Reyes 1

Lulu Reyes
English 115 Honors
Professor Lawson
September 12, 2016
Words: 749
Rhetorical Analysis: Punks Not Dead
One way or another we are all given a label by society. Whether youre dressed in a
preppy school uniform, exercise attire, or torn up clothing; Society is always quick to judge
someone based on their appearance. In Punks Not Dead by Josh Zimmerman, Josh
exemplifies the hardships and stereotypes which a punk adolescent faces. Rather than just
focusing on one specific experience, Zimmerman incorporates multiple occurrences of
discrimination in both a structural and institutional level. His intended purpose is to prove that
there is more to people than meets the eye and that sometimes stereotypes are just that and
nothing more.
The punk scene has been around since the mid-seventies, leaving behind punk legends
like The Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Although these bands are well known now, there are still
negative connotations that are associated with Punk music. Basically, if you were on a
skateboard or if your jeans were pegged and you wore a T-shirt with a band like Exploited,
Social Distortion- you were immediately profiled as belonging to a class of wasted youth. (555)
Here, Zimmerman describes to his audience (society) how anyone who fit these characteristics
were basically deemed as worthless even though they never were given an opportunity to prove
their self-worth. To put an end to the profiling Zimmerman wrote this article in response to the
discrimination he encountered as an adolescent and to show the hardships of coexisting in a
society that doesnt accept you.

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Josh Zimmerman sets out to prove that individuality should be embraced rather than
frowned upon. In his concluding paragraph, Zimmerman states Punk is aggressive, it is a train
wreck, it is outrageous, it is creative, expressive, and personal. Given the multiple dimension of
what punk is, simply put, punk is a youthful, ostentatious voice that declares a stance against that
which will not listen: society. (556) This quote helps Zimmerman prove to the audience that
even though Punk may have some negative attributes it also embraces individuality and
creativity. Rather than conforming to societys expectations, Zimmerman wants his audience to
understand that we should embrace peoples differences rather than discriminate and alienate
them. All in all, Zimmermans main point is to show how society does not easily accept those
who do not conform to its norms. For example, the night the cop lined up Zimmerman and his
friends against the wall and asked What were you doing? and each of them replied Nothing,
just skating but they all still got arrested because the police officer believed that they were up to
no good. (556) The actual reason for their arrest according to Zimmerman was merely because of
the way they were dressed and their taste in activities.
Throughout the text the author brought up very valid points that helped persuade me into
believing that the punk culture receives constant discrimination even beyond the institutional
level. I found myself agreeing with his claims because we are often quick to draw assumptions
on other people based on their appearance or the activity they are engaged in at the moment even
though we are nobody to judge. I enjoyed this piece by Josh Zimmerman, the structure of the
article presented his claims well and allowed for him to not only display the cause and effects of
being a punk adolescent, but to explain how the punk community was never as bad as society
made it out to seem. As for the tone and word choice, Zimmerman was able to turn his story into
much more than an article about the misconceptions about punk. Instead he gave it an edge

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and wrote in a way that made it seem like anyone could easily be a part of the punk community if
they chose to.
The Japanese have a saying, The nail that sticks out gets hammered in. Which to a
limited extent relates to Josh Zimmermans experience with being punk. He was constantly being
discriminated against in school by the administrators, by the old man, and also by the police just
because he didnt conform to societys ideal standards. These social norms that are enforced
upon adolescents serve no purpose because as long as they are not harming anyone they should
be able to dress how they choose, listen to any type of music and perhaps even dye their hair
every color of the rainbow to show off their creative personality. Instead of society putting a
label on us, we should be able to choose who we want to be.

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Works Cited
Zimmerman, Josh Delmar. Punks Not Dead. Pop Perspectives: Readings to Critic
Contemporary Culture. Ed Laura Gray- Rosendale. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill,
2008. 554-557. Print.