According to geekdomiswisdom, “Solarpunk is a newly conceptualised subgenre of science fiction. Unlike the popular cyberpunk movement, which centres around a dark post-industrial dystopia frequently involving AI, invasive bodymods and megacorporations, or steampunk, which presents an alternate…
Resignation to the death of civilization and infrasturcture isn’t punk, it’s apocolyptic nihilism. We’re not looking for ways to see the world fail; we’re not banding together to get ready for the kind of apocalypse we expect to live in. We’re standing up to the things that are fucked up now and we intend to wrest control of our living world back from the parasitic corporations polluting it.
Solarpunk is punk because prioritizing happiness stands against prioritizing labor.
Solarpunk is punk because we’re solving problems we’ve seen those in power fail to solve, or problems they’ve created.
Solarpunk is punk because we’re de-institutionalizing science, education, production and industry.
There’s nothing punk about waiting for the world to fail so you can say “I told you so.” That’s not revolutionary or counterculture or insightful. That’s rolling over. The “punk” you’re describing is looking at the problems that are lining up and saying “I guess we’ve already failed, better start writing the concession speeches.”
Punk doesn’t mean grim or gothic or apocalyptic. Punk means standing up for humanity in the face of oligarchy and industry. If you can’t look at a movement’s ideology and see a better world at the end of it than the world in which it’s advocated, it’s not punk, it’s defeatism.
THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS.
This post pissed me off too much to come up with a coherent rebuttal.
Don’t tell us we’re doing it wrong when we’re standing against everything that’s already wrong. The world doesn’t need to get worse for it to be ‘punk’ to fight back. The world already sucks in so many ways, it’s already punk to fight back.
Watsons has a really good point re: not waiting for the world to fail. If you think about it, it’s actually MORE punk to get in on the ground floor and fight for change now, rather than wait for everything to go to hell in a handbasket.
How many times have we been told “It’s not that bad” and been expected to accept that rhetoric?
How many tomes have we been told “Other people have it worse” and been expected to sit down and shut up?
How many times have we been given to “back in my day” or the “this generation doesn’t know anything” spiel?
By trying to change things NOW, and not waiting for that perfect I-told-you-so moment when everything is ruined, solarpunks are not only fighting against the death of civilization, we’re fighting against the idea that we should be apathetic about that downfall; that we should sit around and wait for it to happen before we try anything.
The thing is, fighting that expectation of apathy? It’s a huge challenge to the status quo. That’s why we’re ‘punks – because we’re challenging mainstream society, and we’re doing it NOW.
You’re Doing Solarpunk All Wrong
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Water Witches 