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Punk Rock 101: Wearing Bullets

Posted on Friday, December 4, 2009 in Punk Rock 101

I have a tendency to wear bullets (empty shell casings). I have a few bullet belts, a bullet wallet chain, and bullet on a chain necklace. The idea of wearing bullets is to make people think. When something is out of sight, out of mind, like war being an ocean away it’s easy to pretend it doesn’t exist. The idea is to confront people and make them think about what their tax dollars are doing. It’s a protest. I am an anarcho-pacifist punk – so war is the last thing I want being served.

Today, I was confronted by airport security guards about wearing my bullet chain – a chain with some bullet shells on it. They didn’t like it because it might make people feel “uncomfortable.” Here, in captalistic America – it’s not PC to make other people uncomfortable and think. Being that I was in a zone with zero rights, I wasn’t about to explain my position that making people uncomfortable is kind of the idea so maybe they think about what’s going on in the world. That war is real and not just something you hear about on television. Anyways, the guards let me go with my chain as long as I agreed to be censored and keep the harmless bits of metal in my pocket since someone might be upset by it. What happened to my freedom of expression?

Bring on the comments

  1. Bran says:

    They made you put something away because IT MADE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE???!!! Not “it’s a safety hazard” and “it’s a TSA law”, but “it made people uncomfortable?!

    I’m not entirely sure they can do that. What the hell airport was this? I’ve never had an official at an airport tell me I couldn’t wear something. Hell, the last time I went through security (in RI) the guy called my boots “Mad Max Thunderdome Boots” and said he liked them.

    ::sigh:: Gotta love that there’s a place where you really have no recourse to argue, things are so totalitarian.

  2. Jess Five says:

    What type of boots do you have? My boots get called “Moon boots” – they are a pair of New Rock Boots with buckles and straps and are pretty big with metal in the sole.

  3. mydwynter says:

    They’re shin-high CBX boots with big, stompy lug soles and buckles from the ankle all the way up, with a big zipper going up the inside. I <3 them, but they're getting pretty warn out. No insoles I buy make them comfortable to wear for a lot of walking, which makes me sad. Then again, I bought them in '01 or '02, so I *suppose* I got my money's worth out of them…

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