SLAVES TO OUR PROGRAMMING

The following is an excerpt taken from an as-yet-unfinished longer work by Andy Nowicki, tentatively titled "Conspiracy, Compliance, Control, and Defiance"

by Andy Nowicki

Man’s consciousness is invariably attended by what could be called his “programming.” That is to say, man is a needy creature, prompted by nature to desire, and strive for, certain outcomes and eventualities. This much, at least, is clearly and indisputably true. However we may argue about the origin of man’s needs—i.e., whether they were conferred upon him by chance or by fate, whether they are attributable to the loving intentions of a benevolent Creator, or perhaps are merely rooted in the cruel, unconscious whims of a variety of blind evolutionary mechanisms—we must finally recognize that, howsoever and whysoever they came about, our needs to a large degree demarcate our identity.

AGAINST APPLAUSE: CULTIVATING AN AESTHETIC OF CONTEMPT

"Ever had the feeling you've been cheated?"—Johnny Rotten

by Andy Nowicki

I have written about the internecine war between white youth of the 80s: “punk” vs. “metal.” That earlier article, this subject functioned as an as introduction to Duran Duran’s 2011 “neo-retro” album All You Need Is Now, summarized the differences thusly:

If you were a youth in the ‘80s—as some of us may be old enough to remember—you simply weren’t allowed to like both Metal and Punk at the same time. The sort of kids who were into Metal (who had the rest of us outnumbered, it always seemed) tended to be less thoughtful or reflective, and more swaggering and macho, while we “Punk” kids liked to style themselves as intellectual and artsy.