In Tucson, there are a number of drones, dorks, and low-functioning anime tards who insist on wearing what appears to be an official uniform. This uniform consists of trip pants, black t-shirts, really bad tattoos, and the requisite shitty skull jewelry. This uniform apparently serves to demonstrate their individuality. The worst part about this is that the people I'm talking about range in age from 27-37.
Now, this really isn't any different than wearing a suit & tie to work, but at least those people have some form of excuse...IE, a dress code. The drones, on the other hand, are doing this shit because they want to. It is their way of bellowing their faux-weirdness to the world. By acting like perpetual 15 year old rebellious teenagers, they are relieved of the burden of actually being individuals.
You see this sort of shit all the time. People wrap themselves in the flag, to show what great "patriots" they are. Some roll around in a flawed imitation of ethnicity. Some staple their animal rights beliefs or religion or anarchism or what have you to their foreheads, so we'll all know what they're about...When anyone worth knowing doesn't bother, because their beliefs, their weirdness, is too deep & complex to be explained by a two dimensional meme as described by some schtick.
Back when I was in the service, I ate that shit up. I was all about the army, all day. After a few years, I noticed that I was boring. People in the army already knew what I had to say, and people who weren't in the army didn't care. It occurred to me that I was spray-painting myself OD green, so that I could get lazy and let my weird atrophy...Almost everyone falls into a similar trap, and I count myself as being very fortunate to have escaped.
It is, after all, one of the more insidious forms of pinkness. We laugh at people who MUST bellow out their Christian or Pagan beliefs, especially the ones that insist we get on the train to Crazytown with them...But isn't that very thing we do, without even thinking about it? Your inner primate is a crafty little bastard. He'll sneak up on you like that, without you ever noticing.
I am not a Cornishman. I am not a Discordian. I am not a suit at a refinery. I am not a father. I am not a husband. Well, I AM all of these things, but they aren't me. They are roles or duties which I perform without being consumed by them. I feel no need for a silly uniform, for a cause into which I must mold myself. I am Doktor Howl, not an ape with a facebook tag you can use to see a snapshot of my beliefs, so that you can Like them. I am LEGION, because specialization is for insects, and identifying plumage is for birds.
So I'm telling you, brothers & sisters...look at yourself. Determine if you are wearing a uniform...And if you are, STRIP THAT FUCKING THING OFF, AND GO RUNNING DOWN THE STREET INTO THE FUTURE THE WAY GOD MADE YA, NAKED AND SMILING, WITH ALL YOUR CRAZY DANGLING IN THE BREEZE! YOU AREN'T THAT UNIFORM! YOU AREN'T THAT SIMPLE! YOU ARE YETI, AND NO CHEAP SUIT CAN HIDE THAT FACT!
AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Okay for now,
Dok
Hell yes! Adopting a cultural uniform means you're either a part of a rigid tribalistic social system, or you're fucking lazy -- and neither of those options are very much fun. John Waters has a chaper in Role Models obliquely about Comme des Garçon, and more directly about his sense of style and fashion, and it strikes to the heart of what you're saying Dok.
I mean, I do understand the appeal of signaling tribal affiliations (goth, punk, bear, banker, etc), but unless you put some personalized twist on it, you're a bore.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on March 26, 2012, 05:24:14 PM
Hell yes! Adopting a cultural uniform means you're either a part of a rigid tribalistic social system, or you're fucking lazy -- and neither of those options are very much fun. John Waters has a chaper in Role Models obliquely about Comme des Garçon, and more directly about his sense of style and fashion, and it strikes to the heart of what you're saying Dok.
I mean, I do understand the appeal of signaling tribal affiliations (goth, punk, bear, banker, etc), but unless you put some personalized twist on it, you're a bore.
I'll have to give that a read. There's probably a copy at the used bookstore in Tucson.
I'm also gonna qualify the bore thing. There's plenty of people I know schlepping around in uniforms that are interesting people...But you kind of have the uniform blocking that signal, you know,
getting in the way.
One of the more interesting guys I know has put on the conspiracy freak uniform, when he finally became disgusted with the GOP uniform. Thing is, he's a great guy with loads of cool shit to say, but I have to keep steering the conversation away from Alex Jones.
Am I uniformed? I actually have no idea, and I don't particularly care. I mostly wear corduroy jackets, and some form of shirt with tie, bow-tie or ascot. And black or grey slacks.
