Considering how much time I spent during my youth trying just to fit in, it's no small wonder that somehow I developed this sense of taste in which that which I once found to be super nerdy, for lack of a better word, is now uber-fashionable. I went from the standard society-taught perception that things were uncool because they were unpopular, as if the two went hand in hand, to my own inverse conception of fashion and taste whereby things which are unpopular are almost always "cool". So whereas I would have once found something like making clothing or practicing magic tricks absolutely shamefull, now, they're positively fabulous. Conversely, that which is mainstream and popular (culturally) tends to leave me unimpressed. As absurd as it sounds, in this western world in which we live that preaches fear, greed and discontent, it takes character to be happy and secure being oneself while straying from the pack. Not that I'm prescribing conformity or anything; on the contrary actually. But it's hard to deny that it works for alot of people to some extent. For that matter, how many anti-conformists are really just conforming to their anti-conformist notion of conformity? You don't read adbusters!?!?! Shame on me.
Now, the same basic principle is true with people alot of the time though not exclusively; those who I would once have found to be "unpopular" are now those who I have a tendency to like the most. Don't get me wrong. I do not mean to say that every loser is cool to me or that every hurting son of a bitch is now my idol. Rather that my perception of what is cool has changed so drastically that I now find myself able to admire things I would have once eagerly condemned. Why is this? Who knows? Maybe it's because I've grown up enough to know not to believe the hype, not to judge books by their cover and not to follow the herd. Then again, maybe it's because I see myself becoming a big reclusive geek and I'm trying to rationalize my behaviour as not only acceptable but desirable. Or maybe I just grew up and figured it out; people who were seemingly unpopular back in the day often developed truly original and ingenuitive senses of humor (often as defense mechanisms) and other endearing characteristics. When faced with adversity, they were forced to flourish or crumble and in so, many of them became the unique, witty and fashionable characters they are today. Maybe I'm just such a hipster that things are cool to me because they aren't cool to others.
Now, the same basic principle is true with people alot of the time though not exclusively; those who I would once have found to be "unpopular" are now those who I have a tendency to like the most. Don't get me wrong. I do not mean to say that every loser is cool to me or that every hurting son of a bitch is now my idol. Rather that my perception of what is cool has changed so drastically that I now find myself able to admire things I would have once eagerly condemned. Why is this? Who knows? Maybe it's because I've grown up enough to know not to believe the hype, not to judge books by their cover and not to follow the herd. Then again, maybe it's because I see myself becoming a big reclusive geek and I'm trying to rationalize my behaviour as not only acceptable but desirable. Or maybe I just grew up and figured it out; people who were seemingly unpopular back in the day often developed truly original and ingenuitive senses of humor (often as defense mechanisms) and other endearing characteristics. When faced with adversity, they were forced to flourish or crumble and in so, many of them became the unique, witty and fashionable characters they are today. Maybe I'm just such a hipster that things are cool to me because they aren't cool to others.