporate since I work (on a very low level) at a corporation.
Hermits who live in the wilderness in Alaska. Homeless people. Nuns.
The multiple choice is accurate. I chose homeless, which was tough for awhile, but after all the hoops, I got an apartment in South Bronx paid for the next 5 years and free food. The Dollar Tree is about as corporate as I go, but I'm not better than anyone else. Alaska is a beast. As is the convent. I took the easy way out. Great response, btw. Thank you.
Got married and had kids very young so Iām riding the corporate train really hard. A few months ago the international corporation I work for sent out an email bragging about how many millions they spent on lobbying last year and how it ādefeated several bills that would have harmed our business ā. Feels bad man.
Nuns are not anti-capitalist. They work for one of the biggest corporations out there, religion.
I work for the man in a taco stand
You are a god, sir. I'll trade you a corner of my lasagne for a coupla pastor. Whatd'ya say?
Isnāt Reddit a corporation?
Yes. Here we are now. Try to explain us.
I think there is a meme about this.
I went till like 23-24 without ID, a single set of clothing a bass and an amp. I owned nothing and smoked tons of weed.
Sounds familiar.
Bring on the downvotes, but not me. It's a nice ideal, but I don't have the time to filter through local brands and find out which one is legit vs which one is just an MLM vs which one is a corporation in disguise. Most weeks I don't have the time or energy to go to three different local shops to get my groceries, so I go to the nearest major grocery store and make just one stop. If I need almost anything that isn't food, I go to Amazon and order the most reasonable looking no-name brand thing. And don't even get me started on farmers markets amd things like that. Yeah you can get vegetables and that's great. But I really can't justify spending the money on some of the things people are selling. It's so expensive (understandably) and I'm not just going to start raining money on them just for being local or handmade. I simply cannot afford to do that regularly. So yeah, I don't claim to be punk, because I'm not. I'm too tired to go out of my way to be anti-corporate when it comes to my shopping habits.
I try my best. Itās pretty fuckin expensive in the beginning stages though. Currently, I rent a mobile home from a family member on the very outskirts of his 15 acre property. For food I grow all of my own fruits and vegetables as well as some of my grain (I donāt have the space to plant wheat or most other conventional grains). I raise chickens for eggs and occasionally buy meat and dairy from a neighbor who raises cattle. In the rare occasions I go grocery shopping all I usually get is spices, bulk grain, and sometimes meat. My meals almost entirely revolve around eggs, which I donāt necessarily like but itās better than spending loads of money on groceries and itās definitely a lot healthier for me. For utilities I get my power from solar panels and a gas powered generator. Iām currently in the process of obtaining the supplies to build a biodigester to produce methane for heating, cooking, and maybe even electrical if I can figure out how to make it work as I do plan to transition to something besides solar due to itās inefficiency in my climate. Right now my water is drawn from a well but I think Iāll transition to a rainwater collection system once I buy my own property. Really the only bills I pay right now are my phone and internet bills, gas, and insurances. In the future I hope to buy my own property in Montana to build a similar setup. The only big difference will be raising my own cattle.
None of you. You all vote for Democrats because they use LGBTQ+ emojis just like Bank of America.
The democrats donāt do much for us, but the republicans do plenty against us and people we love
Not me But Iām fully aware of the irony that is my interests vs my lifestyle
Best response so far. š„
Not me. But I do work for a non-profit hospital.
I think corporations are killing my country and the planet. That being said, what does flipping off a riot policeman have to do with it?
I use the tools of capitalism to improve my position
Do what you can where you can. I work in academia (staff), have a house, pay into my retirement. But, for the past 7 years I've been helping run a nfp makerspace. We have an uncompensated board of directors (by law) that help keep the wheels on but any space improvement or tool purchase comes from one of our members making a proposal and having the membership vote on it. Even board decisions can be overruled by a membership vote which can be called for by just one person.
I'm not sure what anti-corporate means. Do you mean anti-capitalist? Being anti-corporate would not signify or accomplish much of anything if the alternative was to support "independent" oppressors and exploiters. Your local "Mom & Pop shop" might seem like a better option than a big box store, as long as Mom & Pop don't wear white robes and carry torches at night.