Quote from: Waffle Iron on March 26, 2012, 05:33:39 PM
Am I uniformed? I actually have no idea, and I don't particularly care. I mostly wear corduroy jackets, and some form of shirt with tie, bow-tie or ascot. And black or grey slacks.
Not quite the point, Waffle Iron. It's not so much the clothing that you wear (though that can be part of it), but whether you wrap yourself in a prepackaged image to avoid thinking. This can be clothing, a political view, a religious outlook, a style, or any other "cause" that people adhere to, to avoid the hassle of being a person.
Oh of course. I misread it a bit. Sorry 'bout that.
Please note that this doesn't mean a person shouldn't be enthusiastic about something...But if you have to announce that enthusiasm every minute of every day through dress, speech, etc, then it's stopped becoming a hobby and become an identity.
Does your friend who currently wears the CT enthusiast uniform change frequently?
If someone fully robes themselves in one or the other for their whole life, i can see how that is sad, from the perspective of one that values experiencing a broader spectrum of life. But if one frequently changes their interest, is it still bad? perhaps that's an example of what you described as a Tofu type?
Quote from: Iptuous on March 26, 2012, 06:19:47 PM
Does your friend who currently wears the CT enthusiast uniform change frequently?
Well, I've known him since 2005/2006-ish, and he's only changed once (in 2008). It was pretty startling, though...He's gone from "both parties are fucking us" to "chemtrails, man, CHEMTRAILS" in the subsequent 4 years.
Quote from: Iptuous on March 26, 2012, 06:19:47 PM
If someone fully robes themselves in one or the other for their whole life, i can see how that is sad, from the perspective of one that values experiencing a broader spectrum of life. But if one frequently changes their interest, is it still bad? perhaps that's an example of what you described as a Tofu type?
I am all about trying new "reality tunnels", but there's no need to
become a style in order to experience it.
Uniform people are primarily about ONE THING, isn't that why everybody hates hipsters? (Well, one of the reasons... :lol: ) No discernable facets. You can see them on facebook posting about ONE thing, over & over & over: "I AM AN ACTIVIST", "I'M HOT", "I'M MIDDLE AGED BUT LOOK AT MY PICS AND TELL ME I'M STILL HOT", "I AM CREATIVE LOOK WHAT I MADE", "LOOK AT THIS BAND I SAW LAST WEEKEND", "LOOK AT MY AWESOME STUFF I COLLECTED", "I JUST HANG OUT WITH MY FAMILY AND COOK AND AREN'T MY KIDS CUTE?", "OH NOES THE GOP", "SAVE THE AMINALS", "...any one of which is great if you mix it up with other stuff, but they never do.
I know a conspiracy buff who used to be a Ron Paul supporter...I think it might be a necessary phase in the deprogramming. :horrormirth:
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 26, 2012, 06:37:23 PM
No discernable facets. You can see them on facebook posting about ONE thing, over & over & over: "I AM AN ACTIVIST", "I'M HOT", "I'M MIDDLE AGED BUT LOOK AT MY PICS AND TELL ME I'M STILL HOT", "I AM CREATIVE LOOK WHAT I MADE", "LOOK AT THIS BAND I SAW LAST WEEKEND", "LOOK AT MY AWESOME STUFF I COLLECTED", "I JUST HANG OUT WITH MY FAMILY AND COOK AND AREN'T MY KIDS CUTE?", "OH NOES THE GOP", "SAVE THE AMINALS",
That can be shortened, of course, to "LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 06:38:42 PM
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on March 26, 2012, 06:37:23 PM
No discernable facets. You can see them on facebook posting about ONE thing, over & over & over: "I AM AN ACTIVIST", "I'M HOT", "I'M MIDDLE AGED BUT LOOK AT MY PICS AND TELL ME I'M STILL HOT", "I AM CREATIVE LOOK WHAT I MADE", "LOOK AT THIS BAND I SAW LAST WEEKEND", "LOOK AT MY AWESOME STUFF I COLLECTED", "I JUST HANG OUT WITH MY FAMILY AND COOK AND AREN'T MY KIDS CUTE?", "OH NOES THE GOP", "SAVE THE AMINALS",
That can be shortened, of course, to "LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Or "facebook, your one-stop WalMart of masturbatory threads". :lol:
as far as the CT trap goes, i've seen people take two paths. it's an insidious little pit, since it has a seemingly tight community affiliation. (so... you're one of us? a truth-seeker? you're awake, too?), but it's also so lonely due to the paranoia. since it comprises so many disparate and contradictory persuasions, there's a ton of bickering, and when faced with this, a "newly aware" person will either be jumping from one theory to another, or they will drill in to one particular crack in the pot. if it is the former, it seems a pretty good chance that they will stay at a high orbit, and eventually see what the ball of shit actually is, giving them that little bump that pushes them to escape velocity. here's hoping to your buddy.
