Thoreau and Punk Rock

Thoreau's ideas and his actions completely resonate with the Punk philosophy. In Walden, he recounts having gone to jail for a day for not paying his taxes, and ever since I learned of his defiance, my respect for him instantaneously went up. He was even disappointed when his aunt had bailed him out. His reasoning for refusing to pay the tax was because he did not want to "...recognize the authority of the state which buys and sells men, women, and children, like cattle at the door of its senate-house." I wish I had the courage not to pay my federal income taxes once I become an adult. Those taxes are totally unconstitutional. However, when the time comes, I see myself simply complying. Thoreau's critiques on how society operates are particularly Punk because he believes that "...wherever a man goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions, and if they can, constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society." Punk philosophy is, in part, concerned with the value of the individual, and how modern society places unfair and arbitrary constraints on us. I believe that true adherents to Punk thought are skeptical of governmental policy and take the time to understand the downsides of capitalism, which Thoreau clearly saw looming during his lifetime. His quote indicates a distaste for how people are "pawed" because they are seen as units who are to be put to work rather than individuals who should be able to think and live freely. I love how he refers to our culture as an "odd-fellow society" because I agree with his stance on how individuals are corrupted by society's intention to mold people into effective servants to capitalism. He refers to them as "odd-fellows" because they transform from pure, unadulterated citizens to people who are displaced from their true selves because they are conditioned to think their purpose equals their function, or their work. Consequently, most of us fail to entertain the prospect of finding true contentment.