Sub-Culture, 1

VISION & VOICE

By TLS

The other day we were over at one of our more, shall we say…interesting, friend’s place for one of his gatherings. His gatherings tend to be a little eclectic, so you never really know who’s going to be there or what unexpectedness one might encounter.

This day’s unexpectedness was about public nudity. I wasn’t listening real close when this side conversation started between a few of the guests but I was sitting right there and kind of got drawn in.

One guest seemed to be very pro-public nudity and was the driving force behind the conversation. The others were stating how unfortunate it was that Americans were not very tolerant of this, but none seemed very enthusiastic about participating in public nudity either. They did though seem enthusiastic about showing support for it. Virtue signaling? Maybe? I don’t know and I wasn’t very involved in that part of the conversation. The discussion turned again by the time I was actually paying attention.

The proponent agreed America was not very tolerant or supportive but stated there were lots of sub-culture groups “out there.” And, that they were growing. This seemed to transition the debate. Soon the exchange rolled right through bright green crushed velvet pants with matching boots and flashy glittery purple button-up shirts and hats, to a popular state-wide gathering where nudity, lots of drugs, public open sex are common, and people go by pirate names.

I’m very much a ‘…don’t bother me and I won’t bother you…’ type of person. Do I think America could stand to be a little less Puritan? Suuuuure. Do I think there should be public nudity, drug use, and group sex at every city park? Yeaaah, probably not. Some things I believe need to have a bit of a lid on them, or at least localized. It’s a sub-culture remember?

Nudity, drug use, group sex, pirate personas; go right ahead. As long as I (and society's tax dollars) don’t have to deal with any of the associated problems. Remember, I didn’t agree to participate, only to not bother you.

Why does this seem to be a common theme anymore? The smallest fringe group wants national, or even world, recognition. Additionally, the other 99.99999876% of the population is Twitter mob bullied into participating or at least cooperating with this fringe group. Maybe it started with participation trophies, everybody now has to be special and recognized. Big sigh…

So, where do we go from here? Is this relevant to anything? Am I just being picky or snobby? How righteous might this Twitter mob sub-culture be?

In biology, and probably other fields, the genetic ‘wild-type’ is the most common example (for the most part). Those with genetic variations are mutations or sub-groups. Sometimes the species will change, for any number of reasons, and the sub-group will then become predominant and as a result, the new wild-type. Whatever remains of the original then becomes a sub-group. If America changes enough and the current sub-cultures become the new wild type, I suppose my presumed Puritan-ish ways may then become the new sub-culture.

I wonder if the Twitter mob, being a mindless mob, will then try to bully their old ally, the new ‘in-charge’ wild-type, into supporting the now new ‘unsupported’ sub-culture? Hmmmm… For some reason I doubt it.

If the edges of culture keep pushing outward, where does the center go? Maybe it’s time we stop shouting for attention and start asking what kind of society we actually want to live in. What do you think, is tolerance evolving, or dissolving?

P.S.

While proofing this work I wondered; Am I a hypocrite or applying a double standard? Part 2, next week, we’ll dive into that introspection.

Clip art

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