i dig what you mean by becoming the style.
as for myself, i've always seen myself as a baseline. an average. undifferentiated except by exertion of will. i hadn't ever seen this as a bad thing or a good thing, really. it's simply normal. i guess it's simply the crux of ego, being the reference point by which i judge others. a frame of reference that needs no label other than 'origin'. looking at it like this, it seems the healthy way to be. "Becoming some style" takes that reference, which has no baggage/requirements attached to it, and re-pinning it at some point that does.
I have a few friends who are great people, but are annoying to be around too much because they go on and on about how legalizing drugs will create world peace, stop all organized crime and solve "insert complex issue that demands a complex solution".
Single-mindedness makes the world easier to deal with for some people, I guess.
This isn't a suit I am wearing. It's my tribes ceremonial battle garb, it inspires fear in my enemies and makes their women swoon. These wingtips are for stomping morons. They're refined, angled and engineered for swift kicks in the ass. This tie? I fucking use it to charm snakes before I sink my teeth into their bellies and poison 'em.
Quote from: Faust on March 26, 2012, 07:19:42 PM
This isn't a suit I am wearing. It's my tribes ceremonial battle garb, it inspires fear in my enemies and makes their women swoon. These wingtips are for stomping morons. They're refined, angled and engineered for swift kicks in the ass. This tie? I fucking use it to charm snakes before I sink my teeth into their bellies and poison 'em.
:potd:
The great thing about being an angry mob is that we can wear all the uniforms at once.
I definitely wear a uniform. Or rather bits from several uniforms. Its a bit silly but a wants it that way. Its something for me to think about- i like the analogy that the uniform communicates something but ends up blocking signal as well. I have this acquaintance irl who everyone else in the band is friends with and think is awesome but the conversations i have with him are dull and keeps him on the acquaintance level. This is an example of the uniform blocking response signals too. Im the rock guitarist so he always talks to me about eighties bands that i only casually listen to. But hes apparently a really awesome dude and i have to find other points of commonality. I must shed the uniform.
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 26, 2012, 10:10:09 PM
Im the rock guitarist so he always talks to me about eighties bands that i only casually listen to. But hes apparently a really awesome dude and i have to find other points of commonality. I must shed the uniform.
His perception of you isn't YOUR uniform, it's HIS.
Perhaps. Problem is is that i only really see him in musical settings. Shows and the occasional karaoke indulgence. Only once did i see him outside such a setting- Pat's (the other anarchangel guitarist) wedding. And that night was an irish uniform night.
I am an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN railing against SOCIAL INJUSTICE!
It's great; not only do I not ever have to think about who I am or what I'm for, but it also gives everyone an AWESOME pre-packaged checkbox they can tick off when my opinions are inconvenient and they want to dismiss me. "Oh, it's just Angry Black Woman spouting about FEMINISM again."
That's the thing about ISMS and ISHS and ANS; not only are they uniforms you can don without having to do any of the uncomfortable work of thinking about who you really are, but they're also socially gracious, allowing others to avoid the uncomfortable work of thinking about why they disagree with what you're saying. Fuck that guy; he's Italian! Look at him! His political opinions are already pre-formed by the uniform he donned this morning, and that means that the political rebuttals were also pre-formed.
NO THINKING NECESSARY.
No wait! I'm Oppressed Native American! That means that I'm really into nature and the environment and the harmony of all things, right? And kabbalah and sweat lodges and buckskin and beads. All in a convenient prepackaged identity.
