#ppmb

The Dopamines-Public Domain

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pop Punk Message Bored, since the onset of Screeching Weasel's new album is upon us, Ben has been posting really transphobic remarks all over the bored, including outing one of my closest friends who was not publicly out. (Here's a link to his recent posts, I don't have the link to the thread in question anymore and I don't want to dig it up)

I have this problem time and again where the dudes on there start really uncomfortable conversations and I don't want to be anywhere near the bored, but this is making me feel really sick about the scene in general.  Imagine someone growing up LOVING SW and then seeing this, seeing your idol hurt an innocent person just because he can.  Is this what pop punk has come to, being cruel for the sake of stirring shit and record sales? There are so many positive musicians in this scene, why is this necessary? Frank Portman wouldn't need to do this to sell records because he does not need to prove anything to anyone.  Maybe it's because SW isn't as relevant anymore (or because Mikey Erg isn't in his band!), but seriously, I would expect better of a well-known musician that helped define a genre.