Well, I read so much Juggalo-related content on a daily basis courtesy of @scottied, if he wants to read some of my Juggalo-related content for once I’d feel like a dick if I said no…

The way the media sees Juggalos ain’t what it used to be.  Once portrayed almost universally as a subject of fear or snarky condescension, in recent years a new genre of journalism has appeared that presents the Juggalo world in a different light.  Probably the first of these piece to reach a wide audience was Camille Dodero’s article in the Village Voice in 2006. She writes mainly about her experience of bravely attending the Gathering despite being warned that she would be ripped apart by savages, and discovering that actually Juggalos are pretty cool after all.  Since then, there have been dozens of articles, documentary films, and books along similar lines.  While you’ll still find some degree of condescension and stereotyping in these, the vast majority portray Juggalos in a much more positive way than in the past, and some of them are pretty good.  At the same time, even with the better ones there’s something disappointing.  These authors and filmmakers are never Juggalos themselves, and they’re never able to immerse themselves deeply enough in the Juggalo world to do more than barely scratch the surface.  As I’ve learned myself over the past few years, there is so, so much about the Juggalo world that is incredible, unique, and would absolutely blow the fucking wig off of anyone you explained it to who didn’t know about it.  There’s an amazing book or documentary film out there waiting to be made by someone who can dig deeper and really tell the story, but none of these people have been able to do it.

Based on what I had heard, I was expecting that Steve Miller’s Juggalo: ICP and the World They Made would be on a different level and set a new standard.  Years of research have gone into the book, and along the way it’s been pimped by people like J-Webb and Violent J among others.  One of the earlier versions of the title for the book that I heard referred to Juggalos as “the last true subculture in America,” which absolutely gave me a boner that didn’t go away for 6 months.  There’s literally nothing I’d rather do than read or talk to someone who’s thinking about Juggalos on that level.  I thought this book would finally give us something that reflected a deeper understanding than what we’ve seen before, and would get at some of the many, many layers and complexities that make the Juggalo world so fascinating and unique and that these other tourist authors and filmmakers haven’t been able to touch.  Right now the only book or film that even begins to do that is Behind the Paint, and I was hoping Juggalo would be the second.

Unfortunately, it just isn’t it.  The book very thoroughly researched and there’s plenty to like about it (more on that later).  But, it doesn’t go beyond fitting right in with the current Juggalo journalism genre: like the others, we get an outsider who presents a sympathetic view of Juggalos, but barely scratches the surface of what’s really going on.  The book does a lot of stating facts and summarizing interviews with people, but it’s not really about analysis or thoughtful reflection.  There’s not nearly enough background or discussion of other issues that go beyond the articles he’s read and people he’s talked to, particularly in a way that would make it interesting for people who aren’t familiar with this already.  For example, the book doesn’t explain the Dark Carnival, or talk about what happened with the 6^th joker’s card.  If you want to tell the story of ICP and Juggalos, you’ve got to cover that stuff.

Though the book didn’t live up to my hopes for it (which admittedly weren’t totally fair), there’s still a lot to like and I really enjoyed reading it.  I’ll probably read it again in the next few months.  Miller is completely on our side. I don’t think there’s a single thing in the entire book that isn’t 100% respectful and cool towards Juggalos, which is dope.  He talks to pretty much everyone in the Psychopathic universe, not to mention all kinds of fans, journalists, cops, whoever, basically anyone you could possibly think of to talk to.  There are plenty of great stories that you won’t have heard before.  It’s also written in a style that’s very engaging and easy to read.  I don’t normally read books very quickly but like ScottieD I finished this in a couple of days.  If you’re a Juggalo and you like reading non-fiction books, I would guarantee you’ll find this book worth reading.

Personally, my favorite aspect of the book is that it does a great job of telling the full story behind the FBI lawsuit, which isn’t something I’d seen anywhere else.  Something that I really got out of it was understanding what’s motivating a lot of the gang classification shit to begin with- namely, that it’s more about money than anything else.  People get paid to put on trainings about gangs, and the more they can convince people that gangs are everywhere, the more money they can get for that.  Police departments can get grants for anti-gang programs by labelling whoever they can as a gang that’s threatening their community.  Juggalos were the easiest targets in the world to slap that label on and get more of that money, at least until the FBI lawsuit.  It makes me realize that just bringing the suit and getting publicity for it accomplishes a lot in and of itself, no matter how it turns out.

As a last point, I think it’s worth mentioning that the book really needed another round or two of proofreading and editing.  There are a lot of one-sentence paragraphs and other sections that don’t read very well, people who the book has already introduced being introduced a second time, and a couple of parts that don’t even make sense.  I wouldn’t normally knock somebody for something like that, but if you’re a professional publishing company / author who’s asking people to pay $15 for your book, you should show your audience the respect to give it a final proofread and edit.  Given how much work must have gone into all the interviews and other research, it’s a shame that it got published this way, it would have been much better with another week or so put into editing.