Mirror, mirror on the wall.

[Kanakvi Singh]

“Oh! Why would someone want to dress up like that? Doesn’t she realize she looks like a complete lunatic?”

“Please! Why would I talk to him? He looks like a girl!”

“Your favorite music band is just a bunch of ugly, gothic pretenders!”

 

It is sad how preoccupied we are with the physical "disfigurements" of everything we see and somewhere along this path of bitterness, we seem to have ignored the repulsiveness that plagues our own souls.

   I have always believed that we can learn from all the little things around us, and I could not agree more with the notion that behavior that is termed “hideous” could very well serve to educate us about our own standards and morals. We believe that just because we are now able to interact with people from different time zones and cultures, we have evolved; just because we are publicly more tolerant towards different castes and religions, we are secular and prepared to entertain new ideas. Every now and then, we need to be jolted out of our beliefs and made to see the reality. It is very easy to talk, but very hard to be so, in truth.

  Every day, I read newspaper articles and watch television shows that barefacedly mock individuals, who are bold enough to dress up how they wish to dress, say what they believe is right, and just be whoever- and whatever- they want to be. Why is it that an artist as great as Marilyn Manson is scorned at? Why is it that people all around the world are so concerned about the way he dresses, and not about his art? The truth is that we are not yet willing to accept things as they are and Marilyn is one of the few people who help us realize this by their boldness, which we hatefully condemn as unacceptable or outrageous behavior. Subconsciously, we do not want a man- who has the courage to portray the ugliness of our society through his art (and the canvas of his face!)- to bring us face to face with the bitter reality of our times; we do not want to go beyond his countenance and actually understand his art which implores us to accede to the fact that our morals and our standards are contaminated, and our society is going to the dogs.

  Why, in the twenty first century, do we still need to endorse gay right movements? Why have we still not been able to understand that no behavior is universally outrageous? Across the world, students who dye their hair pink, or pierce their eyebrows, or get tattoos, are cast out as “misfits” or “creeps” because their behavior is not considered normal. I think, off and on, we need these shockers, and bits of “outrageous behavior’… we need people who have the courage to take on the hatred in our hearts, to understand ourselves and our own standards, and to bring us closer to the harsh and manifestly unwanted truth about our society. 

 

[Robert Crisman]

We live in a cultural and political environment that encourages individuals to be cowards and sheep, especially the macho among us.

[Bill Floyd]

I'm conflicted about this.  On the one hand, I was once a young person who felt the same anger and alienation that's expressed (quite eloquently) in this piece.  Punk rock saved my life in a lot of ways.

On the other hand, there's the technical complaint that this piece consists of more than six sentences.  If you want people to read your work on this site--and you seem to have a lot of potential, so I hope you'll keep posting--it's a good idea to stay within the boundaries.  A writer can do a surprising number number of things within the six sentence format.  

Also, I read Marilyn Manson's autobiography a few years ago on the recommendation of a friend, and in it Mr. Manson brags quite openly about his band members urinating on a groupie, which pretty much ended any fascination I might've once had.  I'm now convinced the guy's not portraying society's ugliness so much as he's just being ugly.