The Good Son
- Project notes by Matthew Bradly
1%ers
1948, at an annual hill climb in Hollister California, a gathering of Bikie gangs got out of hand and became a week of rampant partying and violent clashes, which terrorised and virtually destroyed the small mid-west town. A spokesperson for the motorcycle associations came out and said that it was only “one percent” of members who were responsible for this type of behaviour. After that some outlaw clubs took on this title as a badge of honour. Now, a distinctive 1%ers patch is worn on leathers by outlaw clubs all over the world.
During AFL matches commentators often call 1%ers. They are referring to individual acts of extra skill, commitment, effort or creativity that take the game to a new level. They are singular feats that can turn a game, that shape it and define it. they can’t be planned or practiced and you don’t see them in training. It’s a level of performance that only comes out in competition, and most of the time it will mean putting your body on the line. It’s the 1%ers that usually separate the teams on the day so if you win the 1%ers you usually win the game.
Maximum security at Glenside. On the day I arrived, escorted by police it took 5 orderlies to wrestle me into a padded cell. I don’t feel any different now to when I was in there. Pretty much out of control, a danger to myself and others and struggling to keep my criminal tendencies leashed. So go on provoke me. Once I lived with an old lady who went to church everyday. Sometimes she would be looking at me but speaking fiercely and a little fearfully to the devil. Sometimes an evil grin that does not quite feel my own haunts my face. I think of violent things all the time and sex and fucking heaps, and getting a gun an o what fun, and stealing cars, and burning cars. And breaking into all sorts of places and trashing stuff and smashing shit up, and come and try and stop me. I get angry, and I have done bad things, and I will do more, and I’m allowed to walk around.
The young David Hicks, now of Guantanamo prison, was expelled from school, smoked drugs and stole cars. He tattooed himself with a compass and pen ink, and put cigarettes out on his forearm. As a teenager, he believed he was possessed by an evil spirit and sought out an Anglican priest whom he asked to perform an exorcism. He also filled exercise books with fantasy stories, was a fast learner, read books voraciously, travelled widely and fathered a child. I know Smithfield Plains where he grew up. I’ll just say it’s a rough area. And I knew kids like him.
One night at Ben’s house, Animal, who has LOVE/HATE tattoo on his fists like Hicksy, drank Metho, blew it out of his nose and lit it up. His whole face caught on fire. Earlier we tied a video player to the clothesline, doused it with petrol and set it on fire because it had a copy of Pretty Woman inside it. And later after lots more alcohol and after Ben tried to crack on to Jodie and she turned him down. Ben, who’s old mans a cop, pulls this gun out and starts loading it and going off saying we were all fucken wankers and He’s gunna kill us all. And I really wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t. The best thing about hanging out was feeling that anything could happen, and that there are no limits, and that everything is always on the line. With this in mind we all instinctively knew that sometimes you must face a little social death if you wish to explore limitless potential.
There is the line and there is crossing the line. Then there is making your own path. Almost by definition the outlaw lives on a path that does not pre-exist. Therefore it must be created. Perhaps there is an inherent creativity in delinquent behaviour, which is at odds with its stereotype of being mindless, destructive and anti-social. Maybe there is a real social function. Maybe delinquent behaviour can be a way back to society. If ones usual patterns are criminal, limiting ones self to delinquent outbursts could be considered as a de-escalation of your criminal condition, and as a positive step toward society. So it could be possible to see someone throwing stones at signs as constructive, if they had a history of throwing rocks at moving cars. Doing a “piece” on a factory wall could be commended if previously it would have been burned to the ground. There is significant reform here.
As a kid, at The Boys Home in Wistow, I saw the Findon Skid Kids jump through the “Wall of Fire”. One of the things this club did was take delinquent street kids and teach them discipline and responsibility through the performance of death defying feats. Sort of saying, ok, how far do you want to go now that your body is on the line, finding their limits this way.
Sometimes reform happens as a gradual legitimisation of behaviour, by changing the context for it. Like, shifting the same set of skills from car jacking through the ranks of illegal street racing and into legitimate motor sports. Delinquent behaviour can be an important part of the process of finding a context for yourself in the landscape. It can be a way of testing your limits, finding out your skills and the right place for them.
History is full of delinquents, outlaws and villains. Perhaps what makes these characters compelling is an inherent creativity, at this unlikely site, which is for many the origin of a path toward redemption.
That is the path many will take, but in the end not all. In the end nothing will save The Good Son, and he doesn’t want to be saved. All that he was taught was bad and everyone he loved was bad. For him, being a Good Son means that he will always be an outlaw. |