There is a lot of snarkiness and resentment for certain types of people in most subcultures, specifically poseurs, or so-called "normal" people who seem to steal aspects of a subculture, whether it be Hip-Hop, Goth, or modifying, in order to falsely up their cool factor and impress/intimidate people. While there is undoubtedly many more of that ilk than necessary, I would argue that the problem is much less substantial than one might think.
At A Glance Author LovleAnjel Contact [email protected] IAM LovleAnjel When N/A Many people complain about their subculture, or aspects of it, becoming trendy. As in, it seems to become wildly popular, or at least makes an appearance on MTV (and officially dies once it shows up on VH1).The group of people that seems most likely to take up trendy subcultures are teenagers, and to some extent those in the manufactured age group "tweens" (I'm not sure, but I think that means pre-pubescent upper-middle-class girls). Are these minions of TV infiltrating our subculture, hell-bent on misusing and abusing it for their own nefarious purposes?
Or are they really just the younger versions of us, and we're slightly embarrassed when confronted by our own half-retarded teenaged actions?
The argument goes like this: Aspect of subculture becomes more visible. More people exterior to subculture use it. Thus subculture is diluted. Thus members of subculture are less distinct from the general populace.
This is true to some extent. Many Goths are furious with insta-Goth mall stores, which facilitate teenaged troublemakers who put on the appearance of the subculture, but then go out to do stupendously idiotic or dangerous things. The ordinary public thus confuses Goth with stupid teenagers in general. Even though they are not actually a part of the subculture, those of us in it get a bad rap because of them. The extreme example of this is the Columbine massacre. A less extreme and more apropos example are prison and gang tattooing. People not conversant with different styles of tattoos and their underlying meanings can be hard pressed to distinguish Upstanding Citizen with Permanent Adornment from Mr. Bad-Ass Crack Dealer. The modification subculture has put a lot of effort into distinguishing itself from gang and prison tattoos.
But what about Jane Q. Public? Do random flash tattoos on "normal" people really dilute our subculture? Does the trend of tribal designs dilute serious spiritual markings? I would argue no, for several reasons.
Firstly, this subculture is an aggregation of individuals with a few similar interests. In common, obviously, are permanent physical changes for the purpose of adornment. Aside from that, I doubt many of us would have so much more in common with each other than we would have with "ordinary" people. People, quite honestly, are people (a message well-sent but probably ignored by most in the film Crash), regardless of what they do to make themselves look pretty. Granted, I feel more comfortable around people who look more like me, but that may be because they are less likely to react poorly to my appearance, not because they are more on my wavelength. I have a hard time believing that anything can truly dilute a group of people as diverse as the modified community.
Secondly, when something becomes more visible and even (gasp!) trendy, then more of the public gets exposed to not-dangerous folks who look like us. The level of respect we are treated with in public thus goes up. So maybe the sixteen-year-old with the sparkly-dangly navel ring and the butterfly on her lower back seems a bit silly, but she makes it easier for me to buy groceries without being harassed. The less people there are that automatically assume we are dangerous loonies, the better off our lives will be. I get far more unsolicited compliments than insults, and the amount of "Are you a Satanist?" questions I get when I meet new people have substantially dropped over the past decade.
A big complaint that members of our community have concerns people who get tattoos or piercings for the sake of having them, and not for deeply thought-out spiritual journey-type reasons. This is true in a lot of cases, probably in a lot more than most of us think. We have big fancy brains that we don't know quite what to do with, and we are great at convincing ourselves that we have made a decision based on logic, reason and lots of thought, while other people have not. Truthfully, most people probably put a similar amount of thought into things. Is my friend's unicorn tattoo (because she wanted a tattoo and likes unicorns) any less valid an act than my symbol of ancient origin (because I needed strength during a tough time of my life)? No. We both got our tattoos because we liked how they looked. No one wants to get a tattoo that looks bad. The primary purpose of modification is adornment. Sure, there are other things tied up in the act, but at its most basic level, it's to make yourself look and feel better. I don't look down on the various butterflies, fairies and flowers that I encounter on a daily basis. Who am I to make any assumptions about another person's motives? How is that person any less than me because they have a common tattoo or piercing?
Many of us had our first adornments done on a whim, at a mall earring store or off the flash pages. Most of us made semi-retarded choices as teenagers. Some of these people will regret their modifications (around 20-30%) and maybe even have them removed. But most will not. These people are, or will be, us.
Most polls I have read show that somewhere around 30% of people aged 18-30 have tattoos or not-ear piercings. I don't feel like any less of a unique person because of that number. Does anybody? I think it reflects more on your own conceptualization of self than anything else if you do. If you know who you are, being surrounded by others like you will not affect you poorly. If it did, why would anyone attend conventions?
We are still a minority, especially in the wider scope of our society, regardless of what crap you see on MTV or in magazines. We should be happy that our subculture is getting wider exposure in the general public. It makes life much easier for us. If having a few confused teenagers try on our subculture means we have to deal with less slings and arrows, I'm all for it. Especially if it means that some of those teenagers will discover something about themselves in the process.