The following sections are personal interpretations of various experiences from the perspective of a short, curly-haired musician and audio engineer with gapped teeth. Hopefully these interpretations will shed light on how I think we ended up in our current social climate, and how I’ve personally chosen to navigate said climate. Though everything below should strictly be construed as my personal perspective, I hope it can be both informative and thought-provoking for those interested.
The Long Crescendo
One cloudy September day in 2011, while living in New York City, I attended Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. The movement certainly grabbed my attention, but what was the impetus for such a movement? Was it possible that the housing crash and subsequent bailouts of “too big to fail” private banks had awakened a small portion of the populous to the privately-run, fractional-reserve-fueled economy of perpetual debt that we are all forced to navigate? As it turns out, yes …but also no …but also kind of …but also all of these other things.
I walked around talking to folks about why they were there and what their experiences were. I wasn’t there to air any grievances, but rather to witness with my own five senses what was going on, as this was unlike anything I’d seen in my lifetime. I had some interesting conversations as I walked around the area of encampments, then in the early evening I departed for home with the copy of Bhagavad Gita that I was gifted. I continued to follow the movement through mainstream media and the newly emerging independent on-the-ground citizen journalists, as it seemed to devolve into convolution and conflict.
On one hand OWS attracted libertarians concerned about an over-reaching federal bureaucracy and incestuous corporate/political monetary policy; and liberals concerned with corporate greed and wealth inequality alike. But as a central focus and ultimatums proved more difficult to reach a consensus on, mischief began to arise - much of which allegedly by what protesters labeled “agent provocateurs”, or in other words plants in the crowd specifically tasked with causing havoc in order to bruise the public image of the movement. Thus tensions rose between protesters and the NYPD. This on the heels of the wildly unpopular authoritarian and racist stop-and-frisk policy of the department.
I was furiously against much of the police action at OWS, as I already had an ax to grind. But I also came to realize that it was all for not, as the movement became aimless and ultimately only served to birth a cultural class war, perpetuated by the media’s nearly unilateral focus on the 99% vs 1% aspect of the narrative. I didn’t know it at the time, but OWS proved to be the genesis of a new paradigm in culture. Those that I know that were in attendance unanimously make the same claim, though most of you I’m sure have no idea what I’m talking about.
You see, protesting up until this point was conceptually different. We’re going on strike until the boss agrees on $x/hour. We’re going to D.C. to insist on the US’s withdrawal from Vietnam. In either example a clearly defined ultimatum serves as a point B, and upon its arrival we can all high-five and go home. From my perspective, OWS began a public habit of taking to the streets or social media just to let everyone know that things suck and we’re mad. But to what end? The “raising awareness” claim worked to conceal extreme intellectual laziness for a short time, but sorry to say that that has ceased to cut the mustard.
It was also around the time of OWS that social media seemingly began sinking its hooks into the minds of your everyday passive citizen, algorithmically pulling them in one social/political direction or another, and becoming a breeding ground for division and delusion. I noticed this fairly quickly and deleted my socials. Ever wonder why you don’t see me on there? Boy I miss MySpace.
This unfamiliar and peculiar shift in culture awakened in me an interest on the social climate. I don’t much care for the theater of politics, but I care immensely about what’s going on in the hearts and minds of people, which has only grown with this decade-long crescendo of cultural conflict and division. Because of this, I try to understand every side, every argument, and I’ve attended events such as a Hillary speech, Bernie’s Super Tuesday rally, the Rainbow Gathering, an anti-Trump protest, and most notoriously two consecutive Trump rallies - the last of which being the D.C. event on January 6th of this year.
The aftermost prompted some in the band I was playing bass in (Rough Francis) to issue a brilliantly eloquent post on social media erroneously claiming that I held “beliefs rooted in white supremacy” and attended a “terrorist insurrection at the Capital [sic]” . Those of you who familiar with this are probably wondering why I haven’t responded publicly. Well, aside from the unfounded assertions being as silly to me as being accused of burglarizing Santa’s workshop in the North Pole, there was a much more important consideration. I knew that by waiting and not adding to this cancel-culture nonsense, this conflict would publicly demonstrate my concerns about the social climate exponentially better than any statement I could formulate. What I see as one of the pillars of our culture problem was now on full display and at this community’s doorstep. It seems to me that too many of us have a sort of dual world view going at all times. There’s the immediate community we exist in - friends, colleagues, family, the local pizza shop, etc. Then there is the view of the big bad world out there, aggregated in our minds almost entirely through a screen. As of late, these two perceived milieux seem to often run in conflict with each other for many, as demonstrated by how many families, friendships, etc. are broken for no wrong doing on anyone’s part, but rather because of someone’s beliefs. We all know this is happening - and thus the only non-black member of a band, whose sole tattoo is of Louis Armstrong, became a “white supremacist” in search engine results.