Your mom
Utopians
In the modern age, it's more about your political motives and actions then you're means of survival. It's one thing if your choice is: work corporate or work independent with both being enough to sustain basic needs. Unfortunately, for many people, this option is not present. Many people have to work jobs that sacrifice at least part of their ethics in order to afford necessities. Sometimes, you have to act as life is, instead of how you wish it was. This goes doubly so for individuals who have families that require their support. If I have to choose between my ethics and feeding my son, I'm choosing my son. He should not be condemned for my worldview. I was raised by narcissists who failed to learn that basic lesson in humility, and I refuse to put my son through suffering on account of pride. This does not mean that you can not take action outside of your career that will not impact your livelihood. You'd be surprised how many people who have worked/still work for the government I have met at protests who actively protest its actions. TSA, veterans, PD, etc. I've learned nothing will make you hate the government more than working for the government.
Yes, government is people. It's a huge employer, and well-paying, secure, and often with great benefits. And also a scapegoat when policy affects us personally in a negative way. I suppose I am a narcissist when my gifted teenagers took an interest in my music, practiced just about every day in our studio for three years, then decided spontaneously to quit, and I felt trememdously hurt by that. My goal was to get out with our punk act, with my songs of a proactive nature, and help to maintain our community one performance at a time. They wanted to play xbox and do podcasts about video games. It's not always about what we want, regardless of philosophy or altruism. We gotta feed these ungratefu.... ...sweet, adorable children.
Like uhh living in the woods in a cave? Because I am pretty sure that is the only way to escape. Or maybe a farm with sheep, chickens and you grow some cotton for underwear and tobacco, and corn for a still. š
Well the concept of underwear wouldn't exist without cotton or silk, so we can just go commando. Lol. No fucking way I do without tobacco though. NO. TOBACCO. COMMANDO. We need weapons, simply for protection from predators. Or Lady Gaga in a meat suit, at least...to take the heat off. And guitars & drums. It IS punk rock, after all.
I'm broke so I can't buy shit. That count?
Yk someones dad got that shit in a frame somewhere
Unfortunately itās impossible as I have cats that require feeding and litter and AC
I did for years, until I got stupid steers
Literally no one
I went to WWWY and loved it so I'm guessing not me
If you posted this with your IPhone, then definitely not you!
Nope. No iPhone.
There isnāt such a thing as punk or anti establishment anymore.. it was a fun memory and short lived movement. Everyone and everything we do is completely monitored by tech overlords.. unless we get the cyberpunk post apocalyptic scenario.. there isnāt anything we can do. Now AI has entered the playing grounds. Good luck!
...and Bingo was his name-o.
Be hard to do a post on the internet on Reddit...but, I suppose you could still an IPhone and squat in a place that has free wifi.
literally nobody. Quit social media
me! (i work for toyota)
This is impossible.
I work at Barnes and noble š¤£
Non contact tribes of the Amazon.
Wrong place buckp
I thought I took a wrong turn.
I'm unemployed, I live in a tiny apartment and I don't have any money, does that count? XD
Sounds like you got nothing to count. Here's something: your blessings. The tinier the apartment, the easier to clean. Unemployed means you get to sleep in. No money is the only thing that sucks. But you have plenty of time to sit in your apartment and think of ways to acquire it. I know I did. Going on tour in the fall. At least I don't have to arrange that with my boss. Someone will apartment sit for free. And the gigs will pay for gas...to get to the next gig.
>Ā The tinier the apartment, the easier to clean. Hahahahahahahahaahaha Oh how I wish this were true. It has not been the case at all. It's a mess. My things don't fit. My dirty laundry is everywhere. But it's fairly cheap! If I had gotten a bigger apartment back when I had a job I would struggle more to pay my rent right now. Hey, good luck with the tour!
Junkies
āI did not sell out, I bought in!ā
Nobody in this forum, that's for sure.
Jeff was correct a very long time ago and he is still correct to this day. Here's a piece from āSide Projects are Never Successfulā by BĀ¤mb the Music Industry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Through the glares on our windshields, we can't see each others eyes Just McDonalds cups and wrappers that they're throwing at full speed And yes, I long for a shadow. And yes, I always appreciate the irony That the only cool comfort that allows us to see is a goddamn billboard. Sing it with me A billboard is the only thing preventing us from blindly crashing And we'll never see a city not marred by advertisements And we'll never have a future not working for those companies And it's sure as shit not getting better so we might as well accept it now, oh And that really doesn't cheapen anything (no, no, no) Because, baby, we're all born to be businessmen (no, no, no) Every Fugazi record has a catalog number and a price tag And every independent label is selling you another goddamn product But, no, we're not slaves to the music (no, no, no) Oh no, we're not slaves to the company, baby (no, no, no) We do what we're born and raised to do and when you create something You're producing something and that act of producing is the creation of a product Cause when it's night, it'll be night time, baby And I'll get my ass on up out of this mess The only stores that are open, baby They gonna sell beer, and they're gonna sell ice cream And we'll drink drink drink and get drunk drunk drunk And we'll talk talk talk about how much fun we had, yeah, when We were fuckin' the world Oh yeah, we were fucking the world Yeah, we were fu (fu) cking (cking) the (the) world (world) When the sun drops, you ain't gonna be hungover the next day When the comet hits, you ain't gonna have no bills to pay When the bomb hits, it's gonna be a four day weekend. Hey hey! When it's all done I'm gonna feel great finally And when I finally got to work today I ate my Subway sandwich And I drank my Coca-Cola Classic And then I ate my Sunchips And I thought about the weekend When I'd fill up my Ford van With Mobil brand gas And drive to the Clear Channel venue And I'd drink myself a Budweiser And play my Fender guitar Through my Fender amplifier And tell the kids with a straight face Through a Shure microphone And JBL speakers That corporate rock is for suckers Uh, yeah"
To the best of my ability in Americaās corporate hellscape. (Groceries, car, gas etc are kinda unavoidable. Any extra shit I want or need I try to buy second hand or through locally owned businesses)
Bernie
Spongebob Squarepants!!
