Random

[textualdeviance]

I wonder if there will ever be a point where being ironically anti-social, sarcastic and retro will become out of fashion and being well-groomed, well-dressed, nice to people and mentally healthy will be cool.

See, I think when Hot Topic started, all of that actually became uncool. If you can buy it in a mall, mass-produced, it's not subversive anymore.

Which is not to say that the fuzzy bunnies are the way to go, either, just that when a suburban mallrat dyes her hair blue, gets a nose piercing and wears a t-shirt with a Dukes of Hazzard iron-on on it, it's no longer counter-culture, but pop culture.

I blame Buffy.

It's annoying that, at nearly 33, all of the stuff that I've always authentically been, since I was a teen myself, has now been co-opted by a bunch of sniveling brats who see it only as fashion. Those of us who were authentically disenfranchised and disaffected and expressed that in the music we listened to and the way we dressed are now seeing that culture being bought and sold by spoiled kids who have no freaking idea why we were doing what we were doing. Sarcasm, depression, anti-social attitudes are cultivated as a means to be "cool" and not because they're really things that were really happening to us.

And yes, we had to walk uphill both ways to school in our Docs and we liked it, dammit. ;)

I guess mostly, I'm just annoyed that I've had to cut back my own "counter culture" expression because I don't want people getting the idea that I'm trying to be like the cool kids when I'm obviously too old for that anymore, not realizing that I was doing the same damned thing, and doing it as more than fashion, before these kids were even out of diapers.



ETA: Unlocked this since a few folks wanted to see it.

Comments

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

I only hope that this will fade out within the next few years and we can all be happy being the people that we are and not feeling like if you wear what you like you'll like like some average asshole on the street.

God, I hope so. I'm afraid, though, that as long as these bland white kids are bored with their lives, they'll still be trying to co-opt whatever culture seems more cool to them at the time.

[amenaspointyhat.livejournal.com]

Alright so at the insistance of my best friend, I will refer to a certain group of middle class white males as "wegroes" for all non-offensive purposes. Anyhow, these being one of those groups of people. I feel like you are who you are and there's no reason to be ashamed of that, but outwardly trying to be someone else pisses me off. I could go into a whole other aspect of looking like you're supposed to (because I'm black and black people don't like the fact that I dress alternatively) but that's a story for a rainy day.
Remeber that song "I think I'm turning Japanese" ? If someone on MTV said it was cool, every kid in America would be.