D.I.C.K
Kept me head down recently and been contemplating a little [though this had nothing to do with the subject title so no comments please]. So this might be a long one [excuse mistakes].
Just finished Don De Grazia’s fictional American Skin set in mid-80s Chicago. The main character seems to go on some warrior-like odyssey from teenage runaway, skinhead gang member, army recruit, would-be college student, and prison inmate. On the way he learns about class, race, sex and occasionally, male identity.
A large part of the story is based around skinhead gangs. I don’t know if De Grazia’s story is based on fact but if there were as many skinhead gangs in Chicago as he describes, I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about them. So who or what is a skinhead? De Grazia mentions a number of different groups in Chicago ranging from the obvious neo-Nazi and anti-fascist gangs to the more obscure straight edge and black power gangs. In the story, one of the main characters points out that many skinheads the world over were simply apolitical anti-social thugs. A brief reference in the book describes a skinhead thus: 'Lower class inner city white manifestation of the young warrior archetype in the human psyche'
Think I liked the apolitical anti-social thug best. The story does refer back to the British experience with the early mod and skinhead scene in the 60s and the way that some people within the National Front highjacked the skinhead look for their own agenda in the 70s and 80s. In American Skin, it implies that most people just assume that most, if not all, skinheads hate all non-whites and Jews. The concept of an anti-fascist or apolitical skinhead just doesn’t compute, especially in the media and law enforcement.
Just a final thought on this, I have a foto of Cup Cake McCann circa 1996 outside the Palace of Light with all the gear of a skinhead [black bomber jacket, red-brown DM’s, green para trousers, and cropped hair style] and yet he’s also sporting a totally gay porn-star tash [lovely]. I think there was a short-lived gang in Plymouth in the mid-90s led by Mark called Skinheads Against Porn Stars [SAPS]. It didn’t take off.
Talking of Mark, went to the pub last night without him. Met up with Jizz for some chitchat. He reminded me of a little moment a few Saturdays ago when I again demonstrated my amazingly bad taste in humour. Mark McCann had been to a gig at the Phoenix but turned up in the Nopoint Inn for last orders. Mark proceeded to tell Jizz and me that the gig was ace but that most of the audience were youngsters aged between 14 and 20. He said that that some of the girls were gorgeous but he felt bad saying that because many of them were clearly underage. Once again ignoring all the conventions of political correctness, this being a habit of mine in the Nopoint, I immediately quipped back that as long as they were white, it didn’t matter. No doubt I felt completely smug with comment and then promptly forget that I said it until Jizz reminded me of it last night. Apparently my amazingly poor taste was demonstrated a little too loudly, possibly due to alcohol intake. Anyway, I don’t think I’m racist, but I’m certainly the purveyor of bad taste and I need to be told off!
Anyway, I’m now reading Dynamite - A Century of Class Violence in America 1830 to 1930. In one section, it describes the rise of organised crime and lays much of the blame for this on the US government. Throughout the 20s, and particularly after the Wall Street Crash, unions were hard pressed to protect their members from either unemployment or exploitation by fat-cat businessmen [low wages, pay cuts, and harsh working conditions etc]. By February 1930, it is estimated that between four and eight million men were out of work in the US. As the unions resorted to more extreme activities to protect their interests, they increasingly turned to gangsters to do their dirty work. In 1920 when labour racketeering was in its infancy, the relationship between gangsters and unions was relatively simple. The unions hired the gangsters do a job such as dynamite a building, threaten a contractor, beat up a company official, or assassinate a banker, and then paid them for it. In 1921 alone, there were about 60 bombings in Chicago with about half being connected to union activity. It made sense for the unions to hire gangsters to do the dirty work because they were already well trained from years of bootlegging, and running speakeasies and whorehouses, and it allowed the union leaders to distance themselves from the thugs. Unfortunately, as gangsters became more involved with union activities they also increasingly began to muscle their way into union offices and affairs, in some cases taking control of entire organizations.
