✖█ WHY DO THIS? █✖ ☣ A number of reasons. First and foremost being: the cypherpunks were really cool, and I believe that there need to be more aesthetics in the world that don't just exist as pretty pictures and dresses, and exist as a connection point for a group of people who all want one thing. Second, I want to be able to have that connection for myself. I want to find people who can share in an interesting aesthetic with me and also overthrow the government club. ☣ The most important reason is that I have become disillusioned with the idea of modern "aesthetic" as a meaningless set of standards to follow and not an energy one carries with them. This aesthetic is not about wearing the right clothes or listening to the right music. It is about embodying an ideology and letting it bleed through into more than just your fashion sense. If you can't cut it with the politics, you're free to take part in the fashion, but there are likely other modern aesthetics that you would prefer.

✖█ THE INHERENT AESTHETIC OF POLITICS: DISCUSSING CYPHERPUNK █✖ ☣ I may hear you asking, "what is cypherpunk and why was it such a large influence on the creation of this aesthetic?" Cypherpunk was a movement of sorts in the early internet era comprised of hackers that wanted to maintain the free and open nature of the internet and secure freedom for themselves physically as well. They were inherently an anti-government pro-liberty movement, but one that was restricted to hackers (programmers) of the time. Ever since I first learnt about them I've admired the way they decided to do something and committed to it; the way they were unafraid to speak their mind and be honest. ☣ I may also hear you asking, what does politics have to do with aesthetic? In the past, aesthetics and appearance were inherently political in many situations. One would know a punk's ideals from the dress. It is only recently that aesthetic has become a romanticized concept of fashion, another word for a fashion sense.

✖█ THE POLITICS █✖ ☣ "So if politics are so important, what are these politics? Must I adhere to them to be of this aesthetic?" Addressing the second question first, there are many ways to adhere to the politics I will lay out following. Anyone; left, right, center, can hold these opinions. Ascribing them to only one "side" is reductive and ensures to me that you've not yet allowed yourself out of your echo chamber, and as such will have no interest in what I'm about to say. That said, yes, if you don't ascribe to the following ideology in some way, you're only coopting a fashion, not an idea, and I will treat you with the disdain you deserve if you try that. ☣ Let me make another thing completely clear: this has no religious affiliation. Though some of what I may discuss will come across religious, it is not intended that way. Please take everything I say and think about it for yourself, every single individual piece. Thinking for yourself and allowing yourself free thought is the greatest possible vir

✖█ THE THEMES █✖ ☣ Major themes can include, but are not limited to: life cycles, abandoned buildings overtaken by plants, dilapidated "liminal spaces", invasive plants, grungy appearance, poor lighting (either dim or starkly lit by one bright light) ☣ Minor themes can include, but are not limited to: bones, dirt, craftsmanship (think woodworking, carpentry, hard physical labor type work that also has an inherent art to it), old growth forests, found objects, mushrooms, far away lights of civilization ☣ Colors can include, but are not limited to: dingy browns, yellow-greens, off whites, oranges, dark red-orange, sick-looking yellow

✖█ THE FASHION █✖ ☣ Fashion here ideally is akin to other internet aesthetics focused around grungy looks and "sustainability". There's no attention to looking gendered, clothes run oversized, they're often thrifted or otherwise secondhand. The focus is on reusing and preserving things that were previously discarded, the actual appearance of aesthetic comes after. It's good for one to repair their own clothes or modify clothes to suit their needs instead of simply discarding it. Fashion could readily be considered "edgy" or "alt" by tiktok kids, but it's better to take cues from the original punks but give it a getting lost in the woods twist than take any inspiration from a young adult on tiktok. Remember: the tiktok people do it for the aesthetic, for the appearance; whereas the original punks did it to support their idea of offending as many people as possible at once.

✖█ THE ETYMOLOGY █✖ ☣ You may be wondering where the name came from (you probably weren't but here we are). I'm going to tell you. ☣ The first part came because I wanted something edgy, mostly, but the idea of rot lines up perfectly with a lot of the ideology. The government has rotted from the inside out, and now it is we the people's job to ensure that new life can grow in its place. ☣ The second part is because cypherpunks are cool. But more specifically, punk as an idea that "the system is bwoken uwu" and a desire to offend and a lack of caring what anyone else thinks. Calling something punk implies that it is going against the popular opinion in a major way, and I like to think I'm doing that.

✖█ DISCUSSION: INSULT ME UNDER THIS COMMENT █✖