Originally published in ‘zine issue #38, 2007
On the Demockery website it says, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others …” How apropos that, given the language––or, to be frank, newspeak––offered by the current U.S. administration, web browsers will find this greeting upon stopping by Demockery.
Jason Netherton begins, “I started the website in the fall of 1998 on a Geocities site through Yahoo, and it was there until 2000 when I eventually bought the domain name and got a server to host it.
“Demockery started out pretty simple and a bit vulgar; in fact I can barely remember what it was like aside from being a sort of pseudo-blog with some pictures and some information related to Dying Fetus [Jason’s band at the time].
“I used to work in a university library at the periodicals desk, for hours on end, and had the internet there in front of me, which I used to fuck off on when no one was coming up to the desk to check out magazines or journals. I stumbled onto Geocities at the time and saw how easy it was to ‘make’ a website, so I started messing around with that in my downtime, and eventually developed the idea of ‘Demockery’ as a way to tie in some sort of sarcastic Dead Kennedys-ish angle to the Dying Fetus lyrics, which at that period were making a shift from violence/gore to more of a leftist political vibe. I wanted to give more of a life to the social criticisms that started to make their nascent appearance around ‘98 to 2000, so Demockery sort of gave an additional life, or ‘place,’ for the ideas to be more thought out, discussed, and criticized.”
Besides the Orwell reference, another indicator of the times in which we live in the States are some “love it or leave it” comments on the site left by surfers who are not in agreement with some of the content there.
“The ‘love it or leave it’ criticisms are a reflection perhaps of the divided beliefs of the nation overall, and I am sure there are many people who do not agree with the lyrics or by extension the thoughts expressed on the website. It’s only expected. I know some people who are only into the music [of Jason’s current band, Misery Index], and could care less about the lyrics or Demockery. But for those who are interested, the extra step is available to take if they want, and check out my site, my blogs, the links, or the message board, and have some open debate on current events.”
“Unquestioning consumers are the perfect transient, living drones that make for excellent fodder in the dystopian State.” —from demockery.org
The reaction from the general public to Demockery isn’t lighting up the internet superhighway, however, for a specific reason.
“It’s not promoted at all. It’s listed in the Misery Index CD booklet, and there are few links from friend’s sites, but I am not passing out flyers or sending mass emails. It stands on its own, and from that I get some random hits from surfers who stumble across and check it out, and then write me for opinions or offer criticism. The vast majority of the people who swing by are into the band and will express support in the endeavor, and I am satisfied with that.”
Fans of Misery Index may find some of the writings on Demockery familiar, and that is because Jason writes much of the lyrics for the group. Jason explains that with the band, “Aside from the link between the lyrics, there is not much else directly related. In fact, it’s all quite personal and reflects my interests alone with specific regard to the philosophers and writers that inspire me, the news and information sites where I like to poke around, and the blog-space where I discuss my ideas and criticisms. It’s essentially a built-up blog and a window into the world that gives the ideological structure to the Misery Index lyrics and imagery. So, it’s an adjunct to the band that compliments the meaning of the band, yet it stands apart from it in all other areas.”
We’ll end this with a quote from a post on Demockery, in which he discusses the digital monitoring and surveillance of our citizenry by our government:
“So one might say: What do I have to worry about; I haven’t done anything wrong?
“––Yet. Until you need to question, and want to question, the actions and intentions of your benevolent masters. So, until it affects you, until it concerns you, and until they come for you, you can sit idly by and play those video games and worship your gadgets. Unquestioning consumers are the perfect transient, living drones that make for excellent fodder in the dystopian State.”
Fire up some of those brain cells at www.demockery.org. ■
Images: from the demockery.org website
