Amiga Plus Leser 15/Amiga Plus Leser CD 15.iso/Scene/Eurochart44/Articles/ShowingTeeth.txt

Text File | 2002-03-12 | 11KB | 302 lines

»CL6:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
»CL0:                 Showing Teeth Or Why You Need To Have A Spine
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                          Written by »CL6:Darkhawk »CL5:of »CL6:IRIS

»CL1:This  is  a  follow-up   to   the  two
articles  about  objectivity predating
it. »CL8:If you got  bored  reading through
one of  those, you should  still  read
this article, because  I want to write
about  something that  is   critically
important  if  our  scene  is  to feel
alive, »CL1: and  which  follows  from  the
conclusions  by  Wade  and I about the
wrong kind of objectivity.

There   will    certainly   be  people
disagreeing  with me on this, and that







is also  why  this  article  might  be
interesting    at    all,    differing
opinions  tend  to  be  a  good way at
kindling  some  form  of  passion  and
participation.   And   there   I  have
already  outlined  my point. »CL7:The scene
needs   controversy,   wars,  flaming,
arrogant  sceners  behaving  like  the
rest  were  only  dirt  beneath  their
feet, etc.  »CL1:The  scene  is  NOT  about
being a friendly and meek guy, turning
the other cheek, participating instead
of  competing,  praising   instead  of
criticising,  and  so on. Sure, I will
be a bit  one-dimensional in  this. Of
course the  scene  is about friendship
too,  and  about  working together. »CL8:My
point however, is that the scene grows
stale,  the  blood  flows  slower, and
well, the  scene  will  start  to feel
POINTLESS,  if   we    do    not  have
arrogance,  hate,  flaming,  in  short
controversies, »CL1: which   will  rekindle
some lost spirit. Rather like the real
world,  I   could  say.   You   cannot
appreciate peace without  war, and all
that, which some regard as pure drivel
and others do not.

In our scene, it is  important to feel
alive, to  feel  like  you are part of
something  bigger,  something  that is
alive  outside  of  yourself.  Sort of
like a  game,  where  you  can see the
other  participants  can do something,
that will  in  turn affect  you, where
everyone  can  play  their   part  and
provoke change in others. That is what
it is  like  to be a part of a vibrant
community.  In  order   for    such  a
community  to be vibrant, to be alive,
we very much need all these terms. The
terms  some  of  you  seem  to want to
forget or close  your eyes to, because
those terms are not 'the scene'. »CL7:Well,
they are, and they have as big a place
as more 'positive' terms, in that they
make sure  the scene is an interesting
place to be in. »CL1:Which one can doubt it
is,  now  and  then,  when   there  is
nothing  happening,  and  one can only
read articles written by back clappers
and  people  telling everyone how well
the scene  fares, when they themselves
do not  even think it fares  well, but
feel  they    have    to    state   it
nonetheless, or otherwise it will fare
even worse.  »CL8:That  is  not   the  way;
silence  and  friendliness  like  this
will bleed  the  scene  dry, and leech
what  spirit  there   is  left. »CL1: True,
everyone will be friendly towards each
other,   they    will     praise   the
productions  that  come  out, and they
will say the scene is a great  place..
And  all  the  while, they will slowly
feel like they wither away,  and their
joy in the scene will go. They are not
doing themselves any favours by trying
to be nice guys, I think.

It is  not   like    friendliness  and
aggressiveness cannot coexist, really.
Some sceners seem  to think that it is
either one or  the other, that  if one
says   something     aggressive,   one
destroys  enthusiasm  and  engagement,
but in actuality the  scene needs both
to  grow   and   thrive.  Friendliness
(helping  other  sceners, being a nice
guy,  praising  productions) is needed
as a base,  and  for  maintaining  the
scene.   Aggressiveness  (competition,
saying  what  one  REALLY  thinks  and
feels, starting wars, being engaged in
the scene) is needed to give the scene
vibrancy,  to make  it worthwhile  and
engaging.

»CL7:I am well aware that  there seem to be
two different types of sceners in this
regard.   »CL1:Those    who     thrive   on
competition,   attacks     on    their
groups/their  views,  and   on  people
saying hard truths and on skilled role
models/idols. »CL7:(The  last  is  not that
usual anymore, but I can safely say we
were many who  worshipped Chaos/Sanity
as a  minor god back  in  those  days,
because  he  was  very   skilled,  and
because he  knew  it  and often shared
this  with  others,  hehe).»CL1:  And  then
there are those, who want 'friendship'
(notice     the    brackets,   because
naturally,  the  other   group   wants
friendship too, it is  just more  of a
focus  or term for  the second  group)
in  the  scene,  to   have   a   happy
playground  where  everybody is  equal
(or  at   least    treat   each  other
equally),  where  nobody says anything
critical or aggressive to one another,
where  everyone  gets  on  in harmony.
Now, I   really    hope   this   rough
generalization  is  not  too  true, of
course, people should  fall  somewhere
in between these  two  extremes, but I
think there are some  important  facts
to be learned from this.

