Rant

Pop Culture- What everyone thinks everyone else is talking about and so, in order to be cool themselves, talks about as well.

Movie stars. Bands. Headlines. Youtube videos. Fashion. Glasses. Mustaches. Boots. Balance Bracelets. Cars. Cell Phones. Hairstyles. Friend types. Stereotypes. Sports Teams.
Is it cool for me to like the Cowboys?
Well, maybe, if they're doing well and the majority of my friends don't scorn me when I bring them up.
If I am made fun of, I'll be sure to follow the Patriots real fast. Then pretend like I've always liked them. Just so 10 people will say "hey yeah, I like the patriots too" and not mean it themselves.
I don't want to offend anyone, but honestly, there are so many things that Americans do that they really never would have done unless one of their friends had said "everyone's doing it" or they had seen it in a magazine. You know who writes those magazines?
People who want money.
And often, when taunted with the lure of lots of money, people will do foolish things.
Even dangerous things.
Like write magazines full of immorality, sensation and lies, regardless of their corrosive and uncommon power to turn the "World's Greatest Superpower" into a country of lazy, selfish, uncommitted children. For the most part. I salute all those out there who have kept themselves untainted by this epidemic of skinny jeans and Starbucks. I, unfortunately  but realistically  am not one to be congratulated in the same way. But to everyone else, including myself, I say this: When did the opinions of hundreds of people we've barely or never met become more important than our own? When did buying coffee by the pound and brewing it at home for pennies a cup become uncool and old fashioned? I don't even really like coffee but I drink it because it's what everyone else at Harding is drinking. Do you think, if the cool, commonplace drink became a Bud Light among ALL Americans, that I would drink that too? I know it already is commonplace and cool, but there are still some regulations on it, for minors. In theory anyway. What I am trying to say is this: I have heard the rebuttal "my friends' opinions don't effect mine. I am my own person." too many times, without evidence, to believe it. Even for myself. No one is strong enough to completely ignore what everyone else is doing. No one that lives with other people. Why is it that community, the very thing that humans need to survive, has become the bane of this great land? I know that culture has always been something that people want to adhere to. To follow trends and to fit in is at the core of human existence. But I do not think that it has ever been to this degree. Our culture IS to fit in. It is to do just what everyone we "look up to" does. A culture where being cool is cool is built on nothing. No material thing matters, only the opinions of others. Back in the fifties, I would say it was cool to have a car. Because cars were new and innovative. But if someone couldn't afford a nice one, or one at all, they weren't laughed at. It was understood that maybe money was tight or that maybe they had more important things to spend money on. Sure, there was an "In" crowd. But there was also a "Sensible" crowd, who made up the majority. Take it back even further. In the Dark Ages, people were concerned with survival. Clothes were immaterial; as long as you had one pair, you were golden. The rich 1/2% were busy buying new fashions, trying new foods, going to parties and such. And the 99 1/2 were disgusted with them for their revelry. Do you know why? Because that 1/2% had lost sight of reality. They didn't know what it was like to LIVE anymore, only how to entertain. The "lower class" lived every day, working a field or a bellows and enjoying the feeling of having food on the table, friends in the house next to them and a family that at least tolerated them, if not loved them. And I am afraid that the 1/2% has become the 99 1/2 in America and the rest of the world is looking at us in disgust. I'm afraid that a lot of Americans looks at a lot of Americans in disgust.
Whatever.
No one is going to change.
And Why should they?
If I change, everyone else is going to think that I am weird. And push me out of their circle. And push their own thoughts of change away.
no.
Actually
A lot of people probably think that. That if I change, I will stick out.
What if everyone thought that?
What if everyone else was as fed up with our pseudo-culture?
What if EVERYONE, the Man, They, thought that our current way of doing everything was totally opposite from reality?
And what if everyone admitted it?
Where would we be?
Without a social life?
Maybe
Without a culture?
Doubtful
There will always be things that make a community of people unique, things that draw a town together on a Saturday afternoon.
Without friends?
Hopefully not, but if your friends bail because you decide to be different than the culture, were they friends?
Maybe, mutual acquaintances
Does any of this even ring any bells?
I am almost positive that someone is going to have a beef with what I have said and that they will discount my credibility because of it.
I am willing to sacrifice the opinions of a handful of people in order to exercise my right to free speech
;)
America was built because the Pilgrims didn't like being told how to worship by the Church of England.
America can be rebuilt by anyone who doesn't want to be told how to have fun by a small number of reporters, actors and corporate heads.
Sound cool?
You tell me :P
Peace, John H.
P.S. I know this blog is long and probably offensive to lots of people, so if either of those things apply to you, dear reader, thanks for making it this far :) And please, comment with any solutions you may have to our current Sietz in Lieben