After reading the article written by Erin Simovic, I find myself feeling sad. Not because she insults the modified community, but because she claims to be open-minded, yet speaks as though she knows nothing about us. The points and opinions she brings up are those found quite a bit in society.
At A Glance Author Jason Heckler Contact Jason [email protected] IAM MoDvAyNe When N/A Most in todays society don't understand the modified community, or any of the other sub-cultures she addresses. It's not only the modified community she speaks against, although there are members of the modified community in the other sub-cultures, such as the punk and gothic communities. The point of fact is that she is basically saying she doesn't understand any sub-culture that isn't "politically correct". She also basically says that people who are members of these sub-cultures shouldn't be themselves. She thinks we are either rebelling or trying to alienate ourselves from society. I've never done anything to rebel or alienate myself. I've only done what makes me the person on the outside that I am on the inside.
I don't practice body modification for protest. Nor do I do it for attention. It's not because I'm insane or crazy either. I do it because it's a part of who I am, and I resent anyone who can't accept that. She says that we should all make a contribution to society in general. Many of us contribute to society in general. The majority of the communities go to work for a living every day. We're not out on the streets looking for handouts, we work an honest days work for an honest days pay.
We are often told that we are a product of the environment we are raised in. I wonder how well I would fit in with her way of thinking if she knew that I was raised in a family where one side is Catholic, and the other is Southern Baptist? Neither side of my family accept body modification, but I've done it to make myself happy, and no one else. Also, there are a lot of modified parents. Are we to teach our children that there is something wrong with self-expression? Or are we to teach them tolerance and love for their fellow man. I believe we should all be allowed to express ourselves as we see fit, and not try to fit into someones tiny little box that is their view of how the world should be.
She even goes so far as to attack the internet and say that the internet may be to be blamed for the sub-cultures. I've been modified a lot longer than I've been online. The only thing the internet has had to do with body modification and I is to help me find like-minded people. The internet hasn't had anything to do with me choosing to dress, act, or do anything different.
It seems as if society constantly has to have someone to aim hate and discord at. Throughout American history, it's been proven time and again. Here are a few examples of societies views being pushed on other people, and society not being willing to accept them. From the time the USA was founded, black people caught the brunt of it. They've often had to fight for equal rights, and continue to have to fight. In the 1960's, the hippie movement started catching societies ire. In the 1970's, the punk movement began. Yet again, society said they were wrong for being themselves. In the 1980's, society said it was wrong if a man wanted to have pierced ears. Although many men went against the grain and got their ears pierced. I know I was one of them, although I was a child and teenager at the time, it was how I saw myself. I was tattooed as teenager, although it wasn't done in a professional manner, but once again it was how I felt and still feel comfortable in my own skin.
So long as society in general tells people that something is wrong, then there will be those who do things for the wrong reasons. Once society accepts people as they are however, there will be those who continue to do what they do because it is how they are comfortable. There will always be those with puritanical views, the same as there will always be those who will strive to be different. The difference being that those trying to be different will always be trying to find something they can never know. That being personal freedom and happiness in who they are. Before someone condemns someone else, they should do their homework, ask questions, and not make general statements about other people. The author of the article did just that. She made general statements, and applied them to multiple sub-cultures without ever having all of the facts.
I'm proud to be me. I've never tried to be different, or tried be anything else. I live in this skin 24 hours a day, and I'm the one who has to be comfortable with who I am. If society can't accept that, then I am ashamed to be a part of that society. America is supposed to be the land of the free, but it seems that every day, more and more people stand up to speak against those like me, and fewer and fewer of us are willing to stand up and be counted for who we are and what we stand for. I write this, and stand up to be counted for what I believe in. I believe in freedom of expression, and I am willing to express myself in any manner that I see fit. If someone doesn't like it, then they have a problem, not me.