Buzz/Buzz
I’ve had so many conversations over the past few months, and had the opportunity to go deeper with many in my life than I ever had before. It warms my heart to hear that many more folks than I even thought actually share my perspective, though only a remote few feel comfortable talking about it openly. Why? Well, they don’t want to end up in the news like me. I fully understand that, but I’d personally rather be in my position than theirs. I can fully say and do what I want, and have been able to separate the wheat from the chaff in my life. It’s relieving and much more fulfilling. I do however feel compelled in my position to give these anonymous people a voice in all of this, many of whom were in tears either because of what happened to me, or what unrelated events happened to them. I became someone many felt comfortable confiding in, which is really great.
More now are noticing many anti-corporatist and anti-capitalist types in perfect alignment with the political/corporate apparatus; many fighting institutional racism doing so along side the institutions; those preaching acceptance and tolerance proving disdainful of any views that contradict or question their own; some anti-racists uttering a significant share of the racist rhetoric and/or infantilizing minorities; self-proclaimed Anti-Fascists engaged in violence, bullying, and “othering”; many self-proclaimed liberals advocating for or ignoring unprecedented levels of censorship; many preaching about science and experts scoffing at any science or expert that isn’t in alignment with the bureaucracy or their media of choice; and the devolution of art from challenging the system and societal norms, to a competition of who can best color between the lines. And don’t get me wrong - I share many of the same concerns listed above. Sometimes I feel like I’m more on my critics’ side than they are. Perhaps we should all take a step back and look not at our friends, family, neighbors, and peers to cast aspersions, but the entities behind us whispering in our ears, telling us who in our community is a danger. Make your own decisions on this. I’m not telling anyone what to believe or what’s right. I’m speaking for myself, and those who silently agree, who want to protect their jobs, families, and lifestyle by not rocking the boat.
Behavioral Sink
Everything in life is about balance. Anything in excess is detrimental. Political and social beliefs certainly aren’t exempt. I view issues mostly as a spectrum or balance, rather than an us vs them scenario. I fall more liberal on some issues (mostly social), and more conservative on others (mostly economic), but i see them as a balancing act in most cases, especially since true liberalism or conservatism is rarely represented by our current political system. And I have no idea what “left” and “right” is based on in our current social climate. This is why I love playing Devil’s advocate. Neither side of the aisle is going to usher in a Utopian Renaissance if they succeed in their quest - quite the opposite in fact. I think either extreme would suck. Badly. For everyone.
I’ve come to appreciate the social tug-of-war, as it balances society. The more we come to appreciate it, the better off society will be. The more we become contentious ideologues, the worse off society will be. Moreover, rather than creating straw-man arguments for views that challenge our own, we should strive to be able to steel-man them, arguing our perceived opposition’s points as well or better then they can.
Back in the dreaded George W era, I first became interested in geopolitics and economics, and would loftily preach to my friends about it. I was often asked “Well, what are you doing about it?” What a great question. I had to ponder this deeply for years. After much rumination my conclusion was that the best way to start was to be not only the change I wanted to see in the world, but the absolute best representation of my beliefs. Leading by example is the best social influencer, so it comes down to the individual. And how will we ever achieve unity, if we as individuals aren’t people others want to unite with? If you’re bullying, canceling, or “othering”; vandalizing property; or committing acts of violence in the name of your cause, you’ve lost me before you’ve said a single word about your cause.
How do media outlets or political pundits sensationalize a balanced line of thinking in an absurdly competitive media environment? I’m fairly certain it’s becoming virtually impossible. They must attract an audience, or risk the coffers draining as advertisers seek new audiences. Sensationalism and caricaturization sells. Don’t think for a second that this doesn’t influence the information you’re consuming. Don’t think for a second that the advertisers’ interests aren’t influencing it. And don’t think that journalists, pundits, and “fact-checkers” are immune to all of this algorithmic social influence either. Look how eager some local media outlets were to write about me standing in a field in plain clothes. One Burlington media outlet continues to write about it. Since they’ve written much on me, and they’re known for they’re non-biased, objective, ground-breaking reporting (smirk), I wanted to give them a chance to publish my response. I haven’t heard back since my initial conversation. I guess they’re too busy writing 5th-grade-book-report styled reviews of albums and shows.
