In America, we’d like to believe that our “unalienable rights” can’t be taken away from us, but the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. A subculture of people, called Juggalos have been prosecuted only because of a misinterpretation on what being a Juggalo entails. The definition of a Juggalo depends on if you’re asking an artist, a fan, or an anti-fan, but you’ll find that they have a more positive affect on individuals and the community even though a small group of people are the complete opposite. Psychopathic Records, known to fans as “The Hatchet”, is a music label that specializes in hip hop and contains Horrorcore, which is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed lyrical content and imagery. It was founded in 1991 by Alex Abbris and Insane Clown Posse (ICP), one of the label’s many artists. Over the years the label when from having one artist the year it was created, ICP, to …show more content…
currently having 14 artists. In total the record label has twenty-seven artist, past and current, including the duo, Twiztid. For the artists, being a Juggalo means staying humble and loyal to your fans, while, all at the same time, staying true to one’s music and beliefs. In the song “Raw Deal” by Twiztid, the artists highlight what being a Juggalo is all about. In the song Juggalos are characterized as being free spirited, loyal, and headstrong. The lines “Cause we keep that scrub life and fuck that rich s***” and “We stand at the bus stop in yesterday's clothes” high lights their headstrong nature because it displays that Juggalos don’t see the need to appease, assimilate, or apologize to anyone that due to the awareness of the stigma thrust upon them,. This also gives them their care free life style. In the lines “With half a million mother******* lookin' just like us” and “With contacts and bare face all ready to bust” Twiztid displays the loyalty of their fan base by use of their face paint gimmick and other Psychopathic Records merchandise. As a recording artist they know that they know that without their fans, they have no career. The impact this has is on the values of the individual. The headstrong, free spirited, and loyal qualities help fight the pressure that society has on your personality. These qualities aid in keeping oneself humbled and blocking out more confusion on finding one’s niche in the world. This is beneficial because of the sense of belonging is strong in our society and those that fall outside of a certain group are targeted, in light of the bullying epidemic. These qualities eases that feeling by boosting one’s confidence in themselves which enables them to become a part of a community. Fans of the music produced by “The Hatchet” are called “Juggalos”( or “Juggalettes” for females).
This term was coined by Insane Clown Posse at a concert in 1994 during the song, “The Juggla”. The fans believe that being a Juggalo is being in a gigantic family that spans internationally. They believe that within this family, they will be accepted and follow Ruth Stafford Peal’s wise words: “See a need and fill it”. In the documentary, “A Family Underground” and “American Juggalo-Often Mocked and Misunderstood Subculture”, there is an inside look at what being a Juggalo means to the fans. These documentaries are about something called “The Gathering of the Juggalos” (often called “The Gathering”), which is a bunch of concerts in the woods and people camp out there together and have a good time. Though it may appear that all these people do is paint themselves and basically have Woodstock in the woods, but you often hear them shouting, “Family!” Why? Because to them, being at The Gathering with fellow Juggalos is like coming to a family reunion, like they are
home. As stated before most of the people voice feeling rejected by society because of the way they dress, speak, and where they reside. Since everyone is so accepting at The Gathering, to them this is the only place where people will actually understand them and not look down on them. A woman expressed that a Juggalo took her in when no one else, even family, would help her and that he gets condescending looks from people, including people who claim to be Christians, just because of the way he speaks and appears. She confesses that the brotherly love that he showed her and the love she experienced at The Gathering is why she became a Juggalette. This story is very common throughout the event, where people feel home because of the family love felt throughout the occasion. Because this is a very accepting community the feeling of belonging is inevitable. One man stated that a Juggalo or Juggalette can be any color, be straight edge, meaning that one doesn’t take part in drugs or alcohol, not buy any merchandise, or tattoo themselves to belong in the family. This is because the Juggalo family being based in love, not in the amount of money or the amount of tattoos one has. Because this community is so welcoming, everything goes; including backyard wrestling of all kinds and throwing various items in the air. Because of these violent tendencies along with the fact the music they listen to doesn’t exactly spout fairy dust and rainbows, the list of those opposing the Juggalo subculture is an ever growing list. The impact this has is on the values of a community. The family atmosphere acts as a shield against the world’s expectation and a blanket of comfort. It provides a place where no judgment is passed and one is allowed to live life however they which. It is a place where help is given where it is needed. These characteristics are a positive impact on those that come in contact with it because it symbolizes everything a decent community should have. Those that oppose Juggalos see them as a menace to society. They see Juggalos as a cult with a message to that will destroy civil values and should be stopped at all. In the legal system Juggalos aren’t the most welcomed group of people. Due to the fact that there have been several murders at the hands of Juggalos throughout the country, not only the fans are feeling the heat, but also the music label. What do people like James Sweet who stabbed a teen in September of 2013, the 2 men in Winlock, WA who are suspects in a murder that took place in July of 2015, and the man in Sacramento, CA that was accused of stabbing a 13-year-old girl to death in August of 2015 have in common? They are all alleged Juggalos. These crimes along with the Juggalo gangs across the country depict Juggalos as being a violent and deadly fan base. In 2011, the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center listed the Juggalo fan base as being a gang. An officer interviewed on the tv show