Dec. 11, 1999: Having never shot anyone, personally, I can’t be held accountable for every Industrial band’s point of view, but I doubt very many of them support random shootings. After all it would surely be depressing if you sat down to diner and a drive-by occurred. I mean if you condone that drive-by how can you report it to the police without feeling guilty about “selling out”? Likewise, I don’t think that rock stars walk around the house in leather pants and painted face. In the end, I guess it’s all an act. In Shakespeare’s time theater was often associated with thievery as most actors were seen as low lives. Hollywood changed all that and somewhere along the line rock stars with their shaking hips and decadent music became the new antichrist. By the 1990’s Michael Bolton had shot the final blow to rock rebellion with his cool contemporary adult rock styling. Now, under attack are the new fringe of society… those who wish to be on the outset of society. Of course, no one is really on the outset of society since civilization as we know it is merely comprised of varied stratum of people. The latest trend for those who wish to be outside is the vary their exterior visage via “ugly” pretty decorations such as piercing, tattoos, and odd clothing. The old motto of: show the world your inside through the outside has become our late millennium battle cry. Companies have responded by producing mass marketed “personal” clothing. By wearing Transformers(c) tee shirts and Porn Star(c) hats we somehow believe we are separating ourselves from the crowd. With our baggy pants and hax0r l337 talk we think that we have separated ourselves from the pack, when in reality we couldn’t be further herded in with it. Basically the Gap(c) has fooled us into thinking that our exteriors are genuinely individual when the people down the street have the same clothes in their closet. In the end our need to be different has fueled the greedy design industry. So as our century closes out maybe the top ten stories of the decade aren’t the boy bands or riots, but our self centered need to be the one that sticks out in a crowd. Perhaps, we have forgotten that the only way to do this is to be our own person. It is our own personality not just clothing that makes us special. We must celebrate our physical differences such as how freckles fall in different places or the little things that make us special not what tag is on our butt. In the end everyone is beautiful in their own way. Or if that is all to hard for you, just shop where no one does anymore… K-mart(c) has some great clothing that no one ever purchases. 🙂