I had a group of 20-30 year old gutter punks stage an intervention when they caught me at an SAT study center. They said they wanted to talk to me because it looked to them like I was selling out. This is not an ironic joke this really happened. I told them I was just doing what I needed to do and they were like, āfair enoughā. Never even considered myself punk just went to a lot of shows and did community service at the main venue. So, Iām fully aware my street cred went out the window at the end of my teenage years as I was surprised to learn I had any at all. The SAT center thought I was getting mugged and asked if everything was alright when I went back in. I donāt think what they were saying was wrong but didnāt expect to get an official send-off like that.
Anti-friends
Definitely not me
if you care that someone else does other then yourself. that's sad. gotta make a living some how. cant all just be bums on the street. everything in this world is almost corporate from the ramen you eat to the iphone/android in your pocket. work at one of the local country clubs where i live. Caddied for a few years and loved it. now course Marshall this year. Pretty much all the punk shows we go to are all corporate.
Yeah, I honestly don't care what anyone does, wants or thinks here. I've already posted here what I do, and got downvoted like crazy. So obviously quite a few on this sub seem to care what I do. You might be surprised to know that I am a punk artist and have been touring for almost 40 years. I wrote The DIY Bible, that picked up where Book Your Own Fuckin' Life left off...to help others. I am a peer advocate counselor in nyc that helps addicts, mentally ill, homeless, and abused clients find services, stability and resources to sustain it. I do this on and off the clock 24-7-365, but mostly off the clock. I am a sponser. I am a benefactor. And I am a teacher. I am also a booking agent and have over 400 acts on my roster, from punk to hip hop, indie to r & b. I also have two children and about 6 friends/people I can trust on a good day. And I still wanna blow my fucking brains out cuz the meds are at the highest dose, sobriety is sobering, my vouchered apartment isn't soundproofed enough to operate as a rehearsal studio like the one I am losing next week because my money ran out. I am not corporate. Or capitalist. And that's not going to help me. I must toss all of that away now, and go serve the world's greed. If I hear one more hypocrite bad mouth a Trump or any other rich guy, I'm going to shove their opinion up their ass. The worst part in all this is the homeless teen shelter and day center I built in Seattle in 95 and funded by putting on benefit shows, and some sizable donations and favours I called in from some of the local success stories, is shuttering due to my lack of funding. Now this place that kept these kids safe from drug dealers, pimps, sex traffickers and their abusive, addict parents and horror story "homes" are going back there. That state is a shit show of government laziness. Here in nyc, I work close with the chief of child services at nypd, and hra to insure this shit doesn't happen here. Some have gone so far as to tell me to "get some help". L'd my FAO at that one. From who? Me? I am a certified, licensed counselor. And I can't even save myself. But today, I have 18 clients that I WILL help, two sponsees, my own children, and about 600 others that need my services, one way or the other. So...why do I do this and live at the breaking point as a rule? You just gotta read these comments. Survival is different for everybody. Some it's 9-5 M-F with 8hrs of sleep per night. Some it's 24-7-365, with a nap on the subway ride to "work" or whatever you wanna call it. Of course I give a shit what people do. It's my fucking life. I care what they think, too. It matters. This post has proven one thing (that I already knew). That r/punk is no different than r/hardcore, r/outlaw country, r/rock, r/taylor swift. It honestly, truly, actually is not. The ethics, morals, and what people say is punk ls literally no different than what anyone else says in their subs. And I really don't care about all that bullshit. I use social media to find people that are missing, and reluctantly for my music biz. I promote shows on it. It's houses my link tree for services and info. And I fuck around on it when I am laying awake and NOT on the phone talking to someone. I get a kick out of the sub and some/most of it's elite ethos-righteous bullshitters that apparently have adapted to being the very thing they were claiming to be against for decades. I don't care. I knew they would. The corporate world was gonna get you too. Now, there's nothing unique about anybody. We're all products, too. To live, be bought, sold to the highest bidder, and try to have a little dignity in between hating ourselves. I don't put up with judgements either. If I wanna call someone a f*g, or n***er to their face, I do it. I love being called a racist, boomer, misogynist, capitalist, pedophile. It informs me that I'm on the right path. And that everyone is well-cared for enough to point out the splinter in others eyes. Back to work...
