Freaks and Geeks (1999)

 

Freaks, Geeks and Class Struggle Anarchists

There's an (intentionally) hilarious thread going on over at Urban 75 at the moment on the subject of the *cough* rich tapestry of life that makes up the British anarchist movement. ('bam' for short.)

I'm not providing a direct link to the nostaligathon, as you can find it yourself if you're that interested in the subject. (Go on - sign up to Urban 75. There's enough left trainspotting anecdotes piled up in that thread to see you through the next 101 branch meetings.).

And anyway, despite my previously expressed irritation at the lifestyle ghetto of a lot of anarcho-types, none of us on the political fringes are in that secure a position to get on a high horse about such matters. You could swap 'Anarchist' for 'Trot' or 'Left Communist' or 'SPGBer', and come up with an equally hilarious thread . . . . intentional or otherwise. None of us are immune from such 'You're a bit fucking strange, mate,' finger pointing . . . and I include myself personally in that sweeping generalisation. You OK at the back? My words haven't offended you too much? Good.

On the subject of freaks, geeks and class struggle anarchists, I couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance between Ian Bone (in the '68 vintage photo on the left) and 'Harris Trinsky' from the seminal American comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks.

Granted they part their hair on different sides but the dopplegangerish aspect of the two images is uncanny.

And when you consider the celebrity elder statesman status of Ian Bone within the anarchist movement - christ, I remember reading about him in the pages of the Sunday tabloid press when as a young teen my interest in politics stretched to nothing more than a hatred of Thatcher, the SWP and the External Fraction of the ICC - it does seem to overlap snugly with the role that Trinsky plays in relation to the younger geeks in the show.

Trinsky has the elevated status of the older geek whose been there, done that, got the wedgie up his arse in the school locker room from the 'jocks', and is now in a position to offer the sagacious advice to the others in between games of D & D.

The similarities definitely lock into place with this particularly memorable quote of Trinsky's, "Bodies are merely a shell which conceal our heavenly souls." Christ, that could have been lifted lock, stock and barrel from Class War's 'Heavy Stuff'

Now, if I could only find a picture of that Class War/Anarchist Federation bloke whose the spitting image - SPITTING IMAGE - of Boris Johnson, I'd be quids in. The bloke's either gone to ground through sheer embarrassment at the hand that fate has dealt him or he's quids in himself, doing the lookalike circuit. I hope it's the latter.