Peace. Love, War & The Internet
03rd March 2010
You’ve been hauled up in your bunker for what feels like days, you’ve exhausted your supply of food and water, your eyes are blood red, the enemy are closing in on your position with increasing haste. Heart rate accelerated, the angry whirring fan of the computer, takes your mind on a journey reminiscent of the scene from Apocalypse Now, where Martin Sheen stares up at the fan and is transported back to a chiming vision of the helicopter blades smashing the air, as soldiers are dropped into the hot zone. You’re at war soldier of the keyboard and the internet is your battle ground.
You frantically tap F5 to see the latest reply in your on-going struggle, lol-cat terrorists have infiltrated the thread, smiley bombs payloads have been dispatched and are on-route ready to tear into the internet battle which you have been entrenched, snide linking to factual evidence and insults, coupled with explaining the mental state you were in when you first cast your hate grenades into an otherwise peaceful situation explains why you are here. But all of that seems forgotten now, that’s all a distant memory now, you duck the miss-aimed internet machine gun fire and reach for your last grenade…But before you, take your last exasperated peak over the wall of the bunker and get ready to pull the pin and hurl that final hate bomb, take a minute and think about what your doing, could you turn yourself into a lover and not a fighter. Could you renounce all that is hate-full and don the hippy head band of love instead?
The notion of us all just getting along seems like its long way from being invented, the days when we all constructively criticise each other’s cars, using the internet as a means of strengthening our community seem like either a distant memory or false reality. “Quick look, there’s some people having fun and enjoying their cars” is the battle cry, followed by a volley of gunfire to signal the attack, a single picture can spark and all out war, but what’s produced from these renegade attacks? The answer somewhat perplexingly is nothing, zip, zero, nada. Do not pass go, do not collect your £200 , nothing tangible is gained, no ideas are exchanged it all gets lost in the noise of battle. So consequently it begs the question: why?
And the answer is I hear you cry? Well it’s more complex than one might initially think, as people’s use of forums the World over differs wildly. You have those that lurk in the shadows, those that post bomb every thread, those set out for recognition, the builders that rarely post, the selfless people who aim to answer and solve peoples crisis’s one tech-help thread at a time, those that post smiley's and those that are just trying to decipher fact from fiction to move on with their car.
Opinions will clash, that’s the obvious part of the equation, what some find fascinating and will instantly fall heads over heels for like a school boy crush over a girl in class, some will find repulsive and over-played, displaying their immediate disgust for it . Some will have no opinion at all and just appreciate the pure amount of blood sweat and tears involved in taking the battered/scared shell and creating something from it. Something that expresses the owners dreams and fantasies, it could be the 20th car they’ve made or the first, either way it expresses who they, who they represent and they’re very slice of what automotive heaven is.
Expressionism is the key to the Pandora’s box of secrets it seems when it comes to the use of forums the World over, we need those different opinions because that’s what makes each scene so vivid and colourful to be a part of, it relies on a sensitive ecology of styles. The VAG scene in particular is a better example of this paradox than any other. We have literally tonnes of history behind us and light years of growth ahead of us, our show scene is more vibrant and glowing than ever, year after year VAG cars of all shapes and sizes, from all types of owners fill halls and fields up and down the country. Nested in garages, spray booths, machines shops and peoples imaginations, these cars are created then unveiled to an ever growing influx of new members of the scene, standing aside long time veterans and within that people who have been dragged in from other scenes ready to be converted to a dub way of life. This is no longer just transport people, this is something great, something to behold and it has never been better than it is right now at this very moment
So, as the light gives way to dark and people retreat back to their barracks from shows, meets, get-togethers and helping friends out across the land, camera full of images, tongues tired from conversing with their fellow dubbers and cars full of treats for their very own love. So what’s the rub? What changes when we sit behind a computer and log in to our favourite forum?
In truth, any society as large as ours creates niches, groups of people doing what they want, pioneering their own path, their own tangent, battling their way past the arid plains of what has gone before, striving for something new, fighting alongside those that have only just entered the game eager impress and claim their stake in the VAG hall of fame. To have their car commented on by others and listed in the first posts of a thread innocently entitled: “Your Car of the Show”. This is where devise opinions are born, where they take form, take flight and then open up debate – debate being the key word which we should all never forget, as that’s what a forum is for, it’s an exchange of ideas, a coming together of minds, a place where a community can either unite as one, pushing forward and helping contribute to the VAG World or conversely tear it’s self apart from the inside. Segregating itself into further niches and resigning itself to groups of rebel factions exchanging handgun words, machine gun sentences and bazooka paragraphs.
It’s how we state these ideas and build these bridges between people over which the ideas can be relayed, that is the important staging ground for us all. It’s this staging ground where we call for chants and chariots to be replaced with engaging sentences and points of balanced view, to remove irrational comments and factional hair-trigger discourse, restoring intelligent interaction between people. We need to wake up and realise this is an altered reality, a different perspective upon reality, but we are still the same people that make up this iridescent and vibrant scene that we call home. One that is envied because of its fusion of people, cars, music, shows, atmosphere, fashion and heritage. It’s that diversity, that willingness to push boundaries which is our strength. We need the people who appear to do it differently, we need those that think differently, that pursue a different objective, simply because sometimes it hasn’t been done before, as they are the ones that will forge new ground and further expand our VAG scene for us all. Conversely we also equally need people that our willing to throw themselves onto the venom tipped grenades and soak up the volleys of “fail” fire as they refuse to get washed up in public waves of endorsement, as these are the people that keep us grounded, that inspire debate and force that idea to be studied and further honed against attack.
We need us all. We need every individual.
by Triple L