Sheep-ish and Koi

It is timidly that I emerge from my ghastly, dim cave of musings into the shining realm of the blogosphere, dipping my paws into the pool of self-indulgent ranting free of all feedback and debate, which means it is with no ground breaking surprise that the first juicy topic I pulled from the pool of ideas swimming in my head is one that has been done before many a time; the 'sheep' mentality. Ironic I know.
But it just gets you thinking. Why do trends exist? Why does fashion change so constantly? What makes something 'Cool'? Why oh why do people continue to simply take what their given and decide to look like everyone else despite their own feelings and personality? I think it's because it is easy and it paves the way for conversation with a large group of others, but it goes deeper than that.
For instance, i have a friend who HATES Ke$ha with wild abandon. However, he keeps these facts between his close friends, has her entire album on his iPod and I know that a playlist he has made in the past involves AT LEAST 2 of her songs. If he hates her, why does he go ahead and keep metaphorically bashing his own head in with an auto-tuned brick?
The answer my friends, lies in sociability. Ke$ha has been chosen by those industry gods above as 'the next big thing'. There have been lots of 'big things' in the past. Mullets, Hawaiian shirts, fluro track-suit pants, Nickelback, centre-parts, Toto, Low Budget Sci-Fi Films, ALL of which are now treated like cultural lepers (actually, i still like Toto, but that's my burden to bear), were once very popular. I'm almost completely sure everyone KNOWS we'll look back at Ke$ha and think "what on earth were we sniffing" but they still bludgeon themselves with the dance beats and slutty lyrics until all types of self-respect and interest are gone. People seem to treat themselves like Personality Pinata's. Sure, it's fun to beat yourself with a bit of Kanye or Lady Gaga (the last one akin to a wooden post with a nail in it being thrust into ones' eardrum) for some socialising points, but soon all the goodies fall out and you're left feeling a bit empty.
Personally I TRY not to simply go with what's cool. You might have caught on to the fact
that I hate that kind of thing. But recently i realised that i try very hard to look good, I have a 'trendy' haircut (yes i realise only your mothers use that word but it seemed to fit), I listen to music which is oft in the Hottest 100 and i drive a car many people would be quite OK with driving. The problem is, even though it seems from the above musings that I am a conformist in the extreme, others view me as 'alternative' or 'indie'. Really, all I've done is follow a different life-by-numbers approach that all the trendies, wogs, sluts, clubbers and mods do. Which means, ladies and gentlemen, that this blog has pretty much become void of any meaning because, yes, i am a hypocrite.
Unfortunately in today's day and age it is nigh impossible not to be a billboard for commercialism and trends. Every piece of clothing you buy has been approved by industry fat cats, every musician fabricated and marketed to a specific audience, every bit of media moulded and manipulated to arouse the senses and get you to spend and conform.
SO, how do we win? In all honesty, unless you make your own clothes, listen to your own music and craft your own living without electricity, gas or retail food, you can't. Not to be defeatist, nor pessimistic, because, lets be honest, we still enjoy life. But still, we are capitalism's bitch. All I'm saying is maybe you can temper it. All you really need to do to prove your still your own person is, in my view, quite simple. When large groups of people start sporting haircuts you don't like, listen to music you can't stand and start wearing shoes on their heads, tell them to quite politely shove it up their bottoms and stick to your guns.
Woo, my first of hopefully many amateurish blogs is over. I hope it left you warm and fuzzy inside, like when you hug a violent bear.
Thank you, this has been Shady.