Counterpoint: It’s INCREDIBLY F**ked Up That Juggalos Are Labeled as a Gang

Disclaimer: as a youth I was, and to a lesser extent today AM, a fan of the Insane Clown Posse. They’re hilarious, prolific, and have some incredible beats. Was I an official Juggalo? Unsure. I never called anyone “ninja” never wore facepaint out, never even rocked a patch or a T-shirt.

Anyway: Did you guys read Juggaloeb’s piece on ICP’s suit against the Justice Department? Ha ha, such hilarity! How deftly he uses his ghetto-speak, mocking the cultural identity of these white clown rappers and their fans by assuming their tone and cadence (he’s like Ian Flemming writing Quarrel in Dr. No). However, there is one thing I take away from this:

It is incredibly fucked up that the Juggalos are labeled gang members, and that they are barred from or detained by government institutions accordingly.

Let’s look at it from a different perspective: what if the Kiss Army was labeled a gang? Or the Slipknot maggots? What if anyone with a tattoo of H.I.M.’s Heartagram was barred from joining the Army, or someone with the Misfit’s Crimson Ghost on their bumper sticker? was detained by the police for being associated with a criminal organization? We’d be up in arms about that shit. Members of all of these fanbases are often associated with breaking the law, or at least acting as a mob loyal to a specific lifestyle. Does that make these fanbases gangs?

Yeah, okay, ICP isn’t incredibly smart. Magnets, yeah, I know. But let’s acknowledge that whether you love them or hate them, it’s fucking gross for the FBI to label them a gang, and it’s fucking wrong for people to be treated differently by federal institutions simply because of that.

Oh, and Jesus, Swansong is just awful.