Nightline stated that the artists should be held responsible for the actions of their fans because of their devotion to the violent music. Since then the label has been losing money due to people not buying merchandise in fear of being reprimanded. Since 2004 a movement emerged that has been opposing the juggalos for the past eleven years called the “Juggalo Holocaust”. The mission of this movement is to end the Juggalo subculture because it is seen as a blight on society and dangerous to those that come in contact with it. Supposedly there have been approximately 20-25 Juggalos shot and killed and 6 Juggalettes raped since the movement started. There is a blog and several Facebook accounts dedicated to distributing propaganda against the subculture. On Youtube, there is even a video satirizing a dating site for Juggalos that depicts them as participating in drugs, alcoholic characteristics, violence, and very silly nicknames. There are also several musical artist like Esham that directly oppose the culture by bashing it in almost all of their songs. The overall message of all of these opposing factors is that they do not support the Juggalo subculture because it is known to be violent, drug and alcohol abusers, and of low intelligence. The sympathizers feel that these practices do not line up with something that they want within society. The impact of this is quite the opposite of the “American values” that the anti-fans are trying to protect. In the process of deeming the Juggalos as a gang based of their musical preference violates the American right of freedom of expression. The results are negative because American lives have been destroyed due to taking enjoyment in a less than desirable music genre. Thankfully as of this year the Juggalo fan base isn’t considered a gang. Thanks to the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ICP was able to fight back against allegations of being a group that promoted gang activity and that their fans were heavily a part of it. The Juggalo fan base cannot be reprimanded because of how they appear and the music they listen to. In order to do that you’d have to persecute the entirety of the horrorcore fan based (outside of Psychopathic Records) because those people listen to the same graphic music. Even some of the music that is played over the radio is sometimes a bit graphic, but that fan base isn’t being harassed just for having a symbol signifying enjoying the music of a certain artist. These are people that society has thrown away because of their undesirable attributes, so they found a place where they could be accepted no matter what. In spite of this society wants to take that away too? In light of this, it is disgraceful to slander a whole community based off of the actions of a few. From the information gathered here I have concluded that a Juggalo is a fan base loyal to the artists of “The Hatchet”, who has liberal values and approachable. This is a fan base of tough love, even though it should be noted that there are fans that commit violent acts, but that does not correlate to the fans that are otherwise not seeking to destroy the government and force the world into anarchy.
Can you imagine yourself being apart of a group or lifestyle, now imagine yourself not fitting in. Maybe some people think you’re weird, but people just like you understand. Many suggest that it’s dangerous while others want to join. Whatever the reason may be you still consider yourself apart of society. As you grow older you realize that many people have different backgrounds and maybe even distinct behaviors. When people feel a deep need for love or respect, values and morals may be forgotten. It’s their customs, rituals, and beliefs that make up their own culture.
The satanic cult panic in part contributed to the conviction of Misskelley, Echols and Baldwin. Baldwin himself describes this assumption; “I can see where they might think I was in a cult,” he said, in that 1993 interview, “because I wear Metallica T-shirts.” (Rich, 2013). The article goes on to explain that the crime happened at the end of the five-year satanic panic period that had plagued American popular culture. These boys did not dress like other teens; they did not listen to the same music. Metal music especially music from bands like Metallica were frowned upon because of their expletive lyrics. When the public established that the boys were different from them, they developed stories that would align with their beliefs. The article establishes that after several weeks of investigation and no clear leads, “rumors of satanic involvement assumed greater urgency” (Rich, 2013) By doi...
A counterculture is a group that is disobedient towards the larger society by not following their norms, values, and practices and make up their own (Thomas). An example of a counterculture would be the moonshiners in the 1920s era when they illegally made alcohol during the Prohibition because the rest of society had to follow the law of not being allowed to manufacture alcohol, but moonshiners dismissed this law and made their own (Rosenberg). In the 1920s, after the American Revolution, most people fulfilled their weekend activities with alcohol consumption (Rosenberg). Societies organized a Temperance movement in which they tried various techniques to try to dissuade citizens from drinking because they thought that the alcoholics were causing society’s tribulations like crime; however they did not work that well so they started focusing on trying to complete ban any alcoholic consumption (Rosenberg). It was in 1919 that the 18th Amendment was ratified, stating that it was illegal to sell and manufacture alcohol, and it went into effect during the 1920s (Blumenthal). Many people were outraged by this new amendment; however they began to find loopholes such as how the amendment never stated that they were forbidden to consume alcohol (Blumenthal). Some people did not follow this amendment and began to find ways to manufacture and sell alcohol to various citizens; these people were called moonshiners and they would make alcohol and sell it to people illegally. (Grabianowski).
Manson’s childhood and teenage years were troubled in the core, as he developed criminal tendencies at a young age committing some serious offenses. However, it was the counterculture of the 1960s that nurtured his psychopathic side luring distraught young women into the influence of the cult leader. According to Moore, “counter culture or contra culture is a practice or activity, usually of a group or a network of people, in which the values expressed by the participants are inherently critical of or out of line with the dominant or mainstream” (742).
