The Truth About Rebellion Today
This may not seem like a perfectly conventional article, for it displays my personal opinion on a matter and therefore I would most generally be booted from whatever newspaper or magazine I was writing for. However, this topic has been hot-button for years, and quite recently it has taken a side-line the teenagers of today became brainwashed by society.
The topic I would like to bring up today is that about style and clothing. It has recently come to my attention how much the teen population of today is reliant on their clothes and physical appearance to define them. Most parents and adults have deducted that for themselves, noticing that their brunette daughters would like to die their hair blond or that their sons will spend hours working out just so that he can become “ripped”. Of course, media has portrayed this as the perfect body, and one that should be striven for.
The youth of the world has been subjected to images of the celebrities in Beverly Hills for years, so why is it becoming such an issue now? Well, years ago there were not diet pills and you didn’t see women walking around with what appear to be only strings cover themselves up.
But there is always a flip side to every situation. Some teenagers have discovered that the blond-beauties and jocks are not all that they seem, and so they decided to rebel.
Rebellion has been around for a countless number of years. Our parents rebelled possibly more than we do today, because perhaps they had more initiative than we do. They were rebelling for a cause. They were fighting for love, which of course was a contradiction but they knew what they were fighting for and they were proud of it.
In the eighties and nineties, the punk culture emerged, and with it Glory Spikes and Mohawks. They fought for anarchy and most of all, rebellion. They wouldn’t stop until they grew up or someone threw them in jail. They were some of the most hard-core kids in that era.
And from the punk culture stemmed what we refer to today as “emo” and what originally was known as “emotional hardcore”. The first “emos” were set to bring emotion into music, and so they did. Quite recently though, the once seemingly gorgeous culture deformed and became what we all know today as a dangerous cliché.
No, I am not going to preach to you about how horrible the previously mentioned culture is, but I would like to bring something to your attention. You see, I define myself as being a punk-rocker, and I’m very proud of that fact. So you may look at me and ask, “So where are your piercings and tattoos?” or “Why aren’t you wearing combat boots and safety pins?” Well, the thing is I wear little make-up anymore, I throw on whatever I find in my closet in the mornings, and the only cosmetic products I buy are deodorant and hairspray nowadays.
If you are a part of the punk, emo, gothic, scene, raver, etc. then you have built your life and style on the lie that you are non-conforming. There is truth in the statement; the originals of those cultures were being non-conforming. However, in trying so hard to not be a part of the conformist society you have all becoming clones of each other; carbon copies. You are no more different or unique than the pop-culture you tried so hard to shy away from.
I understand what you might be realizing right now. Believe me, I’ve been there and I used to wear the uniform of a “non-conformist”. There was a time when I wanted Glory Spikes and a time when I wanted scene hair. We outgrow it all though, at different times and for different reasons.
I think what made me change my mind about how rebellion is working today is one little quote from the movie “SLC Punk”. There was a scene when the main character, Stevo was talking to a girl, Brandy, and she said “Wouldn't it be more of an act of rebellion if you didn't spend so much time buying blue hair dye and going out to get punky clothes? It seems so petty. You wanna be an individual, right? You look like you're wearing a uniform. You look like a punk. That's not rebellion. That's fashion. Rebellion happens in the mind.”
And I realized just by seeing that, that Rebellion means nothing if you’re just wearing the clothes and listening to the music. Rebellion only means something if you do something wild to make it mean something. You’re being a poser if the only reason you define yourself is because of the clothes you wear or the way you style your hair. You need to be different, and do something to rebel to make anything you believe you are true.
Now, I’m not saying go to the thrift store and buy some baggy pants or to stop wearing make-up. I’m not saying be like me, because then you would be conforming to who I am. What I’m saying is, be comfortable and be yourself. Don’t be what the media or society has brainwashed you into believing what you should be. Take a chance and rebel.
Take a chance and do something worthwhile, because that’s really what rebellion is all about.
