They know not what they say…
On the U-bahn in Berlin a woman in her twenties wears a bag over her shoulder which has the English words ‘Fuck Forever’ scrawled across it in printed faux-graffiti. Over her groin she wears a badge which, again in English, bears the words ‘Not Yet’. She is chirping happily in German (chirping in German!) to two young men the same age, all apparently oblivious to the heated argument taking place between the accessories that adorn different zones of her body. The boys don’t seem discouraged or confused.
Apart from the bag and the badge, she dresses just like any other woman of her age. There are no apparent punk pretensions, no other signs of ironic intentions, as if, as is common in parts of Asia, she simply doesn’t understand what her accessories say and wears them only because of the symbolic value of the English language. There is little doubt that she does speak English – everyone here does – that she does know well enough what the words mean, but nevertheless they remain alien to her, quaint foreigners whose curious customs, no matter how objectionable in translation, become petrified and impotent, stripped of all their symbolic value.
She wears them as if the fact that their slogans are in English makes them mean something quite different from what they mean. And that is precisely the point. The fact that the expression of transgressive sentiments is in English does make it mean something other than what it means. It is not indigenous. It is imported, foreign. It doesn’t understand local customs. It can get away with things that the local language cannot. It is forgiven its transgressions. The language speaks from itself, from its own position, not from the position of the young woman. The person doesn’t speak – even the accessories do not speak – the language does. It says, “I transgress” without the young woman transgressing, “I don’t care if I offend” without the young woman offending.
This could stand for a reasonable definition of the culture of cool as it is today: transgression without risk, the gesture of offending without offense. A pantomime of delusion and false bravado.
There are 3 Comments to "They know not what they say…"
you’re so damn right… some weeks ago in a disturbingly sweet and innocent pancake cafe in disturbingly uncool prenzlberg, some innocent blonde girls, maybe 17 years old, maybe from stuttgart, all wearing white printed tote bags – one saying (or should i say screaming)
I LOVE CRYSTAL METH
sreaming that nobody is able to hear anymore. a black day.
There is an ad at u-bahn stations at the moment which has a picture of a pretty girl wearing a leather jacket. It reads: “Das ist kein Jacke. Das is Rebellion”. I really want to do a night running around scrawling “Nee, das ist Konformismus”.
It’s just so fucking transparent. Do kids really fall for this kind of stupidity?
Hi Justin!
I’ve just got back from Berlin, and was also shocked by the billboard “Das ist kein Jacke…” so much so that we decided to launch our own rebellion. The Poncho Rebellion. I was wondering whether you have any images of the ad? I’m trying to find a copy for my documentation, but google searches are proving fruitless!
Many thanks.