Or... Oh hold on! I've got it! I'm Orkadian, a badass Viking warrior with only contempt for your weakling ways, you puny wannabe Celts. Plus, I'm pissed off because you can buy YOUR prepackaged identities at gift stores in the mall with names like "Kathleen's of Dublin" and "Scottish Country Shop" and consume authentic imported ale and haggis and boiled bacon or whatever that slop is your kind eats at Kells and Rose & Thistle and Rose & Raindrop and Moon & Sixpence and Biddy McGraw's, but where the fuck are the Viking mall chainstores and authentic Viking restaurants for ME, motherfuckers? We raided, raped, pillaged and butchered your puny ancestors for generations, and this is all we get? We fucking WIPED OUT THE PICTS on the Orkneys, and nobody has so much as a whimsical corner gift shop with longship-themed crystal music boxes? We don't even get our own drinking-and-raiding holiday?
FUCK THIS.
Nigel, I know someone is going to regret this...but it's probably not me, so I am very relaxed about any potential outcome
http://angryblacklady.com/
It's like she's unironically trying to be the living avatar of the stereotype.
Quote from: Nigel on March 26, 2012, 10:38:12 PM
I am an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN railing against SOCIAL INJUSTICE!
I am ALSO an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN, but I'm railing against ANOTHER, MORE DIFFERENT INJUSTICE.
I have to live in a flyblown desert City, with pervert bars being the height of culture. If I was WHITE, they'd let me live somewhere like Boston or Portland, where there's DIFFERENT SHIT TO DO ONCE IN A FUCKING WHILE.
Also, I see that they have PEACEFUL BLACK MAN DAY, but not ANGRY BLACK WOMAN DAY, and that's fucking BULLSHIT, there's no GRATITUDE that Angela Davis LET YOUR PARENTS LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BREED or that Gloria Gaynor didn't CHOP YOUR NUTS OFF WITH A BLUNT PIECE OF IRON.
They only want to recognize Black people that are all NICE AND SHIT, and never the ones that want to FUCK YOUR SHIT UP, you disgusting PINK-ASS PO'BUCKER. And for THAT, I wish to beat you all to death WITH MY FUCKING OVARIES.
AGAIN, NO THINKING NECESSARY! Just you DUCK YOUR FUCKING HEAD and hope to GOD that I MISS YOU IN THE CROWD!
Dok,
Just figured out that you can steal other peoples' uniforms.
Well thats part of the reason im comfortable in my irish uniform. I reject certain parts of it. I embrace it because my father would never really tell me much about it. Just that i was irish and he named me after a rebel. The only thing he ever imparted was the myth about Oisin went to tir na n-og and aged 300 years. I ended up rejecting unification rabid hatred of protestantism hatred of english and scots and catholicism. Not that he suscribed to any of that except unification and catholicism. But i kept the bits i wanted and worked for me. I dont accept it as a package deal.
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 26, 2012, 10:51:20 PM
Well thats part of the reason im comfortable in my irish uniform. I reject certain parts of it. I embrace it because my father would never really tell me much about it. Just that i was irish and he named me after a rebel. The only thing he ever imparted was the myth about Oisin went to tir na n-og and aged 300 years. I ended up rejecting unification rabid hatred of protestantism hatred of english and scots and catholicism. Not that he suscribed to any of that except unification and catholicism. But i kept the bits i wanted and worked for me. I dont accept it as a package deal.
I just don't see the need for it. You're fine without the uniform.
Brilliant. OP reminds me of some Doug Stanhope bit. Same "I'm not a blank, I'm not a blank, etc." kind thing.
Food for thought: Uniforms are a pretty easy way to be a boring person, but being legitimately you can also appear to be a uniform. There is obviously a difference between being YOU and being THEM, but if a person is just happier and more complete when they get to put on those...*sigh*...terribly annoying trip pants and hot topic nonsense, is that worth criticizing? Or would you argue that people can't be complete when they subscribe to some cookie cutter mold like that?
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on March 26, 2012, 10:55:42 PM
but if a person is just happier and more complete when they get to put on those...*sigh*...terribly annoying trip pants and hot topic nonsense, is that worth criticizing?
There is no excuse for trip pants.
Oh sure. I want to end up being irish without the uniform. But i think that maybe the uniform is somewhat necessary until youve successfully found a way to integrate the label without it being a label. Im still working on that. And its difficult here. Not only are you expected to wear the uniform but show up for drills.
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 26, 2012, 10:57:15 PM
Oh sure. I want to end up being irish without the uniform.
IF I DON'T LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE POST, IT CAN'T HURT MY BRAIN.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 10:56:38 PM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on March 26, 2012, 10:55:42 PM
but if a person is just happier and more complete when they get to put on those...*sigh*...terribly annoying trip pants and hot topic nonsense, is that worth criticizing?
