ANARCHY, FOR REAL!
Vice,
You don’t want anarchy; you want a beer. I surely would love to see total anarchy. I would love to bash in some skulls, slit some throats, and rape and pillage and loot, right along with everyone else. In a civilized society you can’t do that, and societies were basically formed by “the weak” to protect themselves from the strong. I despise it, but the “current” society is what’s best for most people and I like electricity and indoor plumbing and having a few dollars in my pocket. I “tolerate” it all. The people in power definitely don’t want things to change, and they benefit “the most” from it. That’s why they say it’s so great and continually try to “brainwash” people into believing it. God bless America —-> (Fuck that shit).

BRYAN BAILEY
Long Beach, CA

Mental note: anarchy doesn’t work. Thanks for the tip.


INSPIRATION STATION
Dear Vice,
I just finished reading the We Hate Your Parents Too Issue cover to cover. I thought the past few issues were pretty bad, to be honest, and was worried my favorite magazine had fallen off, but WOW. You guys said exactly what I have been saying my whole life. Even my parents hate the baby boomers. In fact, a few years ago my mom jokingly emailed me a list of reasons to hate the baby boomers and I meant to send it to you guys. What I wouldn’t do to have that long lost list now.

Anyway, you nailed it. Especially the part about no future. I have been in the same dead-end job for five years now, and I’m lucky to have it. When our parents got out of school they were happily whisked away to the workforce. My mother had a degree in English and got a job editing interoffice memos just like that. She’s still doing the same kind of thing and making pretty good money. I have two degrees: political science and history. That’s why I do data entry for about the same wages as a short-order cook. The reason I say I’m lucky to have it is, unlike our parents, when we graduated there was nothing. You could teach English in Japan (or if you were a girl be a “hostess”), work on a farm, wash dishes (baby boomers’ dishes) or deal drugs. I did all of them. I even almost tried the hostess thing at a Japanese gay bar. For five years after I graduated I cursed the baby boomers under my breath and you guys went and listed every reason why they deserve such hate.

The one mistake you made was, ironically, media. Namely, journalism. They are the worst journalists in the history of journalism. All they do is sit at their desk and answer the phone when a PR person calls. They write down what the PR person says, get a photo from the PR person, and that’s it. Even the war journalists just sit in the nearest bar and ask the little orphan kids what happened that day. I accidentally passed through the Balkans right when the war broke out and met these guys. They would just drink all day and bitch about their coworkers and then the local kids would come in at the end of the day and hold out their dirty hands for some coins. The journalists would interrogate them about what happened that day, pay the kid, and then stumble back to their hotel rooms to email it back to HQ before they forgot. Pathetic. Talking about this reminds me of that article you did on Leo Regan where you talked about “immersionism” (where I grew up, that word was used to describe the proper way to baptize a baby). Regan didn’t pay little kids to tell him about skinheads. He lived with them for years. And his friend (forget his name) immersed himself so deeply in the heroin-addict scene for his photos (or was it a movie?) that he actually became one. That’s what separates us from the baby boomers. We aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty. You know why? Because after we graduated we had nothing. We were forced to travel all over the world and dive into whatever life brought us.

In that sense I’m kind of happy our parents ruined everything. It prevented us from being soft like them. Sorry about the rant, but I’m a pretty good typer and when I get going I find it hard to stop.

Kevin Keanes
Ross-shire, Scotland

Dear Kevin,
Your letter inspired this entire issue.
Thanks,
Vice


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