Oh! The Drama

You ask yourself "Richens, what is up with Twilight and Ed Hardy today?" The answer is not easy, but I will try to make myself understood. They are part of what I see as the same problem. The general public does not want to think. Thinking is hard, it makes you feel ways about things. If you feel ways about things, the natural course is to then act upon those feelings. Then you stand out as somebody who does stuff. In doing stuff you establish a reputation. Reputations brand us as part of something greater than ourselves and at that point, we could be on the loosing side of something.

Trends like Twilight Mania and Ed Hardy Fashion are for people who want to be part of something without standing for anything. I'm not going to slag Stephanie Meyer for writing drivel. She put together a pretty tight piece of work for it's genre, and I'm not going to act like I didn't read the whole thing. I'm not going to try and make Ed Hardy look like a tool, he is in fact, a talented artist and has some impressive work. He has many pieces that do not cover the scrawny backsides of middle aged bro-bots and the fake boobies of way past their prime rocker chicks. What I do have a problem with is people who plaster Twilight and Ed Hardy all over their smarmy ass (sorry to my sensitive readers, but that is how I actually feel).

What does it all mean? Well, that is the caramel center of this nutty problem. Most people have no idea what it all means. Who has time for that and Pirates are cool, Johnny Depp said so. Do you have an informed opinion about Japanese Influenced Tattoo Art? How about the mythology of Vampires and why it is such an interesting commentary on the human condition? My guess is no. Most people are playing along with the trends so they don't have to.

I realize that I am speaking in generalizations. However, I believe in my heart of hearts that this is why we have a nation so divided and political. Many people lack conviction of any kind, but choose labels like "Liberal" or "Conservative" just like the would Team Edward or Team Jacob. Very few people actually take these things seriously, but they fight over it like they do. They say terrible things to each other because they have committed themselves to causes they barely even understand.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it's not so important what you choose, but to understand why you choose it. Secondly, try not to brandish the latest whatever around like a fashion statement. If it honestly means that much to you, don't make it a trend but part of who you are. My final parting thought Twilight is 130,000 words long which means it took me a little over 3 Hours to read it. It was entertaining, but I've put it out of my mind mostly because it didn't matter. Three Cups of Tea took me about 2 1/2 Hours to read. It was entertaining, and it changed the way I view the Middle East.