20 years on, we've all got our soapboxes and nothing's different: So Be It!

20 years ago today the movie 'Pump Up The Volume' (rated R) was released to the general public in cinemas. Now it is a typical teenage flick in many ways - but it also told of things which are beyond that genre and are still apt to discuss today.

The film was about a teenager named Mark Hunter nearing the end of high school who has moved from the East Coast (presumable New York) to Phoenix, Arizona. His dad got him a shortwave radio so he could keep in touch with his friends in his old town. As it turns out he can't get reception with them and so starts his own pirate radio station.

By day Mark is a quiet, unassuming character who haunts the halls and stairwells of his school unnoticed by anyone. At night he assumes his alter ego of Hard Harry who extols the mundaneness and hypocrisy that he sees all around him and plays 'hip' unheard of (yet) rock that beget him fans from his own age group as well as letters to read out on air sent to his PO (in)box.

Whilst the film predates the popular mainstream internet by about 5 years it does bring up many issues which the web, social networking and sites like ATS touch upon almost daily. Mark felt that life was empty, authorities lied to their own ends and the only thing worth doing was to 'talk hard'. He did so by adopting an anonymous alter ego and spending his nights 'in the basement' sharing his thoughts with others.

He explored corruption within hierarchies, discussed philosophies and mindsets, welcomed opinions and excitement, educated about the state of the environment, pondered privacy, fondled freedom of expression and gave a general malaise about how we all expect the world to pack in tomorrow due to the sheer madness of it all.

Now sure the backdrop for his agony is the school, the teachers within it, parents, pupils of the school, the boring town, the FCC and his loneliness but if you expand upon this to represent the different facets of society at large you have a film which would be included in the ATS top 20 for sure.

The purpose of this thread is that those who were 17 or so in 1990 are 37 or so now. The main issues touched upon in the film (corruption, imminent doomsday, the environment, being alive, being controlled) are still as poignant now as they were then. In 1976 the film 'Network' explored exactly the same issues only through the medium of a television station. People who were 17 when that came out will be 51 now. Now granted it wasn't as easy in 1976 to get your own TV station as it was in 1990 to have your own pirate radio station but these days people can have both and people are still filling up their time with postulating on what those before us have already done and then giving it a sense of imminence with which they feel must be dealt with now - just like their forefathers did.

It seems the overall message is to promote actual self-awareness, free thinking and decency.

In fact if we go back far enough we can hear something of this from Socrates:

'I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think'.

So as I stated in the title, we all have our soapboxes and we're all standing on them. 20 years have passed since 'Pump UP The Volume', 34 since 'Network' and 2400 since Socrates.

Is it impossible to get people to 'think' or do we just all have a different idea as to what that that 'thinking' is?

This thread is a general conspiracy thread so any and all ideas about the themes of 'Pump Up The Volume', 'Network', Socrates or anything you think is relevant is welcomed.

I'll leave you with the trailer for 'Pump Up The Volume' in case you haven't seen it or just want a quick nostalgia wash.



So be it.

-m0r

Ok, ok, I like, I like....
So with humanity there is this perpetuation of the search for truth, freethinking and such. Is there some deeper meaning here, or just an observation?

reply to post by m0r1arty


You're right about each of us having the equivalent platform these days, courtesy of forums such as ATS

And sure, we're mostly preaching to the converted

'Things never change' they say and 'Same old same old' etc.

History repeats

all of it


The temptation is to walk away and just get on with this very brief life, of course. Or we can continue to use forums such as ATS as means to vent, get it off our chests, scream into the abyss, etc.

WE're amazing creatures though, aren't we ? It stares us in the face that 'the rich get richer, the poor grow poorer' and not just in financial terms

yet we keep on fighting it (most of us). We rage into the night. We raise our fists. We urge others to see what's going on.

In short, even though we generally don't hold a very high opinion of ourselves, of humankind -- we nevertheless believe improvement is possible !

I love that

We've been knocked down and stood on all through the millenia, but it hasn't broken our spirit (although it's broken many of us as individuals)

And even at our lowest, when all seems lost and we think we've given up -- it only takes one or two to stand up and give the rallying call --- and we're back at it, we're giving it another try

But most of all, we believe we can improve and we fight to improve the situation (whatever situation that may be)

So no matter how disillusioned we become about ourselves and our fellow man, we always manage, sooner or later, to drag ourselves up from the ground

that makes it worth living

That Harry is a great character. Star and flag for sharing.

For me it's just an observation.

The kids get all growed up and become that thing which their kids attack and for the very same reasons because it's not changed much at all.

I'm not sure if it's due to the fact that, in the West at least, we are all so comfortable with our hot and cold running water, 250 channels of junk, broadband bitchfests and licensed culture fixes that we're so spoilt that we don't know what to do with ourselves or if it's something that's always been about.

I can see the purpose of scrutiny and scepticism. I am cold and through trial and error I learn to make fire. This eventually fuels furnaces which boil water, supplying me with electricity to toast that bread that I imported from Germany coating it with specially cultured cheese from Australia which I douse with Worcester sauce before placing on a china dish and eating with stainless steel cutlery while reading Slavoj Žižek translated through Google.

Evolution is a fine thing as is our outlooks upon others plights through it. We are a closer world because we have a better understanding of each other.

What I am curious about is why do we think tomorrow is the last day at any given moment in time? Why is this generation (wherever you are in it) the last generation and why with all of our soap boxes can't we come up with something better than rerunning old stories of conspiracy and doom whenever we have records to see that people have always done that and it's gotten them nothing but unhappiness.

