Okay. I don’t recall saying that it didn’t.
Until last summer, I lived in a rougher neighborhood. Just about every time I went down to one of the main drags, I’d run into those wealthy suburban wannabe-gangster poseurs.
Walking down the road. Hear ‘thumpa thumpa thumpa’ behind me. Turn just in time to see the brand new Grand Prix with two white 16-17 year olds in the front seat, wearing letter jackets for their wealthy suburban high school, dancing around to a rap song. Some lyrics about killing white people (seriously) as they go by me. Their two girlfriends looking mortified, ducking down trying not to be seen in the back seat.
The driver slammed on the brakes just after he passed me, because I was quite literally rolling on the ground busting a gut and pointing at them. He and his buddy looked at me, then perhaps decided that one 40-ish white guy laughing at their expense was more trouble than they wanted, and peeled out of the hood.
I’ve seen the same fools stopped at the gas stations, the stereo pumped up, anxiously looking around trying to make sure that they are seen by the gangster locals, but hoping that they’re not in any real danger.
Who cares of other people are “posers”? It’s not like they’re doing it just to annoy you. People are gonna be what they wanna be regardless of the shallow people around them.
How did this become an issue of personal rights? I am an American, and therefore FULLY support ANYBODY’s right to do as they please, as long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of others.
What I am trying to understand is why somebody would want to portray themselves in a certain manner, when they do not fully understand what they are doing.
For exaple: upper-middle class kids of ANY race trying to talk like, act like, and BE like urban gangsters . Many of these kids have never been anywhere near the ghetto, and are obviously being manipulated by the media. They speak in “ebonics” and NOBODY they know talks like that. (parents,relatives, neighbors…) They obviously have to study their CDs and the lingo they contain. This is a lot of work I’m sure. I actually like some rap, and listen to it often, but aside form joking with my friends this lingo has Not found it’s way into my vocabulary.
I thought we were trying to fight ignorance here, and I really want to understand why people would porposefully portray themselves in a negative manner. I am no genius (obviously), but I would never go out of my way to appear to be an idiot. (When this happens it is an accident.)
I posted this in the pit in order to give people a chance to rant about their experiences.
“Poser” is a word that seems to come into play when some insecure and self-righteous person feels like doing the superior dance.
Sure, I guess people who wear T-shirts of bands should know something about them. In my experience, they usually do.
People used to be interested in getting to know other people. It’s a lot easier to adopt some cockamamie lifestyle – if you are a “surfer”, a “punk”, a “mountain climber”… this is assumed to define your personality. It does not.
I like many types of music, because I like the music. I could give a shit about debating finer points. I like to walk in the woods with a backpack. I like to lift weights at the gym. None of these things define me or my personality. I could give a shite about what these things say to you, but things don’t have to be all or nothing. If a poser is a name you give to someone who does think soem lifestyle will define their personality, perhaps both the poseur and posee are shallow? (Hmmm, a real punk music fan wouldn’t like The Stranglers or take the skinheads bowling…)
Jules Feiffer (sp?) drew a cartoon 11 or 12 years ago, in which a boy, probably a little younger than I was at the time, describes an experience he had.
He didn’t fit in with the other kids at his school, he didn’t belong to any kind of clique. So he got together with some other kids who didn’t fit in, and they formed their own little group, which they called the Nerds. But it didn’t feel “real.”
Then one day, a new kid arrived. He didn’t fit in anywhere else, so he asked the Nerds if he could join. They rejected him.
And now, the boy says, his little group feels real.
(I’d always wanted to share that with someone.)
I think we have a delineation problem here. Where does it become a question of “portraying [yourself] in a certain manner”?
Can it be done on looks alone, if you accumulate enough subcultural signifiers (I’m picturing a long haired man in boots, oil stained jeans with chaps, a Harley Davidson t-shirt, a leather jacket topped with a denim jacket minus sleeves which is covered in patches, trucker’s wallet, big lockback on his belt, but he’s an accountant whose only means of transportation is his Volvo)? If the symbol’s potent enough it can certainly convey the image of membership whether it’s backed up by any conscious effort or not. I’m thinking here of my (straight, married) sister who’d be wandering around wearing a set of pride rings if one of her friends hadn’t pointed out that they weren’t just pretty jewelry.
What level of those generally more ambiguous signifiers is needed before you’re “portraying yourself” as a member of that group? When I shave my head in the morning, am I there yet? How about when I put on my big shiny black boots? Where do I pass from “getting dressed” to “trying to look like a member of the National Heritage Front”? It seems to me that it’s going to require a conscious effort on my part to attempt to fit a specific stereotype.
If not, then it’s you using your perception to assign a lable to me based on a symbology I may not even be aware of.
I’m sure that’s not what you were thinking of in the OP, but then we get into the next level: where does the line arise between affecting the appearance of a specific group and actually being a member of that group? Does our accountant friend from my second paragraph become a “biker” when he pops for a Honda Goldwing? The general public already thought he was one, his new buddies in the Full Gospel Christian Businessman’s Association Sunday Afternoon Motorcycling Society might think it was the last step and the Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels would probably not be reachable for comment due to their uncontrollable laughter at the question.
Can open, worms all over the place.
I used to care about what other people wore. Then I grew up.
I need to start a new thread, and be a bit more clear in my OP, as my lame example has sabotaged this beyond repair. I personally do not use the word poser, nor do I decide who is or is not. I am obviously a :wally . I was searching for a bit of insight as to how a person can let an image control their life. I attempted to clarify that in my later posts, but “poser” seems to be a word that makes people want to respond without reading any further.:smack:
I drive a 93 Camry. It is stock. It is slow, but it is a family car.
I live with 2 guys with fixed up Japanese Imports. I’ve been around them, and others, for years. I remember when the Import scene was small, and more of a community.
Now, of course, because of “The Fast and the Furious” and because of companies like APC and JC Whitney, any kid with a Japanese car slaps on some stickers, a huge ugly wing and some “Euro-style” taillights, and they’re suddenly Import Racers.
Are they posers? Yes.
Will they get over it? Probably. Another movie will change their minds for them.
Does it bother me? On occasion, but usually more when others assume because I mention import racing, I have a car with the APC products and no actual guts. That is annoying.
It’s the same with music.
People today bitch about Avril Levigne, Good Charlotte and other bands who are “punk”. The fact of the matter is, music changes. What Elvis sang nowadays would be “country” or “adult contemporary”. But he’s the King of Rock.
Acknowledge. Move on.