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| We must protest against the arbitrary segregation of youth into "alternative" and "mainstream" scenes. First, the distinction is too soft. It implies a subtle drifting apart, a separation into two channels of the same river, when we may be speaking of two different rivers, or even a river and a mountain! Second, and more irksome, is the grouping of everything that does not strive toward self-identification with the large and docile herd of ordinary sheep into a second, delightfully quirky, socially conscious but still commercially exploitable herd of "alternative" sheep, who can in turn be divided into three or four large tribes definable by how they grow their fleece, or the side of the hill on which they graze. What this formula conveniently ignores is that there are still a lot of lone wolves running around, who would at least like to be recognized as such, even if it is impossible to design a market niche that caters personally and separately to each one of them. |
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| We live today in a society where it is necessary to see yourself, or your likeness, in the media as confirmation of your existence. People scan the television dial, major magazines, movies, or the latest pop novel to find someone who resembles them, someone who is out there mimicking their actions and gestures in the big arena. What Bill Cosby did for the black middle class in the dark days of Reagan, Rosanne Arnold did for the overweight woman in the kooky, over-the-top days of George H. W. Bush. Lest we forget, this whole scenario is market driven, and if your image does not appear en grand across the whole media superstructure of America, it is because the marketing mechanism has not deemed your niche to be worthy of selective attention, and thus—O humiliating failure!—there is nothing out there for you to buy. Which is to say, You don't exist, go die. Is it any wonder that blacks and gays and even the Christian Right see the display of their effigies in the media as the first step toward political validation and real-world power? If you look at this all-pervasive mirror and do not see yourself, it is evidence of a frightening vacuum. You have no identity, you are invisible. You don't even need to be "disappeared" because you are already not there. |
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| It has become the policy of "the Powers" to contain youth energy by sponsoring icons who are youths themselves, or a bit older, to represent the rebellious energies of youth. Of course, I'm not saying that "blowing off steam" is a bad thing in itself. Any young person can feel quite keenly the period of rapid flux he or she is in, those troublesome energy surges that come at awkward moments when there is nowhere to put them. And I want to say—loudly proclaim!—that this crazy energy is a good thing. The trouble comes if youth are satisfied with a "containment policy" and look only among their own kind for ways to siphon off their glorious longings, half-understood instincts, which at times become so uncomfortable. |
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| There is no such thing as youth culture—currently "alternative" culture—and never can be, because youth inevitably grow up. Then what do you have? Classic Rock, which is to say, assimilation into the mainstream. That, my friends, is the plan. The real alternative would be to seek ways to channel your energies, while you still have them, into the world inhabited by adults—to seek to spill over into that world. This doesn't mean accepting that world and all its structures just as they are. It means engaging that world in active debate, insisting on your full place as citizens in the larger arena, with the right to speak or act on what you believe. And it means accepting a few failures and shocks, because by and large the grownups are busy with their own affairs, and aren't prepared to listen to the voices of their children just yet. Above all, you will need to seek alliances with those older people who best share your concerns, and have got their foot in the door ahead of you. |
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