»CL7:First off, they  remind  me  a  lot of
liberalistic vs. socialistic idealism,
these two views, and  the  second view
also  reminds  me  a  lot  about   the
layman's definition of heaven. »CL1:Myself,
I  would  rather  spend  time in hell,
than in  that heaven. It would be  the
epitome  of  mediocrity,   of  'happy'
indifference   and   apathy  (not  the
group, hehe), and there  would  be  no
meaning to life, beyond the  'be nice'
& 'all are equal'. This is really  too
simple a worldview. All are  certainly
NOT equal (I am only talking about the
scene here, to save  myself  from more
general  attacks  later on), and if we
were to be (only) nice to each  other,
there  would  be  no  point in drawing
breath. »CL8:I rather like arrogant sceners
for example, IF they have something in
which to put their arrogance. It gives
them character. »CL1:Of course, if the same
sceners  unconstructively  slag  off a
not-so-skilled  scener, that is REALLY
cheap too. They should  concentrate on
competition  and  flaming their peers,
and not those  not  as  skilled. So, a
balance in everything, and most people
should not really slag off  Magic, due
to  this  logic (hehe, I am so cruel),
since it is unworthy of them. No, bear
in mind, that while  I really  want to
provoke     strife      and    serious
competition,  I  want  to  provoke  it
between groups and  people that are at
approx. the same  level. Those 'below'
oneself    should    be    helped  and
encouraged,   while    those   'above'
oneself should  be respected,  revered
if you will (ok, maybe 'reverence' was
something  we  had  as 12-14  year old
boys,  in  the presence of groups like
Anarchy, Phenomena or Sanity, we might
be  too  old  and  set in  our ways to
revere much anymore). »CL7:This is  the way
to go. I think  reducing the  scene to
'all are equal' is  bleeding  all  the
colours  and  nuances  out of it,  and
ironically, destroying that very  same
thing one wants to nurture, namely the
scenish spirit. »CL1:I am sure  the  people
who  more  or  less  openly  preach or
practice a more 'friendly/egalitarian'
scene  as  a   worthy   goal  (Adonis,
Punisher  and  Ghandy  come  to  mind,
editor wise) honestly  think that  the
opposite will destroy the scene in the
long  run.  The  truth  as  I  see  it
however, is that  lack of both  things
will  destroy  the motivation we  have
for  the  scene.   »CL8:A    scene  without
aggressiveness  will   be  colourless,
static   and ,   well,  undead (living
death, hehe)  for  the  sceners in it,
while a  scene without friendship  and
care  for  others  would   be  hectic,
devoid of values   and   for   me,  as
equally  dead    as    the   opposite.»CL1:

But really, this  article  was written
to oppose  the view  that some editors
and people seem to be having,  that we
should all just be  friends and behave
somewhat  quietly,  in  order  not  to
provoke   anyone    and     make   bad
impressions. »CL7:It seems like  one cannot
say what  one  thinks anymore, without
being thought less  of. »CL1: It  is not as
much WHAT  you say, but  THAT you  say
something   negative/harsh/aggressive.
Some people seem  to  think  the scene
is so  fragile,  that we  should spare
the  poor  sceners from  criticism and
harsh remarks,  otherwise   the  scene
will break. Heh,  if that is the case,
then we might as well get it over with
now, and break it. »CL6:But of course, this
is not  the  case,  and  in actuality,
showing  some teeth, proving  that you
have a spine,  voicing  your opinions,»CL1:
competing more aggressively can infact
invigorate the scene, can make it feel
more alive for those affected.  Editor
wise, I  know  this   holds  true  for
writers such  as Sane, Wade and myself
at least, and probably that old polish
provocateur Azzaro too.

»CL8:Another thing, in this vein, which  is
a bit sad,  is   all   this  misplaced
optimism some people  want us to have.»CL1:
We need to be gentle with the sceners,
to  focus  on  the  good   things,  to
proclaim the scene alive and  kicking.
Again, the  philosophy   behind   this
seems to be that the sceners  are  too
fragile to  hear the  truth  of  this,
so we might as well spare  them  (and,
by psychic repression, ourselves) from
it. This  is all  wrong,  all  we will
succeed  in   doing    is   to  delude
ourselves,  and  try  to paint a wrong
picture, that will make  people  loose
faith  in  the  scene all the more. We
need to be truthful, to dare voice our
opinions, and to dare attack those  we
feel  like  attacking,   one   way  or
another. We also need to be nasty when
the  situation  warrants  it,  and  we
should   feel   confident   enough  in
ourselves  to behave in a self-assured
way, arrogant  if we dare and  feel it
is appropriate.  »CL7:It  will  make  other
people react to  this, it will  affect
and change  other people, and  it will
mostly  only   affect   them  for  the
better, as  long  as  we  moderate all
this  with  the  needed  respect   and
friendliness.»CL1: We  will only succeed in
choking the  scene, if we think it too
fragile for   our  true  opinions  and
ideas.

Ohh, and  just  to  be clear, I do NOT
think  the  scene  is  in  a  terrible
state, it  is  doing  better than some
years  ago  at  least, but when  I say
this, I am  truthful, and I think some
people  who  say the same (or say even
more optimistic things)  are trying to
convince both themselves and others of
this. But the  important thing  is not
what state the  scene is 'really'  in,
but  rather  what  we   make   of  it.

»CL7:I hope  this  article  will make  both
kinds  of  people   (and    the   vast
majority,  who  fall  in between these
two) see  the nuances in this, and the
importance  and  shortcomings  of both
Mr. friendly  scener,»CL1:   as   well   as
Mr. Chaos (in  both  meanings  of  the
word). If  not, you are  all  pathetic
lamers, naturally.