This may be the best description that I have written of the Barbelith Underground:
“This forum was originally created by a group of people who found a part of themselves inspired by what is commonly considered the lowest form of trash culture: the comic book. Something in this comic book spoke to their dissatisfaction and frustration with the world as it stands today. The writer of the comic book had felt the same way, by all accounts, and wanted to use his medium to help people recognise their own feelings of dissatisfaction with the world and channel that into a creative energy of transgression, answering back, full-on teen rebellion. The call to arms was promptly answered.
“The Barbelith Underground is, above all, about change and idealism. It’s about change because the world is not what it could be, it’s not what it SHOULD be either. It’s about idealism because the world should be a place where imagination can thrive, not a place where it has to be constrained and controlled.
“Beyond that you’re unlikely to get consensus – the wonder of this place is that you can come here to be inspired, not to be told what to do. And this can lead to frustration – what you think should be done may not be done by all. It might not be done by any. Some of our number believe in the power of direct protest, some believe in the power of the viral idea, some believe in bombs and guns, some in books and media. Some are liberal, some are libertarian, some are … not.
“Start a thread, create an idea, propose a cause and hit the streets, or … don’t. But wake up.”