I've been looking hard for a good story for my final CNF piece for this course, and this seemed like an interesting possibility. Apparently there is a festival of "racialist music," Hammered Festival, that has been happening for the past few years on the Gold Coast. This year, it's moving to a secret location in Brisbane. One must, I suppose, convince the organisers of one's genuine and outspoken racism before being given the address. That might cause some difficulties in writing an article about the thing--I couldn't actually pretend to be on their side, even if that was what it took to gain admission. The appearance of neutrality, I could manage, but I've got a little too much hair to pull off skinhead. Even if I couldn't attend the festival itself, I imagine I could probably get interviews with some related people. The existence of Queensland locals proud of their racial hatred is an intriguing, as well as horrifying, issue--even without the added colour of the music festival.
My angle for such an article would have to involve something a bit broader than just profiling the people involved--you can't build a good story out of pure revulsion. The immediate question that comes to mind is: how did they come to think like this? How does that happen to someone in Queensland, today? However, the idea of me getting a bunch of skinheads to open up in interviews about their childhoods, their fears, their insecurities--well, it seems a leeetle optimistic. It's the sort of thing I could talk to a psychologist about, but I think the article would be a bit dry if that sort of source became to central. Maybe I could get more out of them than I think; maybe I'm just a bit frightened of the idea--although, I suppose I am pretty white. Maybe I could learn to love death metal, forge a connection that way...
Another angle I could attack the story from might be the difficulties of free speech. It's not a new idea to talk about, but I can't remember ever reading a substantial piece of CNF on the topic. I could speak to those protesting against the festival, and those regretfully allowing it to go ahead. Other groups testing the boundaries of free speech could come into it. The exact nature of the relevant Australian laws would be important, as would the reasons for their existence. I could contrast Australia with much of Europe, where public neo-nazism is illegal, or with the U.S, where free speech seems to be held even more dearly than here. The Hammered Festival would then becoming the hook for this broader issue.
The whole idea though, has illustrated a couple of problems that I've been having in my search for article concepts. The biggy is that all my ideas so far--I had another about conspiracy theory groups--have implied writing stories where I considered everyone involved a bit stupider--or nastier, or just in some way inferior--to myself. And that does not seem like a good starting point. The free speech angle does seem to avoid that problem though, in that it would involve multiple conflicting, legitimate points of view. The white-supremacists would be more of a prop. So I'll keep thinking about that possibility. I should think quickly though: the festival is on (assuming it does go ahead) in just under a month.
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