Ok, so this is in kind of a similar vein to my last blog. It's ranting about a subsection of people who annoy me. Wait, that's what most of my blogs are like.
This one is about 'quirky' people.
This need to be a bit different is getting a little insufferable. I blame all of the propaganda in the 90s and early 2000s, encouraging people, especially girls, to be different. YOU'RE UNIQUE! YOU'RE SPECIAL! YOU'RE DIFFERENT! (Yeah, just like everyone else).
I get it. It's great to be different. If you like classical music and none of your friends do, great. If you are a heavy metal fan amongst a sea of teeny-boppers, also great. And the thing is, it's a little hypocritical, because I like to be a bit different too.
I can't help that at the moment, though, there's this great sense of people being different for the sake of it. Some people do it because they seem to think it's cool, and some people do it because it makes people think they are having more fun, or it's just another 'random' story to tell their mates. Being quirky doesn't actually make you interesting. And being 'normal' is not a character flaw.
Do you ACTUALLY think that ironic Brownies t-shirt or My Little Pony bubble watch looks cool, or is it just another ironic accessory to make people look at you? Are they literally only cool because they're old and unexpected?
Are you really enjoying hanging off the bars in the tube carriage like a monkey (Actually that looks quite fun but you get my point)?
Everyone likes what they like! There is a strange fascination with being 'weird', like it's something to be celebrated over just you know, being a human being.
Obviously it's a sweeping generalisation, and I'm not pretending to know the inner workings of a 'quirky's mind, but I can't help but feel a lot of this stuff is just to impress, and is just being different for the sake of being different.
It's very easy to be able to change your sub culture. One day you're a goth, one day you're a hipster (not that you would call yourself that). Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's a free country. But it's this idea that you're better than someone because you dress in a certain way.
Prime example: chav hating. Ok, there is a small portion of people who wear tracksuits on a night out and enjoy chequered caps (that I read Burberry no longer make for this reason) who are terrible people, but it doesn't actually mean that being associated with that makes you a terrible person. I'm sure middle-class 'poshos' wouldn't particularly like to be discriminated against for similar reasons, just because they're carrying mulberry handbags and drinking Pinot Grigio.
Having said that, I was taken the piss out of for being reasonably well-spoken ('WHY YA TALKIN' IN A POSH VOICE?') by a delightful girl at school. I'm not even posh!
Anyway. The point is, whereas ten years ago, people were made to feel shit because they were different, and now people seem to be made to feel shit because they haven't got some kind of 'hook', or thing that sets them apart. They're just you know, living their lives, and shouldn't 'have to play up to someone else's idea of whether they're deemed interesting in someone else's eyes'*.
*That one is from my friend Alex).
It's just insufferable. Going back to my last blog, it's the 'IM A GEEK!!!!11!!1!1 thing all over again. Just because youi watch Doctor Who or the Big Bang Theory, it doesn't make you a 'geek'. It is a point very well made by Stu Heritage here. Again, the need to set yourself apart from other people by inventing quirks for yourself.
I anticipate this may piss off a few people because it seems like I'm making sweeping generalisations. Not everyone who appears to be quirky is affecting interesting personality traits. I know for a fact that some people are plain weird. Some of my family and friends are testament to that (LOVE you guys). Just you know, don't feel like you have to be weird for the sake of it.
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