dee hipster [nemoid]

everyone occasionally feels like an outsider. everyone has moments of feeling alienated, alone, that feeling of not fitting in. this is hardly anything new. there are times when this in itself becomes a purpose, and it's easy to dress the part of the outsider. so easy that everyone appears to be doing it. fact is there seems to be an entire industry that equips all contemporary outsiders with the proper attire and the proper sounds to make sure there is some streamlining in this struggle to voice why it is that you're so different from everyone else. there is a new pride in being the loner and the martyr, and to sing songs about how my life can't possibly be worse than yours. do i ever feel like breaking down? do i ever feel out of place? like somehow i just don't belong and no one understands me? well, apparently not as much as you. is that what feeds this industry - the constant struggle to show the world that I'm at least as, if not even more, miserable than the next person? it would certainly appear so, and cynically enough there seems to be no shortage of people wanting to get your money in exchange for faux-hawks, minor chords and teen-angst-bathroom-wall-poetry under the pretense of showing you that you're not alone in your hopelessness. this type of hopelessness is a privilege. this type of hopelessness is something that most people can't afford. this type of hopelessness is pacifying and highly un-solidaric. this type of hopelessness will play its part in hurting others before it hurts you. there are several reasons as to why this mindset is wanted, and besides the most obvious desires to cash in on insecurities we need to realize that by buying into this we become the most dangerous thing of all; completely non-threatening. no one's going to throw a rock if they're too busy feeling sorry for themselves, and if this mentality is perpetuated enough to make it feel comfortable surely no one is going to pose the questions of why we feel this way, and why we are wanted to feel this way. maybe there isn't a conspiracy aimed at us through popular culture, but it would make a lot of sense. so if no hope is given to us we'll have to create it ourselves. if the tools of rebellion for sale aren't really rebellious we will make them. solidarity starts when we realize that we have the potential to be there for someone else, and with that only creativity sets the limits. the same means that are used to describe loneliness can also be used to instill togetherness, and to use those means in a way that matters is our responsibility.