I had a conversation with a good friend the other day and it sounded like a fabulous blog entry! It heavily enters a gray area, but hey, almost every subject is a gray area these days so why not.
Stereotypes. Yep, I'm gonna go there. They are there for a reason and every group has them. But there's good news- it's a personal choice whether or not you want to be in them. A guy walks into my workplace, a respected corporation, with his pants down to his knees, a hat with the sticker/tag still on and sunglasses and honestly thinks it looks good to everyone else. "Circus clowns" are just an example of the words that come to mind. This was his choice, sure it may look good, dope, or whatever people call it these days, to his friends. But to the general population this looks silly, and these guys cannot figure out why people don't respect them. Duh. This friend of mine I had the conversation with works in retail and in his line of work, they have to keep an eye on customers to make sure they aren't being robbed blind. Well you can't exactly stare down every person that walks in, unless you like being cross eyed... I, for one, do not. So what do you do? You play James Bond, super-spy with the likely suspects. It's NOT rocket science that the way people dress is a good indication of the first impressions people have of them. So when you dress like Jay-Z's special-ed cousin, you're going to get some funny looks. I think people take celebrity style a bit too far, because last I checked, on stage, concert attire doesn't look as good on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. Am I the only person who reads (reads meaning I flip through it and look at the pictures, occasionally reading a caption or two) US Weekly and observes that the paparazzi pictures of these celebrities clearly show that the popular people don't wear that shit every day?! Even Usher wears jeans (at the waist) and a T-shirt (in the right size) every now and then, take a note.
I am NOT being racist, quite the opposite. I've seen guys of every race and religion dress like this and guess what... it looks ridiculous on everyone, regardless of skin color. Oh and I haven't forgotten about girls and their part in all this... oh no, they get a turn too!
Girls... oh dear. When every gift your mama gave you is hanging out of one opening or another, there's a problem. Whoever coined the phrase, "If you've got it, flaunt it" needs to die. Maybe they were talking about nice cars... or pretty jewelry... R-E-S-P-E-C-T does not often come the way of girls with boots with the fuuurrr. No, shawty should not get low outside of the club. So let's not dress that way, mkay? Think "presentable," not a difficult concept. Again, this is not restricted to any particular ethnic group, because this fashion sense has spread faster than the Macarena, and I haven't a clue why. That godawful dance died pretty quickly, why won't this? Now I know that I'm no snazzy dresser, but I think my black Chuck Taylors, jeans and a T-shirt of some kind make me a lot more discreet and appropriate than a bikini top with a skirt and fluorescent Reebok shoes. Just sayin'. I don't get disrespected very often on the basis of what I wear, usually it's for what's coming out of my mouth. Which is understandable, I get a bit mouthy sometimes. A lot of times. It's a tic, I'm working on it.
Another part of these stereotypes that drives me bonkers is the language that comes with it. When I was living in my hometown of League City, Texas, I was forced to listen to people I'd grown up with speaking the worst dialect of Ebonics I'd ever heard. Um, we went to the same school and I must have missed that speech class because I don't talk like that. Ugh, and another one- "know what I'm sayin'?" Bullet. Head. Right now. This is not a verbal period, signifying the end of a sentence. I love responding with "no... no I don't know what you're saying." But nevertheless, this expression is like the cherry on top of the cake for the outfits previously mentioned. It's not the same as a filler expression, those are much briefer and ten times harder to control. This, however takes a good 3 seconds to say, 5 if you draw out the "saaaayiin'" part. Which is like taking my annoyances and beefing them up on steroids. Oh well... like I said, stereotypes for a reason. Easy choice, but so hard for some I guess.
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