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<< At secondary school...
it's not just at school... >> | |
| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Jan 29, 2003 by Jessie, queen of the strange - Nirvana rocks my socks!
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 | | I get picked on a lot because of my appearance: not from the students, but from the faculty. Because I happen to prefer the color black -- it's an *aesthetic* choice, thank you very much -- and I'm not really much of a joiner, I've been referred to counseling more than once . . . I'm listed as "at-risk" even though all I've done is choose a certain appearance . . . I make straight-A's, I'm never intentionally antagonistic to my teachers (except on very, very rare occasions), I use big words like "antagonistic," and still they've decided I'm at-risk.  Does this make sense to anyone else? Well, obviously I live in the "free" country of America . . . *rolls eyes*
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Jan 30, 2003 by bbtommy
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 | | Educated? Educated enough to join and contribute to intelligent discussion sites like h2g2? Yeah, your definitely a problem. To be "correct" in the eyes of schools, you need to conform, goddamit, conform! And buy complete crap all day long...
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Jan 30, 2003 by Jessie, queen of the strange - Nirvana rocks my socks!
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| | Yeah. And ever since sexual abstinence programs, the DARE program, and mandatory classes on leadership and self-esteem (we really have these), conforming doesn't just mean believing them unconditionally about, say, quadratic equations, or the Battle of Gettysburg. No, now you must conform your every opinion to what they think is right. Smoke one joint and you'll become a hopeless addict, cigarettes are rolled-up poison, anyone who has the occasional drink is an alcoholic, premarital sex is bad (but anything you do after marriage is okay), and before you can be a good person you have to believe fervently that you can do anything! Even the kids in wheelchairs can be professional basketball players, if they try hard enough.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 1, 2003 by bbtommy
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| | Just think of it all as a beta test version of thought control. Now, nobody I know wants to have their thoughts controlled. Yet that is what schools take the opportunity to do on a daily basis. Now, a little bit of civil disobedience here, a little bit of "YOUR ALL ****ERS AND I ****ED YOUR (Insert parental figure here)" to the faculty, and you'll hopefully stop the thought control revolution from taking place.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 1, 2003 by finkwart
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| | I know the feeling. Black is great, I used to wear it all the time, but got bored. My husband still wears it though. tell them you are in mourning for their lives, which must be so boring, they can think of nothing better to do than pick on someone who likes looking like Pratchett's Lord Vetinati
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 1, 2003 by Unconformity
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| | In the sixth form it was the dress code to wear black or white. White is such an impracticle colour that we all wore black. It certainly stopped all critisisms about people wearing black...
After two years of enforced wearing, however, I'm happy that there is some colour back in my life. 
I wouldn't let other people's adversity to black bother you. You being able to dress how you want is known as having a mind of your own and is a very useful thing to have.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 3, 2003 by Bagpuss
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| | I'm guessing people connect it with Goth and Heavy Metal, which are of course the whole reason the country's in the state it is and probably responsible for earthquakes too. I wondered if Jessie was down-playing the oddness of her wardrobe, but those self-esteem classes make anything sound possible.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 3, 2003 by Bagpuss
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| | And did you?
You know, I realised what's so weird about the scenario. The fact that what you wear doesn't get you into trouble, but sent to a counsellor is just whacked - if the school objects to certain clothes they could presumably ban them instead. Mind you, a policy telling kids they weren't allowed to wear black clothes would hopefully get the ridicule it deserves.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 4, 2003 by Andyman
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| | Black this. Black that. Do you think it's just the blackness of your clothes?
Be honest. Aside from wearing black all the time, are you "normal" in every other way? Wearing black is not a sign of a problem at home.
Let me try some guesses. In addition to wearing black, you probably have your hair dyed black. Maybe you put black makeup under your eyes. Or, my personal favorite, making your face look paler than it really is, so that you look like the walking dead. And I would wager that you have some piece of jewelry that has a skull on it.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with how you dress, but try to see yourself the way others do. Suicidal kids often are fixated on death. A lot of these black-wearing "goths" ARE fixated on death.
You do the math, and be happy that someone cares.
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| | | Subject: Paranoia
Posted Feb 4, 2003 by Jessie, queen of the strange - Nirvana rocks my socks!
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| | My hair is dark, but it's natural, and I'm not a goth or anything. I've never really identified with any of the subcultures out there. They just tend to be too superficial for me. I admit, I have been reading a lot of Sylvia Plath, but I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with death (the rest of my reading list is: Tolstoy, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Flaubert). I do know people who've been recommended to the counselors for cutting designs into their skin, or shoving safety pins into their flesh, in rows, up and down their legs. And I think it's a good idea to check on people who do things like that. But I really don't, I just wear a lot of black, and don't speak up much in class. Somehow, that's a red flag.
Although I wouldn't say I'm normal. I never liked that term much.
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