The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
What Happened???
RouxB:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on February 09, 2012, 09:42:56 am ---My mother must have been distantly in that family tree, too. You should have seen the whuppin' I got, aged about 5 or 6, when she caught me swearing. After that a four-letter word did not cross my lips until I was in college! ;) :laugh:
--- End quote ---
Yep, same mom. I still don't swear in front of my parents. When we were teens, my sister got yelled at by my father (he was not a spanker) and when he walked out the front door she let out a string of profanity directed at him. The door opened and he walked back in and asked "what did you say?" I think she nearly pooped her pants. There was never a repeat of that behavior ;D
RouxB:
--- Quote from: Monika on February 09, 2012, 12:46:51 pm ---I´m sure low riding pants mean something to some of the people where I live, but I´m not sure what. Some people I´m sure wear them as a fashion statement, others might wear it for other reasons. But what is clear is that all people wearing low riding pants don´t do it for the same reasons. Judging people by the way they dress might be very misleading.
But if we agree that the pants themselves ain´t the problem, then why not focus on the real issues. Powerty, unemployment etc etc. These are of course very hard to solve issues, but the whole pants thing seems to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors to me. I´m not sure what you mean by that. Of course my experience is...well...mine. But it´s not anymore "only" than anyone else´s, I imagine
--- End quote ---
I don't think anyone is "focusing" on the pants in attempting to address the issues of poverty/ lack of opportunity/detrimental media inf.luence-lifestyle is just a touch point for the bigger issue. Smoke and mirrors to you, something totally different to those of us most impacted by the problems in our community. When black men are constantly fighting the stereotype of being criminals, what do you think immature young men immulating that lifestyle does?? Not to mention that it sets them up as targets for those who are easily "mislead" by the way they dress. They way you dress can get you killed.
Which is what I mean by "your experience is only yours". It is helpful to have some experience in order to gain some insight. Hang out in Compton or Inglewood or Watts for a couple of years. Spend time with multiple generations of black families. I guarantee you will have a different idea of what constitutes smoke and mirrors.
ifyoucantfixit:
--- Quote from: milomorris on February 09, 2012, 12:58:52 pm ---Back in 1982, I went through a punk fashion phase. It lasted about 1 year. My folks stayed on my back about it until I stopped. I remember bumping into my grandmother on the train one morning. At the next stop, she stood up, told me she didn't want to be seen with me dressed that way, and got into the next car.
It is the responsibility of adults to teach children what is appropriate, and what is not. Back in the day, it didn't matter if the adult in question was family or not. Any adult had the right to criticize a child. The words "I'm going to tell your mother" would strike terror in us. The result was that we tried not to do anything that anyone would want to tell our mothers about. Or at least not get caught.
--- End quote ---
The truth is now agreed upon. The parenting and fostering of the children, is the real problem. So many of these children are themselves, products of gang members, drug addicts, alcoholic parents. Absentee parents. So many of the issues that have developed in these neighborhoods. They are craving a place to belong. A person who they can identify with. They find a group, usually of their own age group, that accepts them, calls them family ie (gangs, or drug sales. Pimps) etc. They finally find that connection that they have so craved. Throughout their life. It is negative, but cohesive, it has rules, which they have had little of in life. In short it is a defacto family. That is the place they go. That is the people they identify with. Therefor they then dress in the manner of those persons. They will by joining these groups become an integral part of it. It will help them defend their life, and territory. Natural tendancies are to join these gangs. It is the first step in a line of death. They accept the chance at a death. They themselves participate in causing them as well. If you live in that kind of neighborhood, you are almost forced to become one of them. In order to survive. No matter, that it is a one way cycle, leading to imprisonment, or death. I have even heard them say, very casually. How they understand that it is probably going to be their fate. It is in their mind a fact of life. It is sad but absolutely true.
Therefor the thing that really needs to be done, is to focus on the other end of the problem. Focusing on the dress, is trying to correct the problem, inside out. It is a symptom, not a cause.
milomorris:
--- Quote from: ifyoucantfixit on February 09, 2012, 09:58:56 pm ---It is a symptom, not a cause.
--- End quote ---
Coughing is a symptom of a cold. Robitussin is a remedy that many choose in order to stop the cough, and hopefully break the cold. So if pants on the ground are a symptom, we should find something to stop that "cough" too.
RouxB:
--- Quote from: ifyoucantfixit on February 09, 2012, 09:58:56 pm --- Therefor the thing that really needs to be done, is to focus on the other end of the problem. Focusing on the dress, is trying to correct the problem, inside out. It is a symptom, not a cause.
--- End quote ---
And in medicine isn't the symptom treated as well as the cause?
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