henry rollins vs. those 'free hugs' people

obviously this is a bout that henry rollins wins in a landslide.

i've been reading henry rollins lately... 'the portable henry rollins,' to be exact. and he's so angry and raw and has such an outlook on things and i find it hard to put it into words... which is good. cuz who wants to be easily classified? not henry rollins, that's for sure. the reoccurring feeling i get as i read through the pages is alienation. and he does such a great job of expressing alienation that it's beautiful to me in it's own very dark, twisted way.

i wanna say i'd like to give henry rollins a hug. but that motherfucker doesn't want a hug. hugs are weak. fuck hugs. anyone who needs a hug needs to reevaluate their own self worth. he talks about being alone a lot... wanting to be alone... not complaining about it. he's the anti-everything else. everyone else is feeling bad for themselves and singing 'creep' by radiohead and longing for some romantic partnership to fill the void that they're guilty of creating in themselves.

then there's the 'free hugs' people. you know who i'm talking about, right? you see them at concerts and in other places where tons of people gather. they stand around with signs raised high in the air that say, 'free hugs.' they want to hug you and even more, they want you to feel free to go up and hug them. and it's a nice gesture... i guess. cuz the world can be such a cold, hateful place.. wouldn't it be nice to see more hugs in the world?

but i think rollins is fighting the same thing that the 'free hugs' people are. he also realizes the world is a cold and hateful place. but rollins seems to be more about adapting to it, toughening up and dealing with it. don't let the world bring you down into the muck. if you do, it's your own fault.

if i had my choice and it was a choice of only two extremes... a world where everyone's tougher and deals with the bullshit of this world in an appropriate manner, or a world where we all hugged each other all the time, i think i'd take the former. i don't wanna wake up everyday and feel the pressure to be constantly hugging and embracing everybody. sometimes i just want to be left the fuck alone. and if that means i have to swim hard through the ocean of bullshit to do it, then so be it. cuz i can't subject myself to a life of constant hugging.

that's just me. and i'm pretty sure either way that if henry rollins read this, he'd probably be like, 'who's this josh dude? i wanna break his fucking face.' and if that was his natural reaction, i suppose i wouldn't want it any other way.