On Rough Francis
I really don’t want to write this section, but given the circumstances I don’t feel like I have a choice. If we’re going public, we’re going public. I’ll start out by saying that I love the Hackneys. I’ve always had such respect and admiration for the entire family. I was very excited to join the band, but quickly started having concerns due to the ideological nature of the band. Drummer Urian Hackney knew this, and we both wanted to simply keep politics out of the music. Despite this I saw Rough Francis drifting in an ironic yet all too common direction. To put it bluntly, if you’re a punk band and your message aligns with multi-national corporations, Hollywood, 3-letter agencies, corporate media talking heads, and the global economic forums, you’re probably doing it wrong. If you’re message mirrors that of the vast engines of unprecedented censorship we’re seeing, you’re probably doing it wrong. Or maybe the aforementioned that we’ve bad-mouthed all of these years have done a full mea culpa and are now fully absolved, in which case punk-rock is obsolete except for purposes of nostalgia and/or muzak. Despite the situation, I still see the Hackneys as terrific people and musicians - just caught up in an ideology. I do miss playing with them and I’m very proud of the work we did together.
As many in the Burlington community know, Urian and I have been very close friends for years. We used to talk virtually every day about everything from microphones and 90’s snare drum tones, to social and political issues. We candidly tossed around ideas and observations often, and agreed on most, but of course not everything. Most importantly, we each made a consistent effort to understand each other’s point of view, and in a worst case scenario amicably agreed to disagree.
Singer Bobby Hackney Jr. and guitarist Julian Hackney seem to be much less philosophical and mailable when it comes to such issues. That’s fine. I really don’t care what anyone’s political views are, nor do I even care to know in most cases. Disagreement is healthy, but what’s most difficult for me to understand is why Bobby and Julian chose to go public with this through-the-grapevine rumor before even reaching out to me. That’s right, neither of them have reached out at any point, even to this day. Other folks in the community got caught in that public shaming net as well, who had nothing to do with any of this, based solely on rumor as far as I can tell. I’ve thought very deeply about this in recent months, and could not come up with a single hypothetical scenario which would lead me to attempt to publicly destroy a friend’s reputation without at least hearing their side of it. To each their own I suppose. Even to this day I’m receiving requests through a third party to surrender my ASCAP rights to songs that I legitimately wrote - all of which I’ve simply chosen to ignore.
Urian and I have remained amicable and in communication throughout all of this. He disagrees with the actions of his brothers, though wouldn’t want to say that publicly. From what I hear, others in the Hackney family aren’t fans of these actions either. I really can’t say what’s going on behind the scenes in the Hackney camp - I can only give my honest perspective on it. I try to avoid speaking for anyone else, but I didn’t choose this publicity, and a little veracity and perspective needed to be injected into this situation. I also know that I didn’t catch Urian off-guard, as I invited him to join me in Washington D.C. on January 6th, and he called me when I was in my hotel in D.C.
On January 6th
Well, I can either say a whole lot or very little about what I witnessed in Washington that day. I’ll go with the latter for brevity’s sake, but happy to talk more with anyone who wants to reach out. So, why did I even go in the first place? As I mentioned earlier, I’m no stranger to political and social events. Never at any of those did I wave a flag or sign, dress in flashy garb, paint my face, or engage in any destruction or violence of any kind whatsoever. This event was of course no exception. Despite any opinions I may hold, I try to be more of an objective observer.
After watching the state senate hearings following the election, I thought this could be an extremely historic week, not knowing how things would play out. I was driving right through two events on my way back to Vermont, and decided to check it all out. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on Trump, I think we can all agree that he was an extremely consequential and controversial president. This would most likely be the last time he spoke publicly as President. Also, many journalists that I follow and admire would be there to cover the event. I’ve always enjoyed out-of-the-ordinary life experiences. That’s just who I am.
What did I see there? The same thing I saw at the Bernie and Hillary events - good people that are excited about their candidates and concerned for their country. What many don’t seem to understand is that the event I attended was a few speeches behind the White House, about two miles from the Capitol. There were hundreds of thousands in attendance and the vast majority of folks that I could observe were very positive and peaceful. It was actually a really fun and friendly crowd. During the time of Trump’s speech, a couple hundred people were at the Capitol, and some were engaged in violent and destructive acts. We got word of that after the speeches ended, and the general sentiment around me was that of disappointment and shock. The crowd mostly dispersed and headed to their respective hotel rooms.