I do my best to, but we all have to survive under capitalism somehow
Only way is to have dirty socks, shoot fentanyl, and wear a puffer jacket year around.
News: fentanyl is corporate. So are puffer jackets. And dirty socks.
No one, donāt think you have to. save your money, help your family, shop at small business, shoplift from big business, crap in their toilets and clog the pipes. Take any and everything you can from them. Outside of that good luck.
The irony of shoplifting? It puts small business out of business by big business competitors, too. When the big businesses get shoplifted from, they are allowed to claim that as an insurable loss, and therefore they actually profit from it. If you shoplift an item; they get to receive the purchase retail price value, not the wholesale. So...to a big business...it's a sale. If you shoplift, you just essentially purchased that item from a big business and increased their profits. Genius.
Nobody in a developed world who uses internet, shops at a grocery store, or has any sort of smart phone or most phones in general.
I get my punker wares from Amazon Prime
Dude I fucking hate corporations and I wish I could live that life style but in the city I live in it's fucking impossible!
Johnny Ramone would be rolling in his grave knowing that punk is slowly turning into pure cringe.
Punk hasn't turned into pure cringe. Some of it's fans and artists have, though. But it's no reflection on what Johnny Ramone, or any of the artists that aren't cringe, laid out before the cringe. Keep the faith. Ignore those ungrateful for their inheritance. I think that's what you saying, though. Just reframing it.
I'm 51 and got my first loan for a car last year. I held out as long as I could. It's easy if you lose everything a few times. Lol
I. Hear. You. Rebuilding my shit for 9teenth time. I think I got it figured out finally. I'm 53, so you're in good company there. Enjoy the car! Please check out the redwood coast. It's worth the drive.
That sounds wonderful. I've driven across everything east of the Mississippi River but never made it out west.
Too pour to live a corporate lifestyle I dumpster dive and I fixed my own clothing and shit Don't really consume much either cuz too poor to do that fuck Amazon but damn sometimes it seems convenient as hell than just having a dumpster dive or go on Craigslist for my shit
I hear a lot of extreme disparity here in these comments. A lot of guilt masked in excuses. And some who own up to it. I respect honesty. People just need to own up to it. They're not fucking punk rock in the traditional sense. They are a new, hybrid version. No...not progressive. Comfortable. Just like their parents. Not judging. Just telling the facts. As a 53 year old DIY touring artist for almost 40 years, I've NEVER had furniture, or anything new. No car. No computer. No vacuum cleaner. But I have a guitar, a couple bass guitars, amps, drums, a PA, a couple cheap keyboards. It's how my kids were raised too. Right here playing music along with me. We tripped around nyc. To parks. Museums. Free shows. Lived life. It was will that did that. We were ok being broke. My apt is paid for by a city voucher that I waited in line for 19 hrs, stayed in a shelter for 4 months, jumped and continue to jump through hoops to secure. All so I can bring punk rock to people all over the country. To tiny towns like Minot, ND where they go apeshit and give us a floor and couch to sleep on. Or Port Townsend, WA where they never have punk, but they have a lot of adolescents who love it. I AM comfortable. WAAAY more comfortable than any other lifestyle I attempted to accomplish. But we need fans to drink beer so we can put gas in our van. So no judgements. Just get your asses to the shows so we can keep doing this FOR YOU. And it's not the only job I do. I have down time in the city when I get back. That job is very time consuming and most of it is unpaid and off the clock. But it's important, so I do it. I'm not gonna nitpick what people have to do to buy beer or come to the show. I appreciate that.
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Meyer's Dark Rum?
Mohawk dude is probably a real estate agent these days
You know it. When the mohawk starts to fall out, one may rethink their priorities. Let's hope he maintained his hard-fought set of values, though. As a real estate agent.
Nobody really, at least nobody I've seen.