There is a tendency to co-opt cultural symbols often forgetting or ignoring their original meaning. The sad irony is some of the people who "adopt" the symbols/trappings of other cultures still hold prejudices against the groups whose stuff they have "adopted". (I've seen people pat themselves on the back for eating sushi and then make horribly racist comments directed at Japanese-Americans.)
I roll my eyes a bit at Hot Topic. "Look at me. I am so angry at the establishment. Oops. I am the corporate establishment." I've bought a few things there, but it is if it has all been santitized so that it is no longer scary and threatening, but also so it has little meaning. The music- the original music- was not meant to be "safe". It was sexual. It had violence. It had anger. If that is your style, then you can buy the symbols there. I have friends who do. But a culture is more than its symbols. In the actual culture, the symbols have meaning.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2004-04-26 05:06 am (UTC)I roll my eyes a bit at Hot Topic. "Look at me. I am so angry at the establishment. Oops. I am the corporate establishment." I've bought a few things there, but it is if it has all been santitized so that it is no longer scary and threatening, but also so it has little meaning. The music- the original music- was not meant to be "safe". It was sexual. It had violence. It had anger. If that is your style, then you can buy the symbols there. I have friends who do. But a culture is more than its symbols. In the actual culture, the symbols have meaning.