I never went anywhere near the Capitol, so I can’t comment on what happened inside. I went back to my hotel room and turned on the news, not too surprised to see that the focus of the news narrative didn’t even come close to what I witnessed. I didn’t personally see a single media camera at the event I was at. This is why I’m so glad I went to this. I observed this day go down with my own five senses. I whole-heartedly condemn any violent or destructive activities, whether the actions of some that day; or the riots, vandalism, and looting we saw in cities like Portland and Minneapolis. I sincerely hope that what happened at the Capitol is thoroughly and honestly investigated, and the fore-mentioned destruction and violence is prosecuted. Interesting though how absolutely no insurrection or sedition charges have been filed for anyone there that day. I’m curious to see how this unfolds, as so much of the story has already changed.
I’m sure some of you are wondering if I saw a slew of racists hanging around these events. Nope. Not at all. In fact quite the opposite… oh except for a few individuals in some videos and photos on certain media outlets after the fact. I’m not making a subtle assertion, or alleging media conspiracy - that’s just the black and white truth from my personal experience. If I did see anything unsavory, I would have absolutely no reason to obfuscate or defend it. I don’t have a horse in any race except for truth. If you’re stepping in front of news cameras wearing something like a shirt touting a notorious WWII detention facility for instance, you’re either severely mentally disturbed, or you’re disingenuously posing to make those around you look bad. I can’t say for certain which it is in any given case, but after being at these two events, I certainly have my suspicions. If you attended and have more to add or contradicting information, I’d love to hear from you. If you just want to tell me what your computer told you, don’t bother - my computer tried telling me the same thing.
Where Did We Land?
Let’s look at the net results from the actions of Rough Francis: a deep and sincere friendship between two men of different races was severely altered; the band has given many in our community a bad taste in their mouth; many that I’ve talked to have had their eyes opened a bit more to the instability and destructive nature of wokeism; some even told me their politics have shifted more to the center; not one Trump supporter had their mind changed; not one racist has been shown the light; and the band opened themselves up to a potential libel suit that could be handily litigated by a blindfolded, hungover, first-year law student. So are we going to call this a win? If you’re still in the camp that would answer with an emphatic “yes!”, then great. Don’t stop your fight to usher in the utopia. Keep going and go harder. Though it’s my assertion that this behavior is insidious and counterproductive to the purported causes, I’d rather the social experiment play out. After all, you’re only demonstrating my point without me even having to utter a word. Being on display in this community has only brought more over to my way of seeing the world in a much more nuanced and elastic way. Those who disagree were already there to begin with. If this situation woke just one person up to what is going on, then it was well worth taking the arrows. Conversely, if you need me to be a white supremacist or conspiracy theorist for your world view to still work, then I’ll happily be your personal scapegoat.
Being in my 30s with no kids, already considering a move, self-employed, and self-assured make me the best possible person for this to happen to. Imagine if I had a family who relied on my income, or I suffered from severe depression or insecurity. I can say with complete confidence of having gone through this that this woke cancel-culture nonsense could potentially have dire consequences in cases like that - and for what gains? Let’s put our political tribes aside for a minute and really ponder the cost/benefit analysis of this.
What now?
The pandemic and subsequent interruption of my field has given me immense perspective on so much. The importance of family ranks high amongst that perspective. That, coupled with some weirdo vibes, including the beginnings of presenting medical forms to enter establishments I once enjoyed, have made me decide to move to Florida to be with my folks, brother, and niece. I’m sure I’ll be back up in Vermont in one form or another, but Florida is where I’ll be most able to enjoy my life, and feel more creatively free for now.
We all know that so many folks in our community are experiencing a plethora of various struggles. Be kind to each other. Try to understand each other. Be there for each other. I wish this still was the community I so badly wanted to be a part of eight years ago, but alas it seems change is the only certainty in life. You’re tired of fighting; of division. We all are. Are you part of the solution or the problem? Or perhaps a better way to ask: what aspects of your life are part of the solution, and what aspects the problem? We have such a beautiful state and community here. Don’t squander it.
So I guess it’s farewell for now. I love you all and am so appreciative of the experiences and opportunities. Take care of each other.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”
-Martin Luther King Jr.