Where are the actions people??

That's my contemporary musings anyway - best post before I find something to edit amongst them.

-m0r

Originally posted by m0r1arty


20 years on, we've all got our soapboxes and nothing's different: So Be It!
-m0r

the point of talking on a soap box is not to change yourself, it is to pose a perspective that may change the listener,

that said i think our soapboxes are definitly changing listeners,

so just what exactly do you mean by nothings different.

it seems to me like everthing is always different in someway from one second to the next.

are you saying 20 years of internet soapboxes has not turned our world into a paradise or a utopia yet?

yes well it may take more time and effort then that.

btw network was awesome and i havnt seen those others but will be getting them soon


[edit on 24-8-2010 by pryingopen3rdeye]

why with all of our soap boxes can't we come up with something better than rerunning old stories of conspiracy and doom whenever we have records to see that people have always done that and it's gotten them nothing but unhappiness.

Escapism perhaps? Conspiracies and other-worldly explanations are more fascinating than the mundane, monotonous lives we live. I think people just want more excitement and drama in their lives. Also, the word 'conspiracy' has become synonymous with crackpots; the word is undoubtedly and intentionally used by the media to keep the masses from questioning things too much.

Have you noticed that every theory that could potentially damage the credibility and ostensible altruistic sensibilities of the government is usually passed off as a 'crazy conspiracy theory' by the media and the populace has been conditioned to ignore and laugh at conspiracy theories. The only people who believe in conspiracy theories are nutcases. But conspiracies are integral to our daily lives, without them there would be no such thing as politics. Sorry, I'm going off topic a bit.

I've never watched the movie, but what do you mean when you say this:

Hard Harry who extols the mundaneness and hypocrisy that he sees all around him

Extol means to praise lavishly and vehemently, so does he praise the hypocrisy that he sees around him? Seems counterintuitive to what principles the movie is apparently pertaining to instil in its audience.

Originally posted by pryingopen3rdeye
it seems to me like everthing is always different in someway from one second to the next.

I'd forgot about this thread - nice to see it back whilst the US has 12 more hours to celebrate it's 20th anniversary of release.

The fact that everything from one second to the next is always different is something to depend upon. That in itself is always the same...

...zen'd out sorry there...

I think what I'm trying to say is that sure we don't get an overnight enlightened human race - but repeating the same mistakes decade in and decade out gets a bit boring after a while. There's nothing more to see in the exploitation of one group of people for the benefit of another. No more wars that we get shocked with when we hear about the questionable cause for that war. No more politicians that bare-faced lie and then get caught that has us up-in-arms about the injustice of it.

So by 'the same' I mean 'the same'. Nothing changes, or if it does it doesn't appear to over the course of the last 100 years.

Originally posted by Nathan-D
Extol means to praise lavishly and vehemently, so does he praise the hypocrisy that he sees around him? Seems counterintuitive to what principles the movie is apparently pertaining to instil in its audience.

I liked your rant about how conspiracy theorists are lumped together into the crazy gang. It's true. People follow the trends of what they are told is correct and those who question those trends get etched away from the 'cool' gang and into the lunatic fringe. Thankfully I think that the mutations have a higher chance of survival when the keech hits the fan for the masses as their little quirks might be enough to handle the change in equilibrium. Not all of them of course, but a few.

As for extol you are right in it's meaning and I was hoping to convey a contrite definition of praise as if was sacred to the meritocracy of existence. You've got his character down in your counterintuitive principles part but when you see how he delivers his lines you'll see that juxtaposing polar opposites fits in with his frustration and madness and it seemed apt for me to write it as such at the time.

Perhaps a few more people will either post happy or otherwise memories of these films or share their thoughts about our own little soap boxes.

Fun to see the thread again. Cheers for the bump!!

-m0r

The fact that everything from one second to the next is always different is something to depend upon. That in itself is always the same..

so everything is the same because its always changeing? and for us to change we must first remain the same? this sounds like circular reasoning,

besides the matter of everything being in a constant state of change is not one which we should resist or oppose,
we must move with the eb and flow of the cosmos, because we have little choice, and because we cannot feel how we are one, until we admit it and embrace it.

...zen'd out sorry there...

nothing wrong with that, we all should more often.

I think what I'm trying to say is that sure we don't get an overnight enlightened human race - but repeating the same mistakes decade in and decade out gets a bit boring after a while. There's nothing more to see in the exploitation of one group of people for the benefit of another. No more wars that we get shocked with when we hear about the questionable cause for that war. No more politicians that bare-faced lie and then get caught that has us up-in-arms about the injustice of it.

So by 'the same' I mean 'the same'. Nothing changes, or if it does it doesn't appear to over the course of the last 100 years.

how could you know? i doubt you are 100 years old,

let me ask you this, picture 100 years ago a person of your age, now ponder how much did that person know about the 100 years before him, how much of that was the official story versus the alternative news all of us on this site have become acustomed to.

i think the simple fact you are able to recognize this cycle is proof enough that things are indeed changing and these soapboxes have alot to do with it, without them, i dont think you would even be aware of the cycle.

your acknowledgment that we need to change is proof that we can and are.

if a cow is to dumb to recognize that he is standing on train tracks and a train is coming, then he will probly get hit by that train,

your OP is saying to the world 'omg look a train.' and your not the only one that sees it,

they are moving off the tracks.