You have to admit that there is something about this Gif that makes you smile. Anyhow, since July was so terrible, I decided to creatively pull the slack and make August all about Affirmations. Mainly, all the things in my head I notice about myself, our culture, and humanity I never have the time to write. Get use to the Gif, cause it will be the moniker for this type of post.
Anyhow, as I was headed home per usual last night when the notions of "Class" and "Handsome" popped into my head or more to the point, their derisive misuse and/or their omission from popular culture as a whole. What fascinated me about these constructs is really the way in which they have been ostracized from our vocabulary as if they don't exist in tangible forms anymore. To mention class is to elude to integrity (another word you hardly ever hear) and it appears that long gone are the days were people asserted this about themselves. To use these concepts feel almost like reaching back into a bin of antiques and discovering a flagship to a time we neither acknowledge or celebrate anymore.
I have to admit, I use to be really bothered when people called me "handsome" because it was a word that I had rarely heard anyone tell a young man. But as I got older, I realized that this word and concept relates to a dying breed of men who hold integrity dear to their heart and carry themselves and treat others with a sense of respect. To be handsome is to have a sense of class and sadly class isn't promoted anymore as a trait that should be worked towards. In fact, I would say that the concept of class went out with the demise of the middle class, when the world became reduced to rich and poor and our ideas of these things became intertwined with material gain (you can be rich in other ways, but we won't go into that right now). Hard work and determination of course, weren't promoted as the means to achieving greater material gain, so a new crop of cultural critics appeared and a new ideology was born in celebrity culture. The idea of easy, quick, and fast money. The idea of selling your soul and integrity for a price for perceived financial freedom and a piece of the "American Dream."
I remember a time when we had to be in the house before the street lights came on, and how your neighbors would beat your ass just as quick as your parents because they talked to your parents. Their was a greater sense of community and therefore a subtle reinforcement of the idea of class, of we can persevere in difficult times with our heads held firmly to the sky. This is of course no diss to the million of people who compromise their morals for financial gain everyday. Everyone's path is their path and no one can truly judge, but I have to acknowledge that we live in times were we hold little faith in words and are too distracted to make judgements based on actions so the "party line" tends to win at the end of the day. And the more times you repeat a phrase, the more truthful it becomes. And the more people talk about how much class and integrity they have, the more we foolishly believe them.
Key to this celebrity culture is the build up and break down. For some reason we love to poke holes in people's idea of integrity and class whether its factual or perceived. We love to see people in morally compromising situations and the media will sit up and stand at attention because they realize that we have been conditioned to read this as entertainment. Further blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Are we to exercise some sense fo class in chosing our forms of entertainment - how can we when this is built on the principle of consumption rather than quality. And what happened to that other word, quality. It seems that that construct has been cremated and sent to sea as the world is so overly saturated by pop culture bullshit that its hard to distinguish quality from the latest fad.
And speaking of quality, why is is that people are less willing to exercise originality and stand out of the pack rather than clawing tooth and nail to become part of the status quo. Oh I know, cause to do so would mean that you would have to put in the work and exercise determination and flex your main muscle with the off chance that somehow someway, someone would identify you and your character as handsome or classy. We avoid these titles like the plague when we should be embracing them. But the silver lining and therfore the trick, the prestige is that integrity is the backbone of both of these concepts and we have yet in this lifetime to explore all the things that this concept has to offer beside someone feeling like they are on their high horse and someone feeling like someone is standing above them on a soapbox. Its far less about right and wrong and more about moral understanding. It can be done, change can be made to promote other things than a political movement. But you have to make sure the foundation is strong. That way, it can't be raddled easily nor can it be easily broken, iron clad, well supported, and at some point carefully guided from a house into a home.