We’ve all seen them before. Maybe at a bus stop, in our schools, or at the coffee shop. “They” look odd enough to frighten a circus clown, but for some reason, they always smile when you look their way. Perhaps it’s that their hair is the color of the sunset or that their pants look like they could house a small family. It could be that their headphones seem permanently glued to their ears and that they’re never afraid to groove on the sidewalk. Whatever the reason, you know that “they” are not quite normal. You may call them “freaks,” or “punks,” or simply “those crazy kids.” But if you did, you’d be misled for “they” are not you’re average young people, no, “they” are ravers.
During the sixties Americans saw the rise of the counterculture. The counterculture, which was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, was embraced by the decade’s young Americans. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and freer country.
...as known for back in the rocker days of the late 1900s. Metal artists such as Judas Priest to Marilyn Manson have been accused “…of encouraging Satanism, drug use, suicide, and promiscuous sex” (Haenfler, 2013, p. 61). All these subcultures are seen as normal to the people within them. The idea of audience relativity is what makes society view them as deviant.
The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and the Vietnam War seemed to blend together to form a new counterculture in America, the hippie.
So began my two-year ethnography on the American rave subculture. The scene described above was my initiation into the underground subculture where rave kids, typically under twenty-one years old, are given secret invitations to attend private warehouse parties with dancing, drugs, and thousands of their closest friends. Because of my youthful and unorthodox appearance, I was invited to join the then-highly-exclusive underground scene and attended numerous raves in several major cities in North Carolina. Although my chosen subculture was not typically examined by academia, I conducted an academic ethnography of what Maton (1993) describes as a "group whose world views, values and practices diverge from mainstream North American and social science cultures" (747). As a result, I received three graduate credit hours for "supervised research in ethnography" and conducted what may be the only academic ethnography on raves.
Drawing inspiration from the heydey of the Hardcore punk scene, this poster was made to reflect the stark similarities between the political climate of the eighties and the current one that is taking place. During the eighties, Hardcore punk was made to give lesser lower class to middle class people a voice against a government they could not identify with. In addition to this, many used hardcore as a way to express themselves and their many griefs caused by society. Hardcore music was loud, chaotic, and fast which caused everyone to move quickly and forgo societal norms. This type of music had a powerful message, and there needed to be a way to spread this message to newcomers who might not have heard of the hardcore scene. Hardcore posters
The late seventies and early eighties saw the beginning emergence of the Goth subculture: a group of social misfits that appear to always find themselves on the outskirts of mainstream pop culture. It is a complex subculture with great depth and beauty where many of its citizens share a profound connection with the darker aesthetic, are predisposed to depression, and are often willing to explore interpersonal and sexual relationships with little inhibition or regard for societal norms.
The purpose of this report is to introduce emo subculture and the different aspects about it. It includes the history , fashion, lifestyle, values and attitude of this particular subculture. But before anything else, what does the word subculture mean? This word will be often use later on this report and therefore its important for us to know the meaning of it. Subculture is a group of people having the same/common interest which differentiates them from a larger culture to where they belong. Subcultures can be identified by age, ethnicity, class, location and gender of the members. Different subcultures have their own styles which differentiates them from the other.
Skaters. They are the typical representation of the grunge culture of the ‘90s. Extremely wide pants, pockets that go to the back of their knees, extravagant piercings, intricate tattoos, and twenty-fourth century hair dos are just part of the looks that these so called “grungy people” are made of. Or at least they were when the grunge phenomenon started. With the death of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, the grunge movement seems to have slowed down and even—as some say—disappeared from the main stream pop culture. As we all know, those commercial creations often come and go without us even noticing them. But grunge, I think, has moved to a different direction, one that can trick us into thinking it is gone. Grunge is still among our youngsters, and that is for sure; it is just not as noticeable as is used to be. But, what is exactly grunge and what direction is it taking?
The sixties was a decade of liberation and revolution, a time of great change and exciting exploration for the generations to come. It was a time of anti-war protests, free love, sit-ins, naked hippie chicks and mind-altering drugs. In big cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Paris, there was a passionate exchange of ideas, fiery protests against the Vietnam War, and a time for love, peace and equality. The coming together of like-minded people from around the world was spontaneous and unstoppable. This group of people, which included writers, musicians, thinkers and tokers, came to be known as the popular counterculture, better known as hippies. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius in the late sixties was more than just a musical orgy. It was a time of spiritual missions to fight for change and everything they believed in. Freedom, love, justice, equality and peace were at the very forefront of this movement (West, 2008). Some wore beads. Some had long hair. Some wore tie-dye and others wore turtle-neck sweaters. The Hippie generation was a wild bunch, to say the least, that opened the cookie jar of possibilities politically, sexually, spiritually and socially to forever be known as one of the most memorable social movements of all time (Hippie Generation, 2003).
There are individuals that live in fear of showing their true identity to the world because they simply fear that society won’t accept them for having a different sexual orientation. Society advocates that individuals should be able to be proud of who they are, but yet they judge homosexuals for being different. People are taught not to judge others based on their race or religion, so why do they still discriminate against homosexuals? The homosexual subculture is not accepted by society, looked down upon, and misjudged; however, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally.