Gothic Politics
 

The topic has been mentioned more than once and talked about often, so here is the thread in which to discuss it.

First, why is there a thread for this on Gothic.Net? Why not? People like to talk about it.

Second, so what would a 'gothic political' discussion look like? Well, obviously if your goth and discussing politics, then anything you discuss would fall in that category. However for the purpose of this thread I'm going to narrow down the idea to this:

What laws and acts passed by the current (or previous) goverment administrations from your respective country has had an effect (positive or negative) on the scene where you are located.

Fire away.

The only thing I can think of right now is the talk of a complete ban on smoking in any restuarant(sp?) in my area.It doesn't bother me so much,(I'm one of the few people without a cigarette in my hand at the club) but I know alot of people are gonna be upset if they can't have a smoke with their coffee at 3 a.m.

Do I lose goth points for being a non-smoker?

:P

I live very close to the city and I' m afraid to go any clubs in my area at the present time. The reason being we the same gun laws in our city as in the suburbs. Which means the law in very unrestrictive concerning guns.

Since this has happened there have been alot of gunslayings. Its getting to the point where the cops are afraid to patrol around the nieghborhoods. There was a time when I would see the cops all over the place every time i stepped out the door. Now they just sit in a parking lot sleeping.

It sucks that the goth scene around is no longer safe in any way shape or form because when you walk out the door to leave some asshole may want shoot off his/her gun. The place i once worked at was robbed at gunpoint too. Several other places also got held up too and this is in the good parts of the area. :cry:

Don't worry wolfie I'm a non-smoker too. YAY for non-smokers!!!!!!

umm back on topic there isn't really a scene here but Virginia didn't pass the ban on visible underwear consisting of a $50 fine if your underwear was showing, which could have been a problem because they didn't bother to define underwear. Oh and this took over a month to decide, you just got to love good ol' VA :roll:

It's the same ol' smoking problem here too. We have a damn strict minister of health who basically wants to make booze and cigs so expensive that people can't afford to have a good time. Fuck him and his cold christian eyes...

No smoking in the clubs mean you have to do it outside, which is not really a problem for me since I don't smoke that much anyway, but since it's so damn cold here, of course there must be heaters. This, naturally, is an extra expense for the clubs, and how do they recuperate? By jacking up the price of the beer.

For the clubs that cater to the fringe crowds, it might not neccessarily deter the patrons from coming there, but as goth clubs are usually frequented by students and other 'less financially fortunate' people, it is perhaps unavoidable that revenue goes down in one way or another, thus making it harder for the club to book bands, etc.

That's all I can really think of for the time being. People don't carry guns in Norway, so that's not a problem. You can show your underwear too, if you want to be tacky.

California has outlawed smoking in your own vehicle. Your car is an extension of your home...what next? Will they put sodomy laws into effect for every state? Topic at hand...


I personally could care less of Joe-Blow nobody lit a fag. They are endangering thier own health, but its their perogative. The goverment is slowly inching their way to banning tobacco altogether. Then what would they do? The tobacco industry is far more a money maker than feminine beauty products...how would they make up for the loss of revenue, not to mention tax?


*Soul*

I can't say shit, I was a smoker. It still bothers me that I quit,...so to embrace the fact and function of this process, I would like a smoke please...

So, you're not allowed to smoke in your own home in Cali? WTF?! Even if you don't have kids? And you're not allowed to enter the fudge tunnel either? Hot damn, are your state laws ever nuts...

As a side-note to the smoking issue: I hear rolling papers, like Rizla, is banned in the U.S., hence people use Philly Blunts and pages from the Bible to roll spliffs. Is this for real, or are there still little backwoods shops where you can buy cigarette papers?

<--is so amused :D


Actually I live in Louisiana...California has some weird laws, but wait until you visit or move to the south. Better yet, read up. As for those backwoods shops,....they are aplenty here.

<---does not live in the boonies
<---does have indoor plumbing


*Soul*

Actually you can buy Zig-zags which are for 'cigarettes' like the left-handed marlbaro.

:wink:

I'm actually wondering if they'll ever lift the silly ban on Absinthe here in the states?I don't think I'll actually like it if the licorice taste is as heavyy as they say, though.

Absinthe just can't be produced here but you can have it

^ You also can't wear spikes at concerts.Now, imagine that half of the wardrobe you're wearing to a concert consists of spikes,chains and whatnot.You'd have to either leave half of your clothing in your parked car(where some one else could concievably see your expensive gear and rob you of it while your inside) or you can run home and change.I know a girl who actually took off all of her spikes and chains and left them in the restroom in a backpack behind a toilet before a concert.I was shocked that they were still there when the concert was over.

They are trying to jump on the band wagon with the whole smoking thing over here too. I highly doubt anyone is going to enforce it though. You know with all the horrible crimes going on over here they are actually dedicating alot of thought to a smoking ban!!!! Just a week ago a 15 year old girl got shot and killed by a 30 something old man because she would not kiss him! That happened not too far from me too. But we must stop people from smoking in public before we do anything else right? :roll:

Both the tobacco industry and goverment would lose money if they outlawed tobacco altogether. Shipping companies would fail, we would lose allies, taxes would JUMP sky-high...in my opinion.


Damn, there I go doomsdaying again.


But really...I think "Land of the Free" gets tossed out of the window when they start telling us where we can smoke or where we have to be if we don't want to smoke. Sometimes I just don't grasp any of our laws or processes of justice *cough* O.J. Simpson *cough*...



*Soul*

i can buy rolling papers anywhere i want to in arizona :shock:

YES!!



*Soul*

Kudos to the other non smokers. As I tell the lads who scoff when I turn down a free cig here, I might not smoke, but I can run a 6 minute mile ;)

Solumina (OT) - where in VA are you the scene is so bad? Have you been to Richmond or the DC area? There are some nice nights there.

http://revelations.darkangels.net

But back to topic. Yeah, the banning of all spikes and shit since 9-11 is everywhere. I fly frequently around the states and across the seas, and I have chains and spikes on my leather jacket. Every airport makes me put it in check in baggage, and then I always see the 'your baggage was inspected' note when I get to where I am going. When I fly around Europe though, they give a rats arse what your wearing and if you have a friggin nail file or clippers on you.

In virginia I remember they also outlawed colored hair in schools a few years back (well, all un-natural colors) as well as 'distracting' colthing and hairstyles. That way they got rid of all the 'alternative' looks. Of course this didn't take in Richmond, as it is quite the mecca of the alternative scene, with all the art colleges, schools, studios, and what not there.

Thank the local GOP for going after that one right after the columbine events. They ban all black clothing, but do nothing about the gun laws (in virginia there is only a 3 hour wait law - and no wait if you buy from a gun show).

Rolling papers are easily avialble in VA, as are crack pipes and other paraphanalia. They sell it all at every gas station - since all are also used in smoking tobacco and VA is the home of tobacco. A pack of cigs is still under $2.00 there for the generic and $3.00 for the good stuff, not that I smoke.

Also, they challenged the sodom law there in VA, but the courts passed it up and it was dismissed, so its still on the books, but don't think they will be using it again anytime soon after the last fiasco.

Slán

I live near the historic village of Waterford, DC is about an hour away so sometimes I make the trip; Richmond is about 3 hours so I hardly ever go there

My X bought a gun from a gun show because of that.He is the last person that should be allowed to have a gun.I think that anyone buying a gun should also have to get a psychological profile done!

Well that's VA for you

That's also TX for ya!

:wink:

Thanks to pres bush letting the gun ban slide, you now can buy 50 caliber machine guns, no waiting in VA. I have 2 mates which just got a fully auto M42 belt fed model. They are working on getting the video of them blasting it off on their home firing range on the net.

But the irony is the terrorism problem in the states directly related to the columbine incident. How so you ask?

Welll, in both cases the administration attacked liberal groups, music, culture, etc. No on asked WHY the people did it. You won't solve either problem until you understand the REASON that drives people to comit certain acts.

I think the whole anti-gay argument the government support also filters to the other alternative looks in society. If you go to school with purple hair or wearing ripped up black leather outfits, your branded. Not only that, the administration in the school and surrounding society feels its ok if the 'normal' people then torment those 'subversents' as they aren't jumping in line with the rest of what they see as society. This is another issue the current administration is definiately turing a blind eye too and creating more problems for everyone.

My boyfriend lives in VA, too, and he was surprised when I started to talk about ath waiting period we have in Ohio, which is (I think), a week. He said that even in Wal-Marts adn all that they can run a profile on you to see if you've fucked up and can't have a gun.

They should definitly work on gon control before outlawing chains and spikes. I can understand that people are scared. But if you can't carry a nail file onto an airplane, or wear chains (Is this at all? LIke they'd make you take off necklaces over a certain guage and allt aht?), but you an get a gun in VA while you buy toilet paper, then I should be allowed to go on a binge drinking spree, as long as I don't have grape juice.

I like how Sternn seems facinated with gun control here in the States, yet his cub scouts group (i.e. the IRA) can't apparently conform to Northern Ireland and the UK's request to lay down illegal arms either. That's what we call the double standard here folks.

"The US has funny gun laws... it should be like here in Northern Ireland, where terrorism isn't a problem at all" :lol:

On a more realistic note, since Sternn is desperately trying to tie in private regulations with the Bush Administration (his whole goal was to turn this into a Bush-bashing thread), I think a few things should be cleared up. One is that spikes and chains were outlawed in certain schools long before 9-11. Students didn't often hear about the stories of big thug looking kids taking of their wallet chains and beatting kids senselessly with them in the hallways of their schools, but certainly the school boards and faculty have. Back when I wore a spiked bracelet, I nearly punctured my friend several times with it unintentionally. Removing that liability from school isn't a bad idea when you're in the shoes of the faculty, only thinking about law suits that could arise from angry parents of someone who was accidently stabbed in the eye with a spiked bracelet. It's a liability concern, and a realistic one.

TSA regulations are a funny mention. Not sure what that has to do with goths (doesn't really matter, that's not what Sternn's here to talk about). Everything that could be used as a weapon is inspected. Why? Oh I don't know, maybe because people are going to great lengths to take down planes these days, like putting bombs in their shoes. We should be more like the UK, definently, and just let people board planes with sharp objects like the ones used to hijack planes on 9/11. Another absurd regulation here in the US.

GOP banned all black clothing, huh? Where'd you hear about this? Don't bother cause I already know you can't back that absurd claim up.

Rolling papers are avaliable here too. They're intented for tabacco, by the way. Just in case you didn't understand why they were sold legally. "Crack Pipes" are sold in Virginia, too? Why don't you go into a store and ask for one. You'll be out of luck, they only sell "Tobacco Pipes." But, hey, what's that got to do with goths? You saying goths are all a bunch of druggies?