Celebrating Differences

Hello again Internet People!  I noticed a new meme trend going around Facebook, about the CEO from some upscale kids clothing company bragging about how exclusionary his company attempts to be in marketing its products.  Now, I am not sure exactly why this has suddenly gotten so much attention, it has been a pretty obvious company policy from the start, I guess the guy actually saying it out loud bothers some people.  Personally I find it refreshing.  Its about time these people admit to what they are doing and take ownership of it.  

I am not a fashion oriented person.  I do not give a crap about any of it, and I never have.  I caught a lot of grief for not caring when I was a teenager, but I don't associate with people who care about fashion, so I haven't heard much about it since.  I don't wear make-up, I don't wear fancy clothes or shoes, and most of the time you are lucky if I don't have a bandanna tied over my hair.  I find all the hoopla and hullabaloo in the media over who is wearing what at the Oscars or whatever, disgusting and personally offensive. 

I understand that most people make their first impressions of someone based on how they look.  Hell, I still do it too sometimes, but I try really hard to look beyond the surface to who is inside.  For me, I find the whole obsession with appearances to be shallow and unworthy of my time or attention.  I have more important things to do.  I do not care about celebrities in the first place, and I certainly don't care what they wear since I don't give a crap what anybody wears.  I put on clothes to be comfortable.  I pay attention to the weather trends, not the fashion trends, when choosing my wardrobe. 

From my point of view ALL of the major fashion brands are, and have always been, about exclusion.  The whole premise behind advertising in our modern age is to make you feel like you are less of a person unless you use their products.  That's the whole freakin point, why is it surprising that one of them admits it?  Personally I wish they would all be so honest, maybe then more people would start paying attention!  There is nothing wrong with you that requires their make-up, their clothes, or their products to fix.  Not a damn thing!

Got some wrinkles?  You fucking earned them damnit!  Be proud!  Your complexion isn't flawless?  Join the rest of the human race!  We are all different for a reason, celebrate those differences, don't try to hide them behind someone else's idea of what is acceptable this week.

I was listening to a show on television a couple weeks ago, and there was a kid on there talking about how other people had always treated him like he wasn't "normal".  My heart broke for that kid, but maybe not for the reason most people would think.  My first thought when I heard him was how sad it was that no one had taught him how wonderful it is to not be "normal".  Instead of being taught to celebrate his differences he was being conditioned to neglect them.  That makes me very sad.  For him, and for the rest of the world that might miss out on an extraordinary human being because he was too busy trying not to be picked on for being different.                                 

                                  

For me, one of the most important things I have ever tried to teach my kids is to be proud of their differences, to celebrate their weirdness-es, to not be ashamed of them.  They get assaulted by the same advertising, all day every day, that every other kid is assaulted by, but we have tried to give them the skills to see it for what it is, someone else's attempt to make money.  They don't get all worked up about the latest toy or whatever craze is sweeping the nation this week, because they have more important things to do.  They are not "normal" "typical" American children, and I am damn proud of that fact, and I strive to make sure they are proud of it too.

I hope more companies will come forward and speak out about what customers they don't want, please tell me that you think I am unworthy of purchasing your products.  I had no intention of purchasing them anyway, I just want the rest of the world to see you as I do: the Greedy slimy little asshats that care about nothing but their profit margin and the money they can shove in their own pockets.  Don't buy into their bullshit, it is and always has been about the money they can take from you.  Period.  Quit giving it to them!