There is no excuse for trip pants.
I can't see a reason to disagree with that.
You know what i mean.
Quote from: An Twidsteoir on March 26, 2012, 11:00:26 PM
You know what i mean.
Not really. I was being facetious, but I am completely stumped, here.
I kind of agree with Twid. We all put on uniforms, to an extent. You can do it without wanting to, or knowing you did it. But if you like something (like being irish or...ugh...trip pants) then just do it. Use it how you want. Hopefully you wont be too excited about fitting into the stereotype, but not doing something you want to just because it's a uniform...that might be just as bad.
This isn't me saying people should willingly accept and embrace uniforms, just that they should do what they want and accept it if that occasionally means being similar to something else. Nothing is entirely original any more.
ETA: Found that Stanhope bit I referenced earlier, if anybody cares. The actual quote comes around 4:00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDfmeKhaT0s&feature=related
I did the uniform thing at one point. DEBATE! SPEECH! FUCK YEAH! <---my entire life from 14-19 years old. Everything single thing I did was in that uniform. It was a weird one, but still a uniform.
And yeah, I learned a lot and I'd be a much more boring person than I am without it, but it was only when I took off the forensics uniform off that the weird came out.
I also notice I'm a lot happier since I stopped trying to jam myself into that box.
Might this also be a bit of a maturity thing? They found the pre-packaged outfit they liked at one point in their life, and then never, ever let themselves grow or change again, stunting themselves in the process.
Dok- the bits about being irish that i do are ones that i enjoy. I want to get to the point where i do it without thinking this is irish and rather only think this is what i do because i like it. But right now i still see it as irish also.
Quote from: Cain on March 26, 2012, 10:44:43 PM
Nigel, I know someone is going to regret this...but it's probably not me, so I am very relaxed about any potential outcome
http://angryblacklady.com/
It's like she's unironically trying to be the living avatar of the stereotype.
:lulz: That's the spirit!
Wow... I kind of love her. In the same way I kind of love last term's sociology teacher.
Resisting the temptation to troll her is especially hard.
Not that the actual act of trolling her is hard, which is part of the problem. Criticising Obama from the left sends her off on crazy rants about how you are objectively pro-Sarah Palin etc etc. I've been...following her work for a while.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 10:46:08 PM
Quote from: Nigel on March 26, 2012, 10:38:12 PM
I am an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN railing against SOCIAL INJUSTICE!
I am ALSO an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN, but I'm railing against ANOTHER, MORE DIFFERENT INJUSTICE.
I have to live in a flyblown desert City, with pervert bars being the height of culture. If I was WHITE, they'd let me live somewhere like Boston or Portland, where there's DIFFERENT SHIT TO DO ONCE IN A FUCKING WHILE.
Also, I see that they have PEACEFUL BLACK MAN DAY, but not ANGRY BLACK WOMAN DAY, and that's fucking BULLSHIT, there's no GRATITUDE that Angela Davis LET YOUR PARENTS LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BREED or that Gloria Gaynor didn't CHOP YOUR NUTS OFF WITH A BLUNT PIECE OF IRON.
They only want to recognize Black people that are all NICE AND SHIT, and never the ones that want to FUCK YOUR SHIT UP, you disgusting PINK-ASS PO'BUCKER. And for THAT, I wish to beat you all to death WITH MY FUCKING OVARIES.
AGAIN, NO THINKING NECESSARY! Just you DUCK YOUR FUCKING HEAD and hope to GOD that I MISS YOU IN THE CROWD!
Dok,
Just figured out that you can steal other peoples' uniforms.
OH SHIT! DOK'S AN ANGRY BLACK WOMAN,
AND SHE'S GOT A FULL-BODY AFRO!
Quote from: Cain on March 26, 2012, 11:26:08 PM
Resisting the temptation to troll her is especially hard.
Not that the actual act of trolling her is hard, which is part of the problem. Criticising Obama from the left sends her off on crazy rants about how you are objectively pro-Sarah Palin etc etc. I've been...following her work for a while.
Oh MY. :lulz:
Quote from: Nigel on March 26, 2012, 11:29:19 PM
Quote from: Cain on March 26, 2012, 11:26:08 PM
Resisting the temptation to troll her is especially hard.
