i've been thinking about identity so much lately. without running the risk of sounding like one of those cliché hopeless, teenage blogs, what is identity? or reputation? reputation seems like a mystery to me. like the lightweight trail you leave behind with every face you meet and greet. there's no way a reputation is real.
"i have a reputation to protect," she said.
its like a ghostly aftertaste people are left to dwell on and construct a mental projection of who the real you is. and when you really tear that concept apart, you really are openly giving up your right to make decisions and act upon impulse, because you have chained yourself to ever-developing and changing spoken word of the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
as some of you know, i went to the lovely city of boston about a month back, and certainly met all kinds of life there. like the university i attend here in iowa, there were people i met who strongly clung to the lifeline of stereotyping, or labeling other people to shelf them away in an "understanding". its not their fault in some ways. we're human. we all judge, its our nature in order to comphrend other surroundings.
"some people do arts and crafts; we judge.."- stanford blatch,
sex & the city.
the thing that really got to me though, was the compulsive attitude towards labeling things into shelves of fads and dismissing them immediately, with a lack of interest to pursue a further look into said things or people. the fad i heard most being tossed back and forth was the independent, counter-culture progression of "hipster".
"urban outfitters is the most fucking hipster hideout."
"oh, look at those cool fucking hipsters."
"oh, how fucking hipster of you."
so, i stood hand-in-hand with urban outfitters bag, feeling sheer guilt for momentary reflection. i should have said something to these guys, but i didn't. it wasn't important. besides, no body wants one of those overly political artisté college girls giving them her unwanted two-cents on thinking, anyway. save it for freud.
the thing i didn't, and don't get still, is why do these human beings (and others, not trying to section these gentlemen out) think of themselves above these "hipsters"? i looked up the term "hipster" when i got home and came across a definition of it that basically called it out as a movement of thought and fashion with an emphasis on independent identity. what struck a strange chord with me was, isn't that what every fad is about? its always just that. to be original, to be fresh, to be inspiring, to be delightful..pleasurable..i guess what i am getting at is labeling is more-or-less useless, since we have discovered reputation is a myth and fads are just recycled thoughts that have been center-stage for decades now.
i've been at a lot more peace with myself upon mulling this over.