A grand jury sitting in Brooklyn in 1930 expressed the opinion that the racketeers were ‘a power for the time being greater than the government itself’. To be exact, the racketeers were the government in places like Chicago, for they had their own people in the police departments and on judicial benches. Racketeers were powerful men. Capone’s annual income from his various rackets was said to be about $30,000,000. In June 1930, the appalling crime situation in Chicago forced the chief of police to leave his office in defeat. He admitted his force was no match for such organisations as the Capone or Moran gangs, and blamed Prohibition as being the single biggest factor that allowed them to attain such power. Although he was partially right on this point, he was overlooking another important factor, this being the connection between unions, workers rights and racketeering. The radical approach taken by some unions to further workers rights played a valuable if unconventional contribution in improving working conditions throughout the United States. If the conditions had been better for the working classes in the first place, there would have been little or no opportunity for the gangsters to exploit the situation via the unions later. Talk about creating your own monster.
I don’t know much about British social history. Don’t think many of our unions frequently resorted to bombs or assassination though I bet the miners probably thought about it in the 80s. Fascinating, I’m sure you agree.
Now it is becoming all the more apparent to me that America is just one crazy mutha-fuckin place for creating and immortalising its own monsters. I don’t think you really have to look too far to explain the causes behind the Columbine massacre or the Oklahoma federal building bombing. You can look at the so-called breakdown in civil or family values, the rise of drugs, and the prevalence of guns. The list could go on and I’m sure that they all have significant parts to play but it seems to me that the real problem lies with America itself. It’s a nation that was born out of violence, constantly associates its history with violence and glamorises this, and is totally obsessed with the public display of violence. Let me remind you of some things. The early militias,the War of Independence, The Declaration of Independence [and amendments] and the right to bear arms, Davy Crockett, wars with Native American tribes [massacre at Wounded Knee], extermination of the buffalo, wars with Mexico and Spain, cowboys & gunfighters and how the West was won, Custer’s last stand, slavery, the civil war, assassination of Lincoln, Prohibition, Gangsters, Al Capone, St Valentine’s Day Massacre, Bonny & Clyde, Dillinger, WWI, WWII, Korea, McCarthyism, Hoffa, Mafia, Bay of Pigs, civil rights, KKK = MLK = JFK = RFK = FBI = CIA = NSA = NRA, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Tate, Manson, Watergate, 3-Mile Island, Iranian hostage crisis, Delta Force, Nicaragua, Contras, arms for Iran, Oliver North, Oliver Hardy, Gulf War I, Gulf War II, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosova, American friendly fire, Somalia, US Marines, DICK’s [see below], freedom fighters [but not them home-growners, or them low down commies or them pesky fundamentalists], Hip Hop and black gang culture [2-Pak, Biggy Smalls, Duff Paddy or whatever], Haymarket riots, Rodney King, LA riots, OJ Simpson, Homer Simpson, John Lennon, Ted Bundy [and all serial killers everywhere], Colt 45, Winchester, Magnum M-16, F-16, B-52, U-2, star wars, Desert Storm, Desert Eagle, cruise missiles, Patriot missiles, The Patriot, First Blood, Rambo, Deer Hunter, Deliverance, Southern Comfort, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Pulp Fiction, Gangs of New York, Gangs of Chicago, Gangs of LA, Fox news alert, CNN World News, Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Duffweiser, drive-by shootings, greenhouse emissions, the petroleum/motor conspiracy, cold-case files, Florida voting discrepancies, Columbine, Wacko, Michigan Militia, Oklahoma, the electric chair, the death penalty, and Hiroshima.
In summary - stealth bomber, Unabomber, atomic bomber - you’re just natural born killers guys. Twin Towers - shocking, maybe, but home to roost, yes. Reap what you sow Great Satan
D.I.C.K - Form of abuse thrown at recruits at US Army boot camps but apparently only a military acronym for ‘dedicated infantry communist killer’ and not something made up to circumvent anti-bullying and abuse legislation passed in the 80s. Just like the US military, always willing to improvise.
