Where did all the rebels go?

My point is this: there are no rebels anymore. I vividly remember that my best friend Chris and I in 1992 went to do something that was utterly unthinkable. We went down to “Body Images” on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta and got tattooed. His Dad, always willing, even signed a form claiming to be my Dad, all so we could get tattoos at the tender age of 17. You may read that and say, “Oh, okay, that’s cool…..”, but you would be missing the point. The point was that we were undertaking an action that would affect our lives in ways that you can’t imagine. The reason you can’t imagine is because everybody has tattoos nowadays, to the point where you don’t even look at them anymore. Shoot, you can go to church and see the pastor with a sleeve of tats, dressed like a yuppie, pretending to be cool and awesome.

In fact, sometimes I feel a little bitter about it. I have been thrown out of Kroger, receiving a “criminal trespass” citation, for having long purple hair and visible tattoos. I was looked at by the school system as a loser and failed student because of it. I was on the receiving end of harassment and profiling by law enforcement because of it as well. I remember strangers and family alike saying, ” Are you in the Navy? Did you get those in prison?”.  I don’t tell you this for sympathy, or because I’m whining about it, but because it was the price I paid for being “a rebel”.  I made the choice, I lived it, I have no regrets, it’s part of who I am. I tell you this because there were real consequences for my rebellion.

You see, I was different in my heart than the norm, and I was willing to face the negative reaction to my decision to be something else. I wanted something different for myself than what I was told was acceptable, or even possible. The naiveté of youth perhaps, but a conviction I stuck to regardless. I am an artist, singer-songwriter, performer, and all around pain in the ass.

The problem is that the Establishment has taken over the symbols of my rebellion, and I see an entire generation pretending to be different – yet all by being the same.  Yeah, it was cool to be a communist in the sixties, a socialist in the seventies, a hippie in the eighties, etc., but what is cool now? I ask because I don’t know. Seriously.

The leftist ruling Oligarchy (and that’s both parties) is obsessed with tribal identity politics. Everywhere I look I see groups……gays, blacks, latinos, whites, muslims,  jews,  atheists, people who celebrate Festivus, and every identity you can imagine. What a bunch of rubes. I’ll say it again loudly in case you didn’t hear me……..IF YOU IDENTIFY AS YOUR RACE, GENDER, SEXUAL PREFERENCE, OR POLITICAL PARTY….YOU ARE A RUBE AND AN IDIOT. Ok, that’s enough capital letters to insure making my point.

I say this because I believe in a New Rebellion, where people start to look at themselves as individuals, not part of a never-ending grievance class, or gender, or race. See, our founders knew the importance of this. That’s why they set up a system, when implemented without the interference of the Elite, that values each of us as individuals, with our own individual rights, capable of exercising those rights regardless of what anyone else thinks or says. Because I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, black, white, brown, male, female, or a deluded old Olympian fool who can’t decide. Just stay out of my way in pursuing life, liberty, and happiness…..and I’ll stay out of yours.

What was envisioned over two hundred years ago and then painstakingly put into writing will still work……if only we let it. It is the ultimate guarantee of fulfilling your life and destiny as an individual person. I say be a rebel………reject being a tool of those that have made you trade your individual voice and name for a classification. Are you blindly, like a lemming, following the herd? Do you accept, without doing your own research and critical thinking, man made global warming and race/gender politics? Aren’t you more than your race, sexual preference, and political party? Aren’t you? I hope you are……..because The New Rebellion needs you. Besides, look around. When you realize that you have become the same “different” as everyone else, maybe it’s not too late for you.

  ” I can say what I want to…..even if I’m not serious. I can say what I want to…..even if, I’m just kidding.”  Tool