Not that the actual act of trolling her is hard, which is part of the problem. Criticising Obama from the left sends her off on crazy rants about how you are objectively pro-Sarah Palin etc etc. I've been...following her work for a while.
Oh MY. :lulz:
Don't resist.
Also: screenshots, pls. :lulz:
I don't have a uniform. I have 8. Each has a kitschy kung-fu move to go with it that I practice every morning in my busted martian ranch house wearing long red underwear.
Quote from: Richter on March 27, 2012, 03:08:07 AM
I don't have a uniform. I have 8. Each has a kitschy kung-fu move to go with it that I practice every morning in my busted martian ranch house wearing long red underwear.
Only one move per uniform?
All I own are costumes. It's hard to figure out what to wear when it's not dressup time.
--METAPHOR STRETCH--
Like any piece of clothing, if you simply buy something off the rack, it's not going to fit you very well. Not to get all snowflake-y on you, but each person's body is different. Some have broader shoulders, some have longer legs.
And an ill-fitting piece of clothing is going to make you look ugly.
But if you take some time, and a bit off extra effort, it's not that difficult to get something tailored to fit. Take in the waist a bit, unstitch a dart or two. Hem those cuffs. Add some accessories, and (as Her Majesty Coco Chanel commands), take off one piece of jewelry before going out. Now you're looking sharp, you're looking put together. You own that suit. You're wearing it, it's not wearing you.
Uniforms help simplify social interactions by reducing agents into alloted roles created through custom and popular culture. Sometimes, these uniforms can help in signifying certain cultural signs, group affiliations or membership within a hierarchy. However, they can also cause people to overidentify with them, to the point they end up subsuming their individuality into a group consciousness or mass movement.
Sometimes, you just gotta remember, at the end of day, a sexy nurse outfit is just a sexy nurse outfit.
So this is topic that caught my eye and I still haven't fully developed how I feel about this, BUT
For me, I have ALWAYS hated uniforms and labels. Which is partly why I never fit into the Army. I hate the idea that my worth to an organization and the people in it is based on superficial things about me, rank and unit primarily. There is a lot of baggage that goes along with that. The pressure, especially for someone who gets the label of being a great soldier and smart soldier, to advance in rank, which honestly isn't that bad, but for me the manner in which said advancement happens soured me but that is not related to this. There is also the unit cohesion and the pressure to take pride in your unit, to participate in post sport tournaments on the unit team, to attend family group readiness meetings, to be ENTHUSIASTIC about unit enforced fun days, which generally are fun unless you are only there because you were ordered and are thus not having fun to be contrary.
BUT that is only one side of that. You can't really tell how OUTSIDERS, whether those outsiders are other soldiers, or members of other services, or civilians, view you as soldier. For many people it is comforting, and indeed for a brief moment it felt fucking great wear my uniform for literally and figuratively. I lived the Army Values, and would feel I let myself down when I didn't live up to those ideals in all circumstance, which is not to say that these ideals aren't good but they were ARMY VALUESTM.
More to point, because the Army has a lot of great things about it, and because it also shaped who I am today, I can't get rid of the bits of it, but I also find myself hesitant to make mention of even in a context inwhich is would make sense. ALSO, it to an extent sickens me when I see my battles, slang for friends uniform, wrap themselves whole cloth in ArmyTM. Because that is so limiting.
Or am I just rambling because my brain is cramping from studying about Japanese personal identity topics.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 26, 2012, 06:22:15 PM
I am all about trying new "reality tunnels", but there's no need to become a style in order to experience it.
It's not? I always thought that the Reality Tunnel thing, the way RAW et al described it, was also partly about overcoming the fear that by *really* adapting a certain world view/tunnel, you might not be able to get back. And the surprise bonus being that you can get back, because personality styles are additive and don't completely replace eachother (unless I suppose you get into some sort of brainwashing cult type of thing). Except that the person that returns, is not quite the same, but one that is an experience richer. Even if the experience is about what
not to do, feel or be.
I do realize that's not exactly what you meant, btw. Nor have I ever intentionally tried to "become" a style, in that fashion. It's kind of hard after all, with all those people and responsibilities getting in the way. I did, however, "try on" a couple of different styles of Discordia, over the years, inspired by the many takes on it of people on this board. None of them fit, but I did end up with all sorts of bits and pieces that I like and consider my own to this day. (I do try to give attribution though :P)