Just finished Don De Grazia’s fictional American Skin set in mid-80s Chicago. The main character seems to go on some warrior-like odyssey from teenage runaway, skinhead gang member, army recruit, would-be college student, and prison inmate. On the way he learns about class, race, sex and occasionally, male identity.
A large part of the story is based around skinhead gangs. I don’t know if De Grazia’s story is based on fact but if there were as many skinhead gangs in Chicago as he describes, I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about them. So who or what is a skinhead? De Grazia mentions a number of different groups in Chicago ranging from the obvious neo-Nazi and anti-fascist gangs to the more obscure straight edge and black power gangs. In the story, one of the main characters points out that many skinheads the world over were simply apolitical anti-social thugs. A brief reference in the book describes a skinhead thus: 'Lower class inner city white manifestation of the young warrior archetype in the human psyche'
Think I liked the apolitical anti-social thug best. The story does refer back to the British experience with the early mod and skinhead scene in the 60s and the way that some people within the National Front highjacked the skinhead look for their own agenda in the 70s and 80s. In American Skin, it implies that most people just assume that most, if not all, skinheads hate all non-whites and Jews. The concept of an anti-fascist or apolitical skinhead just doesn’t compute, especially in the media and law enforcement.
Just a final thought on this, I have a foto of Cup Cake McCann circa 1996 outside the Palace of Light with all the gear of a skinhead [black bomber jacket, red-brown DM’s, green para trousers, and cropped hair style] and yet he’s also sporting a totally gay porn-star tash [lovely]. I think there was a short-lived gang in Plymouth in the mid-90s led by Mark called Skinheads Against Porn Stars [SAPS]. It didn’t take off.
Talking of Mark, went to the pub last night without him. Met up with Jizz for some chitchat. He reminded me of a little moment a few Saturdays ago when I again demonstrated my amazingly bad taste in humour. Mark McCann had been to a gig at the Phoenix but turned up in the Nopoint Inn for last orders. Mark proceeded to tell Jizz and me that the gig was ace but that most of the audience were youngsters aged between 14 and 20. He said that that some of the girls were gorgeous but he felt bad saying that because many of them were clearly underage. Once again ignoring all the conventions of political correctness, this being a habit of mine in the Nopoint, I immediately quipped back that as long as they were white, it didn’t matter. No doubt I felt completely smug with comment and then promptly forget that I said it until Jizz reminded me of it last night. Apparently my amazingly poor taste was demonstrated a little too loudly, possibly due to alcohol intake. Anyway, I don’t think I’m racist, but I’m certainly the purveyor of bad taste and I need to be told off!
Anyway, I’m now reading Dynamite - A Century of Class Violence in America 1830 to 1930. In one section, it describes the rise of organised crime and lays much of the blame for this on the US government. Throughout the 20s, and particularly after the Wall Street Crash, unions were hard pressed to protect their members from either unemployment or exploitation by fat-cat businessmen [low wages, pay cuts, and harsh working conditions etc]. By February 1930, it is estimated that between four and eight million men were out of work in the US. As the unions resorted to more extreme activities to protect their interests, they increasingly turned to gangsters to do their dirty work. In 1920 when labour racketeering was in its infancy, the relationship between gangsters and unions was relatively simple. The unions hired the gangsters do a job such as dynamite a building, threaten a contractor, beat up a company official, or assassinate a banker, and then paid them for it. In 1921 alone, there were about 60 bombings in Chicago with about half being connected to union activity. It made sense for the unions to hire gangsters to do the dirty work because they were already well trained from years of bootlegging, and running speakeasies and whorehouses, and it allowed the union leaders to distance themselves from the thugs. Unfortunately, as gangsters became more involved with union activities they also increasingly began to muscle their way into union offices and affairs, in some cases taking control of entire organizations.
