This is presented to you as the Punk Rock Book of Wisdom - a list of all things punk rock. Written by the truest punk guru who started it all, it has been passed down from Punk rocker to punk rocker, leading everyone into the realm of booze-hound and mosh pit enlightenment. Read on and ye shall become the punkest of all punks, and comrades will bow down at the site of your Doc Marten boots as you drunkenly stumble into the holy temple. It is asked of you to fill your cup with the cheapest of beers and enter the temple when your mind is readily intoxicated.

Yeah, right. How exactly do you expect someone to answer such a question? To be punk rock is to feel it deep inside. You either are, or you aren’t.

You can walk the walk. You can pierce your face with safety pins, rip your clothes, drink a lot of cheap booze, roll in the mud, wreak of an awful stench, pick fights with those who cross you, and steal cheap clothing from the Salvation army - but that makes you more of a cheap, thieving slob than a punk.

You can talk the talk. You can bellyache about the system, and how it is broken. You can snivel and wail about the government and how they do nothing for the people and that the only people benefiting are those not like you, and you can complain that the world is pointless, how everything is bogus, and that the only thing for certain is the negativity in which your world is made up of, and blame without reason, but that makes you more of a pessimist than anything.

To be “Punk Rock” seems to be almost impossible with today’s corruption of the culture. To be punk rock is just another slang word to come out of a falsely rebellious persons face. To be punk rock sounds like something an Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, or Good Charlotte fan made up whilst sticking out their tongue and devil-horning their hands. “Punk Rawk!” is just another lame saying to come about in a sea of mainstream pop-punk kids - a subculture created and exploited from Punks original roots. All stereotypical components of the original subculture have been pulled away and ripped off and added to somebody elses idea of individualism.

Now, to truly be punk you must separate yourself from mainstream society and it’s false ideals. You need to separate your mind from the medias perceptions and create and maintain your own beliefs. But with maintaining ideas comes acting upon them.

You must realize that ideas are formed every single day, but somebody who acts upon them are a different breed, entirely. A breed of free-thinking and creative leaders. Are you angry about something? Mad? Intolerable of somebodies actions? Speak your mind. Tell everybody about it. Many people possess a “grin and bear it” way of thinking - but not a punk.

If something pisses them off, they will let you know. This is why the media has portrayed punks as angry and aggressive - because they are open about it. Punks are no angrier than you are. They merely show their anger and their aggression, and that is the difference. They would rather die than be suppressed.

Don’t be afraid of voicing your opinions, no matter how much people may be for the opposite. Far too many people let things slip by when something can be done, and by the time they come through and voice their opinions about the topic, the damage has been done, and nothing can be changed.

If everyone let people make decisions for them - than why is it that everybody has a mind if its not used effectively? And that is the “punk rock” mentality. It isn’t about the clothing or the music - in fact, the physical aspects are the result of the punk mentality. They didn’t come until later. The physical aspects of the punk culture were a direct result of the punks way of thinking.

“Music just isn’t what it should be - so let’s change it. Let’s create our own genre. Everybody has the same clothing - so let’s create our own.”

Nothing will come from an idea at a stand still. Everyone must use the power of their minds to change a damaged way of thinking, and create their own ideals and perceptions on the things that are important to everybody.

So why has punk gotten such a bad wrap with the media? Simply because man lives in a suppressed society, and anything out of the ordinary is often shunned because people are often scared of what they don’t understand. That is what separates one from everybody else. Punks are often feared or looked down upon, therefore, punks have nothing to fear - for they are the feared.

But at least they are on track with their way of thinking.