The younglings* are sweet enough...

[elfgrove]

But dear gods do they need a reality check.

This morning, Leigh was running around trying to clean up the house a bit. No small job alone, but 30mins, an hour max had she, JP, Morgan and I all gotten on it. But no. JP and Morgan made a mess making muffins, got them in the oven, then dissapeared downstairs. Now my brother and I have been known to pull similar stunts at that age, but... We did do housework regularly at that age. These two I've learned, do nothing. They occasionally rinse the dishes in the sink, and keep their rooms semi-clean, and haul their junk out of man areas. But no sweeping, vacuuming mopping, washing dishes, or any other normal chores for them. Not because Leigh hasn't tried getting them to do it, they just won't. I would've been dead meat for behaving like that normally.

Then, this evening at the mall, we go in Hot Topic.
As we walk in, JP says, "Do we have to go? This is a scrode store!"
"What did you say?" Oh god... He's not...
"Only scrodes go in this store!" (Said with much disgust I'd like to add.)
"What's that?" I can't believe he's saying this out loud.
"It's the latest slang word for goths."
"And that's bad?" Do you know how asshole/discriminatory you sound right now!?
"Well, no... But it's just they're..."
"I have several good friends who are goths." And I've known so many people who would beat you up for those comments!

It was just mind-shoking for me. He sounded like some kind of little biggot. And that attitude will hurt people, and in some places/circumstances, get him hurt. He can't behave that way. You just can't.
I dunno if thast makes any sense as to why it upset me, but it did.

Those younglings.... Need to grow up mentally a bit.

* younglings - the term often used in reference to Dave & Leigh's children, JohnPaul and Morgan. Dave & Leigh being my second cousins who I am living with here in Minnesota.

A few quotes:

"Ultimately in my stories, the most horrible creatures of all are the humans themselves." - Kei Kusunoki
"Nice guys finish last, when you are the outcast..." - Green Day
"Men are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them." -Epictetus The Enchiridion
"People only see what they are prepared to see." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Saturday, March 24, 1984.
Shermer High School,
Shermer, Illinois, 60062.
Dear Mr. Vernon:
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, and what we did was wrong, but we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions, you see us as: a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at 7 o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.
- The Breakfast Club

Comments

Or perhaps this Undeveloped Heart just has too many old grudges.

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm being discrimnatory in my own way...
But that kind of attitude has always struck a nerve with me. It's hurt me too many times in my life, and hurt too many dear friends. Seeing it in people so young. Seeing it in my blood relatives...
Just...
ouch.

Re: Or perhaps this Undeveloped Heart just has too many old grudges.

[jokeyxero.livejournal.com]

you are definatly not being out of line.

that attitude is something i feel is wrong with this world. I've seen it too many times to count. Especially recently. "That's a skater store, that's a goth store, that's a preppy store..." it's all the same thing. The general populace has been programmed to stereotype first, ask questions later (if at ever). Stereotyping has its purpose, but mostly for genre seperations in the consumer market, which makes shopping easier. (The benefits of stereotyping are an entirely different rant.) I'm not quite sure how to break people from it or even if it's at all possible. You can break individuals from it usually though. It's a matter of learning to keep an open mind and removing most hate from your heart. In my opinion, not liking something solely because the person has deemed it too "goth" or too "preppy" is the same as not liking an African-American because he/she is too "black" or a caucasian because he/she is too "white." Hating something because its hated by your friends or by other people is just slipping in among the brainwashed. Always analyze why you don't like something or why you do like something. Make your own reasons. Try to avoid "i don't like goths" and find out why you don't like the goth things of today, is it the usual clothing style? the manic-depressive behavior? the jewelry? the creepiness factor? is it the aesthetic or the emotion? Find a real reason, and don't like that thing. I'm pretty sure that you'll like part of something but not all of it. Like those things, dislike the others. Then say you don't generally like things "gothic" or whatever the case may be. Gothic, preppy, skater, raver, emo, punk, hippie, it's all just labels. Stereotypes. Something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially : a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment (merriam-webster). Stereotypes are to there to get a general idea of what your subject, round, square but find out if it's a red sqaure or a blue, textured or plain, hard or soft you have to ask.

*sigh* i know you know all of this, but i felt maybe saying it would trigger something. eh. who knows. good luck with the youngins though. I feel your pain.

gentle breezes.

-x

Re: Or perhaps this Undeveloped Heart just has too many old grudges.

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

Thank'ee Xero.

[micarei.livejournal.com]

I had a similar experience when I went into Hot Topic yesterday to get my Legolas t-shirt, though not to that degree (the shirt looks soooo great!)

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

I got one too. *laughs*
Which one?

[shiningthing.livejournal.com]

But half of what Hot Topic sells is raver crap.(*greatly dislikes the raver crap*)And from my experience the actual gothest people would hate to admit to shopping at Hot Topic. But then, I've seen real goths vehemently deny being goth. As far as the gothness of Hot Topic is concerned, it's mostly poseur goths who get excited about shopping there.

As for me, I shop at Hot Topic because I like things like fuzzy clothes, arm warmers, stripey tights, and Invader Zim garb. And they sell Special Effects hair dye.*sigh* I wish I could dye my hair purple.

And, on a slightly random note considering the goth population of Alabama: Mostly I've just seen people who want to be goths. These kids who don't even know how to put on makeup right, and try to go for the goth look while wearing blue jeans...people who just want attention, and think they're so cool for being a "freak".

Anyways, I guess I should end this rant. I think it stopped being relevant to your post a while ago. Something just spurred me on, and well...people who are just trying to be an image and not who they are annoy me.

[eldanildiel.livejournal.com]

To add to that, it's not just that that ticks me off, it's also the people who are so wrapped up in trying to conform to this artificial stereotype of what the people in their social clique think is cool. I mean, your real friends are gonna like you no matter what, and do you really want to be liked for some artificial image? Be yourself. Dress the way you wanna dress. Personally, some days I feel like dressing 'preppy' and some days I feel like dressing 'punk'. I guess that's part of why no one could really put me in a social group in high school. If you just wear the clothes you like and stop worrying about whether the 'punk' shirt you're wearing goes with the 'preppy' pants that kinda match it, you get a way more diverse wardrobe and it's a lot more fun!

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

Most agreeed Dearheart.
^_^

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

I understand what you're saying. Though I do like some of the 'raver crap'. ^_~
My personal attitude is that it's just a style of dress, not who you are, and people get too damned edgy both ways about it. I like some of the stuff at Hot Topic, so I shop there sometimes. I also pretty muchn only touch the clearance racks like I do at any other specialty store. Too damned expensive.

Anyhoo... Basically... I'm trying to say that I don't see why bother caring if your dressed in one style or another unless it effects your means of survival or your performance. People practicng a sport or martial art dress accordingly, and there's dress codes for work. Otherwise, just wear what you like. Worrying over your outfit's image is utterly pointless, because how you speak and carry yourself says more for your image than what you wear.

Just my .02 though.