Ah, America.
Land of opportunity, home of the brave, etc. Breeding ground of personal discontent?
Sure.
Witness the increasingly peculiar phenomena of “Becoming Your Own Person.” Also known as “The Overwhelming Need to Stray from the Herd.” Phrases like “Express your individuality” “Be Your Own Person” and “Show Them the Real You” run rampant amidst, ironically, advertising campaigns.
(I get a real kick out of that, you know. “Express your originality by purchasing excessive amounts of something that millions of other people are going to buy for the sheer purpose of self-characterization.”)
If only individuality was as easily attained as the material.
We move from day to day biologically the same as everyone else. We require air, water, food, shelter, and sleep. We all came from gametes and zygotes and embryos and what not. It’s a given. Now, these things shouldn’t be written off or dismissed. They are all very important factors; lending to the survival and continuation of the human race. Unity and a degree of accommodation are crucial to facilitate a mere functioning. There must be interpersonal relationships built for the well-being and benefit of everyone. From an evolutionary standpoint, it’s fairly clear: humans benefit from each other, and some semblance of order is necessary.
On the other hand, consider this: what happens when society demands that we have more in common than simple biological and social needs? Things that may not necessarily be as easy when moral beliefs are compromised for the “good of the group.” What was once used as a tool of unification and communal growth is now being used as a weapon against those who don’t fit into a rigid social mold. These standards have moved from essential moral guidelines to stringent rules concerning apparel, sexual preference, religious and political orientation, and often reflect the wishes and demands of a select few in power positions.
“But what,” you may say in a frustrated manner, “But what about the feminist movement? What about the gay rights movement? What about this, and more importantly, what about that?”
All right. Things are not as bad as they have been. Modern America has supposedly become open-minded to things like homosexuality, which previously turned so many stomachs that it was banned in everything but secret bath-houses and clubs. Way to go, guys. Let’s associate it with dirty, filthy perversion, and then demand that it’s okay, you all can come out now, no one will hurt you.
Wait a second. No one?
Well. Read on.
God, apparently, is not about love, acceptance, salvation, and forgiveness. He allegedly pickets gay marriages and "laughs when fags die." Want to know what I'm talking about? Homosexual discrimination. And, more specifically, the twisting of influential religious dogma to spread even more unnecessary and harmful propaganda.
I came upon the Westboro Church page when I was surfing Hatewatch, which is an anti-discrimination page. It was indeed unsettling to see a church's homepage in the "Hate Online: Anti-Gay" section, though (unfortunately) not entirely surprising. Takes a lot to surprise a child of the 90's, hm? What it lacked in surprise factor, it made up for with hypocritical-soapbox-god-slinging shit. This site made me sick. In the upper left hand corner of the page, there is an ugly cartoon guy with nasty teeth and a "God Hates Fags" sign in his hand. Perpetuating the fear of hell through ugly artwork...interesting. To start off with, the site begins with a rambling diatribe of the good old fashioned fire-'n-brimstone approach to the ministry; a direct attack upon the gay lifestyle.
"THE ONLY HOPE THAT HOMOSEXUALS HAVE IS TO HAVE THE UNAMBIGUOUS TRUTH PREACHED TO THEM, AND PERHAPS GOD WILL SOFTEN THEIR HEARTS AND GRANT THEM REPENTANCE TO DEPART FROM THEIR SIN AND NAME THE NAME OF CHRIST. "
Yes, I’d say that it was instances like this which make me kind of wonder which way our country is traveling in. “Pish posh,” you may say, “You’re only showing the bad stuff.” I know this. Or, you may squirm a bit in your seat. “I don’t believe in the homosexual lifestyle. It makes me uncomfortable. They should keep a low profile.”
Interesting.
So, when was the last time you had to go home to your parents, sit them down, and say, “Mom. Dad. I’m a heterosexual”, and face anything from awkward silence to complete rage? Or were stoned in public for holding hands with your respective heterosexual partner? How about beaten to death and tied to a fence rail for two days because someone thought, (but wasn’t quite sure,) that you were making a pass at them? Oh, it boggles my mind. I become so filled with expletives that I could probably cuss the paint off a barn. We’ve made enough progress so that gays can walk down the street with a reasonable amount of safety, but, as I’ve demonstrated, we’ve got a long way to go. I’m not talking about the good guys, people. We’re discussing the ones with the problems.
America’s attitude toward personal expression is somewhat of a paradox; as we claim to be open-minded, liberal, free of prejudice, and full of warm, fuzzy love for all, we insist that all this great, wide, open-mindedness must fall within some rather vaguely defined boundaries. It’s something I struggle with, quite frankly. The issue itself is a paradox. How can we force people to be open-minded and accepting? Right now, we’d be lucky to settle for silence.
I feel like I’m straying a little bit though. Time to rein it back in. I must apologize; it’s got to be blatantly obvious that I editorialize like a newscaster hopped up on amphetamines, infused with an urgent sense of passionate vindictiveness, and enraged on the behalf of the millions misunderstood.
Let’s explore what I call the “Hot Topic” phenomena. For those of you who may not know: Hot Topic is a rocker/goth/raver/“cutting edge”/disaffected-teenage-melodrama supplicant that is conveniently available at the nearest mall. You can express your individuality for $5.99. If you wear a lot of sharp, metal things, you can become your own person, and wallow in misery like so many cool role models are doing nowadays. There’s actually a chain of stores that cater to the “bitter individual.” It’s now “cool” to express your individuality in this particular circle, but only if it’s black, sharp, metal, and/or pointy. I support expressing yourself in that manner if you want, but it seems to me that some people force themselves into “anti” stereotypes as much as they claim to move away from the “mainstream.” Too often is personal individuality considered to be defined through clothing, musical tastes, and athletics. I myself have tried to find $5.99 individuality, and people, it is an ugly, ugly thing.
I’ve always thought that individuality should be reflected through the choices you make rather than the manner in which you present yourself. What speaks more about a person? That they wear unique and fabulous clothing or that they go out of their way to pick up books that someone dropped in the hallway?
The answer’s kind of obvious, I guess, but then again, so is the issue. Why is such a corporate value placed on this “cloned individual”? What kind of sick irony is it that the marketing companies can still cash in on people’s newfound desire to define themselves? The only solution for this sort of thing is a special brand of realization. Sure, the average American knows he or she is being manipulated by a 50 billion dollar industry, but that doesn’t stop them from amassing a couple thousand Furbies and a “Food Dehydrator.” Truth is, they really don’t know just what it is that they’re being manipulated by, and the grand majority couldn’t really care if it meant that they’d feed their family and avoided getting killed that day by stress/shoot-outs/diet pills/bad drugs/bad cars/serial killers.
I guess you can’t really deny the conformist tendencies that humans have. I mean, there is something to be said for unity; without it, there’d be chaos and ugly feudal wars and ridiculous debates and what not. Without a common bond, there would be no human race.
Let’s all remember: there is hope.
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