punk-a lifestyle or a genre?

hey everyone,

This is another thread i've started relating with punk. I've been reading some interesting opinions about punk and i'm just trying to get a general concensus, along with some good insights. now, the title of the thread says it all, but i'll clarify anyway.
do you believe in punk as a lifestyle or a genre?

as a lifestyle, it means that you don't conform to authority and you make your owns rules, living your own life and so on and so forth.
as a genre, it encompasses pop-punk giants Blink-182 and Sum-41 to Green Day and Pennywise and the Sex Pistols along with many many many many others.

so, what do you think?

I feel punk is a genre. Everyone that I know who classes themselves as a 'punk-person' just says it because they listen to the music, they dont do any outrageous things...

however i do know som people that are classic punkers, sex pistols style. so i guess punk is a genre to some AND a lifestyle to others. my personal opinion is genre.

It really depends on the individual.

If you play punk and do it honestly (not just because that's what MTV tells you is cool this week) then chances are it is a reflection of your personality, which can be both good and bad.

Some adopt the aforementioned attitude of living life on their own terms and breaking the conventional rules in an effort to forge new ground both personally and musically. Others however just act like complete anarchist dicks and treat anybody who isn't "punk" like crap while holding on for dear life to a cliche.

Then of course you have the people who think that punk is dyeing your hair green, wearing baggy clothes, piercing parts of your body you didn't know existed, owning a skateboard, constantly flippin people the bird for no apparent reason, etc....

So like I said, it really just depends on the person.