My younger brother got me onto a kick of listening to YouTube videos from Turkey Tom.  Tom makes video documentaries covering the deep lore of various Internet fandoms and communities, with an encyclopedic depth of knowledge of the various controversies, nontroversies, and schisms that dominate the lives of the terminally online.

In the wake of the Spring Jam, which saw all sorts of young people and adults come together to make and enjoy music on my front porch, one of his videos really hit me.  It’s an example of cancel culture and AntiFa run amok, and how despite the cowardice of event organizers, plucky youngsters staged a fun, peaceful concert in the park.

The concert was “Virginfest,” which involved a number of niche Internet musicians who wrote songs about being “incels” (the “involuntarily celibate”) and/or the contradictions and perils of living in late modernity.  A tattoo parlor employee attempted to organize an epic concert of these various online acts to come together to put on a great show for other down-and-out youngsters.

AntiFa got wind of it and accused the tattoo parlor of “giving a platform” (paraphrasing) to extremist hate groups.  The tattoo parlor caved, cancelling the show mere hours before doors opened.

What happened next was truly amazing—and totally (folk) punk rock:  the kids moved to a nearby park and reworked their sets into full acoustic jams.  When AntiFa called the cops (talk about hypocrisy!) on the rockers, the cops joined in the festivities.

Turkey Tom does a very good job covering the concert in this short (just fourteen-minute) video:

Obviously, not all of the artists involved are saints.  The incel phenomenon is a sad and, at times, disturbing one, attracting not just the good-hearted-but-unlaid, but also the people who haven’t gotten married or been in any serious romantic relationships due to their own reprehensible qualities.

But that’s not the point.  These kids just wanted to make music—a very healthy way to channel their frustrations into creative endeavors, as angsty teens have done since the dawn of popular music—and enjoy some camaraderie.  A bunch of truly reprehensible, disgusting, and joyless people tried to shut them down, but failed.

You can’t cancel music.  Let’s all emblazon “This Machine Destroys AntiFa[scists]” on our acoustic guitars—and ROCK ON!