Hardline (subculture) - Beliefs

Beliefs

The hardline philosophy forbids its adherents from smoking or chewing any form of tobacco, drinking alcoholic beverages, and using illicit drugs or modern medicines. Hardliners (as they are called) are expected to follow a strict dietary regimen based on the above-mentioned pillars of respect for innocent life and the natural order. Hardliners eat only foods that are vegan and relatively natural (e.g. brown rice over white, evaporated cane juice over white sugar, organic produce over conventional, natural oils over hydrogenated). Human rights issues are also factored into the movement's food politics, and followers are urged to shun third-world cash crops such as coffee, chocolate, sugar, and most tropical fruits. Hardliners include caffeine in their stance on mind-altering drugs so the first two items are generally abstained from, but consumption of the last two is often given more leeway.

In keeping with its Abrahamic view of the natural order, the sexual politics of the hardline movement are very conservative. Sex is not allowed except for the reason of procreation; thus homosexuality is seen as anathema, pornography is abjured, artificial contraception is avoided, and abortion is militantly opposed. Although the official hardline stance on sex is that its natural purpose is purely procreative, many hardliners justify recreational sex within the context of committed relationships as potentially procreative by opting not to use artificial contraceptives. Hardline has always been highly syncretic (over time absorbing influences from Islam and a host of other schools of thought), and initially attempted to give its obviously Biblical/Islamic sexual morals added credibility by claiming a Taoist foundation for them. This appeal to the orientation of the punk and hardcore scenes met with little success, and the topics of abortion and homosexuality have always been sources of tension between hardliners and their subcultural cousins.