So I was thinking about the old expression "Don't judge a book by its cover." I was thinking about this because I have a couple of... whatever the fuck they are nowadays kids. "Scenester" is the closest thing I can think of. I'm pretty sure it's not really indie or emo, and goth is like WAY out. Guys who wear girls' jeans as tight as they can get them and then brush their hair over into their faces and wear ironically brand-new Ramones t-shirts... kids who think the Used is the second coming of Christ... the current crop of conformity decriers. (Don't get me wrong, I'm all for individuality, but as Hamlet said, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks.") Anyway, book, cover, no judgey... But I got to thinking, I'm an avid reader and frequenter of bookstores. My major was based on books and the reading thereof. I think I'm decently qualified to make some generalizations about books to see how this metaphor holds up.

Classics, books that have sold a lot of copies over their existence, beloved books, books with the most interesting things to say are most often those with the simplest covers, usually ranging in meager attire from plain leatherbound to a painting or artistic rendering. Something understated, yet classy, usually. I mean there are books with eccentric covers, like The Unbearable Lightness of Being's floating hat, but nothing outrageous. Now let us consider the books with the flashy covers, the bright neon and the bizarre cover decorations... these are usually the beach reads, the horror for horror's sake novels, the young adult books... books with not a lot to say, books that have to do something other than just be themselves to draw a reader in... am I still talking about books here?

All I'm saying is that it seems to me that when a product isn't enough just being itself to sell it, that's when you have to dress up the packaging. The non-natural hair color, the outrageous (!) piercings (whatever), the socially inappropriate tattoos, the outlandish dress... and I can't fault my teen students for behaving this way, because they're newly minted people, and just experiencing peoplehood. The haven't accrued enough knowledge and experience (for the most part) to sell themselves as they are. But the real problem comes when older people, people my age and up continue to act this way. God, when I go downtown I see it all the time. When I go to parties I see it. When I go on crazy road trips with Ben I see it. I have always had a certain unjustifiable disdain for those people, and now I think I understand it. (My disdain, not their bizarre compulsion to be bizarre.)

posted by MAtt D. at 5:39 PM