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*I never said you were living the thug life, I'm sure your a perfectly nice person in real life. But your personal aesthetic choices and tech gadgets are a result of the social and economic system around you, not personal free will.
No, my personal aesthetic choices are mine, and my air pods are because I like to listen to music while doing things where others may not want to listen to my music like at the gym, or while cooking or cleaning while other are watching tv, or while cleaning kennels or walking dogs at the shelter, or even while in the pool since my "air pods" are not the apple version, but an off brand that are waterproof. My tattoos are personal, and were designed by me to commemorate special events in my life. My hair is because I like purple and it covers gray beautifully. My piercings are because I like jewelry.
If you want to say that my social and economic system around me influences my decisions, then you would be wrong since I live in a very rural area. If I were being influenced by that, I would be wearing wranglers and boots, blaring country music from my car and house, and driving a big pickup. But I don't.
I'm sorry if you can't make decisions for yourself, but some of us can.
The Mafia has been around longer than the OP. Their crimes have been going on for decades. They didn't produce songs or videos so they were more low key.
Then they should rebel against the current conformist lowbrow culture - dress and speak well, be polite and humble, think critically, etc.. Tattoos, piercings, pink hair, rap music, they can move the culture beyond these things, leave them to the old people.
I'm not sure they have what it takes to change the culture, the media is powerful.
Every generation rebels. LOL
seriously. its whats so beautiful about these kids. they are the most conservative generation in living memory. these kids are solid.
No, it's not. I live in a very nice small city with no gangs. I also live in a quiet, working-class neighborhood with lovely, quiet neighbors. I'm not afraid to walk around my city at all; in fact, I'm very proud of it. It's very beautiful, especially in the historic district, and attracts people from the entire country as tourists.
What are the demographics?
In my area as boomers age out and move, the people moving in are not as quiet, not as neat and apt to play loud music of the type mentioned in this thread. The kids are not gang members but like to emulate thugs in their behavior and demeanor. Even older, Gen X people are buying into it. If not that, they act like truck bros or bikers. It's all fake, they are just middle class people, not sure why they have to act so "tough" and aggressive. Maybe they need a hug.
There is one primary reason why America is looking and feeling more third world by the day. It's because the corporations that once fueled the emergence of a prosperous middle class because they needed our labor - do not need us anymore. Not just blue collar, but white collar incomes are shrinking every single day as automation continues to expand. Wealth will continue to be focused into a top 5%, then a top 1%, and simultaneously the middle class will become the new underclass.
And fools will still believe it's all because of illegal immigrants or the spread of socialism or some other simple-minded gobbledygook.
That all may be true, too. It probably is. .............But don't forget one very important fact about America in the late 20th century and early 21st: we absolutely, totally fell head over heels in love with everything THUG and GANGSTAH.......we consciously decided to become a cesspool.
No, it's not. I live in a very nice small city with no gangs. I also live in a quiet, working-class neighborhood with lovely, quiet neighbors. I'm not afraid to walk around my city at all; in fact, I'm very proud of it. It's very beautiful, especially in the historic district, and attracts people from the entire country as tourists.
Pick ten of the teens in your bucolic little town, and check out their Facebook. (And don't forget that FB is the sanitized version of our lives...)
No, my personal aesthetic choices are mine, and my air pods are because I like to listen to music while doing things where others may not want to listen to my music like at the gym, or while cooking or cleaning while other are watching tv, or while cleaning kennels or walking dogs at the shelter, or even while in the pool since my "air pods" are not the apple version, but an off brand that are waterproof. My tattoos are personal, and were designed by me to commemorate special events in my life. My hair is because I like purple and it covers gray beautifully. My piercings are because I like jewelry.
If you want to say that my social and economic system around me influences my decisions, then you would be wrong since I live in a very rural area. If I were being influenced by that, I would be wearing wranglers and boots, blaring country music from my car and house, and driving a big pickup. But I don't.
I'm sorry if you can't make decisions for yourself, but some of us can.
You think rural areas are separate from social decay? Not true, rural areas are as much part of our economic system and consumer economy as anywhere else, they are just affected differently (depopulation vs overpopulation). But that is a general statement, and won't get us very far.
But you are wrong, putting yourself into a marketed zone (earphones) at times when you are doing other things, piercing your own skin, and covering with tattoos in not the result of personal well being, but just how you are adapted by external forces.
If you think you are not affected, you could not be more wrong. You were not born with these inhibitions, but your personality relative to your environment brought you there.
ps. Trying giving up on headphones/earphones all together, you can enjoy music you just don't need to distract yourself from the here and now when you are doing something else. They also cause damage to your ear drum and hearing capability.
The Mafia has been around longer than the OP. Their crimes have been going on for decades. They didn't produce songs or videos so they were more low key.
The mafia! lol
Next you'll be quoting "The Gangs of New York".................and saying it was just the same way back in 1850 as it is today.
'Cuz that movie was exactly historically accurate, right??
And anyways, it sure is great we got rid of that stinkin' Mafia! ...........lol
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