A grand jury sitting in Brooklyn in 1930 expressed the opinion that the racketeers were ‘a power for the time being greater than the government itself’. To be exact, the racketeers were the government in places like Chicago, for they had their own people in the police departments and on judicial benches. Racketeers were powerful men. Capone’s annual income from his various rackets was said to be about $30,000,000. In June 1930, the appalling crime situation in Chicago forced the chief of police to leave his office in defeat. He admitted his force was no match for such organisations as the Capone or Moran gangs, and blamed Prohibition as being the single biggest factor that allowed them to attain such power. Although he was partially right on this point, he was overlooking another important factor, this being the connection between unions, workers rights and racketeering. The radical approach taken by some unions to further workers rights played a valuable if unconventional contribution in improving working conditions throughout the United States. If the conditions had been better for the working classes in the first place, there would have been little or no opportunity for the gangsters to exploit the situation via the unions later. Talk about creating your own monster.
I don’t know much about British social history. Don’t think many of our unions frequently resorted to bombs or assassination though I bet the miners probably thought about it in the 80s. Fascinating, I’m sure you agree.
Now it is becoming all the more apparent to me that America is just one crazy mutha-fuckin place for creating and immortalising its own monsters. I don’t think you really have to look too far to explain the causes behind the Columbine massacre or the Oklahoma federal building bombing. You can look at the so-called breakdown in civil or family values, the rise of drugs, and the prevalence of guns. The list could go on and I’m sure that they all have significant parts to play but it seems to me that the real problem lies with America itself. It’s a nation that was born out of violence, constantly associates its history with violence and glamorises this, and is totally obsessed with the public display of violence. Let me remind you of some things. The early militias,the War of Independence, The Declaration of Independence [and amendments] and the right to bear arms, Davy Crockett, wars with Native American tribes [massacre at Wounded Knee], extermination of the buffalo, wars with Mexico and Spain, cowboys & gunfighters and how the West was won, Custer’s last stand, slavery, the civil war, assassination of Lincoln, Prohibition, Gangsters, Al Capone, St Valentine’s Day Massacre, Bonny & Clyde, Dillinger, WWI, WWII, Korea, McCarthyism, Hoffa, Mafia, Bay of Pigs, civil rights, KKK = MLK = JFK = RFK = FBI = CIA = NSA = NRA, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Tate, Manson, Watergate, 3-Mile Island, Iranian hostage crisis, Delta Force, Nicaragua, Contras, arms for Iran, Oliver North, Oliver Hardy, Gulf War I, Gulf War II, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosova, American friendly fire, Somalia, US Marines, DICK’s [see below], freedom fighters [but not them home-growners, or them low down commies or them pesky fundamentalists], Hip Hop and black gang culture [2-Pak, Biggy Smalls, Duff Paddy or whatever], Haymarket riots, Rodney King, LA riots, OJ Simpson, Homer Simpson, John Lennon, Ted Bundy [and all serial killers everywhere], Colt 45, Winchester, Magnum M-16, F-16, B-52, U-2, star wars, Desert Storm, Desert Eagle, cruise missiles, Patriot missiles, The Patriot, First Blood, Rambo, Deer Hunter, Deliverance, Southern Comfort, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Pulp Fiction, Gangs of New York, Gangs of Chicago, Gangs of LA, Fox news alert, CNN World News, Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Duffweiser, drive-by shootings, greenhouse emissions, the petroleum/motor conspiracy, cold-case files, Florida voting discrepancies, Columbine, Wacko, Michigan Militia, Oklahoma, the electric chair, the death penalty, and Hiroshima.
In summary - stealth bomber, Unabomber, atomic bomber - you’re just natural born killers guys. Twin Towers - shocking, maybe, but home to roost, yes. Reap what you sow Great Satan
D.I.C.K - Form of abuse thrown at recruits at US Army boot camps but apparently only a military acronym for ‘dedicated infantry communist killer’ and not something made up to circumvent anti-bullying and abuse legislation passed in the 80s. Just like the US military, always willing to improvise.