This is certainly the hipster generation. In order to be relevant to society, or real, you have to like the obscure bands, read the classical books, listen to Beethoven, and that kind of stuff. Nowadays, if you look a certain way, or if you have a good body, you are labeled as “fake.” Quite frankly, this is getting on my nerves.
This is something that has been bothering me for a while now. It seems as though tables have been completely turned! Now, instead of being ridiculed for not liking popular music, you are getting glares and the “I’m-more-enlightened-than-you” speech for bouncing along to Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus. I get the whole thing about individuality, but it’s being taken it too far. You can’t scroll the comments section of the most recent Jonas Brothers’ video without hearing “God, this is such crap,” or “I can’t believe they still make this,” with absolutely no other reason than they are popular, and the lyrics have “no substance.” And if you’re caught reading Twilight in public, God help you, there is going to be somebody silently laughing at you while they read their totally obscure, unheard-of exposé on late 1900s African-American architecture (written in Latin), while listening to the local underground band’s “meaningful” music. People are being judged as fake and stupid for liking popular books, movies, and music. It’s just not right.
And now there is all this hoopla about “real women” on the covers of Glamour magazine and Cosmo and all that. People consider women or men who work hard for their bodies or are naturally born like that to be, here goes the word again, fake. Nowadays, to be fake is worse than anything else, even being fat. I have a friend who is naturally skinny and is 5’6”, and she was a victim of being put down due to it. We were in the lunchroom of our school, looking for a place to sit. We walked up to one table, and one of the women there asked her “Why do you need to sit here? You obviously don’t eat.” This was greeted by lots of applause from the other people at her table for “standing up for herself.” My friend on the other hand, was reduced to tears and we both ended up eating lunch by ourselves with me consoling her and telling her she was perfect and wonderful (sound familiar?).
I suppose the heart of the matter is that this is backlash for the past couple of decades of not being accepting of these kinds of people. We as a people have a tendency to overreact to things, or go overboard, and this is certainly the case. But people, we need to relax. Don’t hate on others for not being as enlightened to things. Being real (which is what these people insist they are) does not mean hating all things popular, and being fake is not equal to liking Ke$ha and having a good physique. There is a line. I think our culture was going in the right direction, but now we have gone too far, and we now need to learn to be accepting and caring all over again.
I’m proud to say, I am a real girl. I like Lady Gaga as well as the newest local band. I like Twilight, and the classics. I will watch the Hangover with you any day, as well as some cheap Indie flick. I worked hard for my body, and I’m proud of it. Don’t call me fake, because I’m not. Nobody is fake, we are all people. We are all unique. You can’t group us all together in one big lump of stupidity. We all have something that makes us special, and it’s up to us to try and find that. So, don’t be ashamed because of something you do. Don’t let somebody put you down because of it. And I’m talking to all people. I’m talking to my friend, who was ashamed of her body, in the same way an overweight girl would be. I’m talking to the girl who was made fun of for not knowing who Lady Gaga was, as well as the girl who was made fun of for singing along to “Telephone.” None of you are fake, you are real.
