The Underground: Lesson 1: Self-Oppression fashion

Thank you PBC for the wonderful image.

Leads and followers. As a follower, you voluntarily oppress yourself under someone else's whelms and thoughts. For example, when people become trendy by following a trend dictated by a celebrity, who is usually following some unknown trend setter's style, then you submitted to the style of the unknown trend setter. You are following his or her style second-hand. If by chance you happened to cross paths with the trend setter, which your favorite celebrity copied, then you would not respect him or her as the father of the style. More than likely, this trend setter would have moved onto a different style, thus being labeled as weird until some celebrity copies that new style.

We call this the Agnostic Trend Setter Effect. We are blind to the individuals that actually conjure up new trends; however, we revere celebrities for mimicking these trend setters' styles. It is like ignoring the message of a god because we want to relate to the messenger. The messenger is this person that has earned our support by causing us to relate to him or her in some way through art, sports, fashion, or swagger in public view. The god-like trend setter has not earned our trust or our support, so we view him or her as being "too" individualistic. The trend setter in his god-like manner does not care if you appreciate his style because no one's opinions matter to him. His emotion and mood trumps his existence, so he drums to his own beat. The celebrity (local, national, or international) is not quite the god-like being.

The celebrity is the demi-god. As mortals, we can follow the path led by demi-gods. They make the work of the gods easy to understand. These individuals do not create usually in fear of losing public support. They admire the gods, but rather not be one because the gods are very detached from the mortal population.

Mortals are the leaders in the general public. They are more hip to fashion. They are your hardcore stunters. They latch onto celebrity trends as they hit the scene. Mortals have no understanding on how to recognize a god, thus losing the ability to become a demigod. Most mortals are satisfied with their current position. The usually hate the gods for being so different, fear the demigods for being similar to them, and love the clones for showering them with praise.

In the eyes of clones, mortals are similar to demigods in their areas because of their ability to switch styles right after a celebrity makes it popular. Clones follow the style of mortals because they have no idea of what is cool. They find it easy to look at the mortals around them and purchase the same products as them. They have no idea why the product is special, but they desire to have it because everyone else has it. That is good enough for them. Then, there are those that don't even care about trends and such. These individuals are considered droids.

Droids drone to their own symphony. They are completely blind to the world around them and completely internalize their existence. These guys look inward for confidence and think the world is a big wilderness. These guys are like the gods, but on the opposite end of the spectrum. Where the god feels to project his personality on the world, the droids shelter their personalities from the world.

When are you going to destroy your self-oppression to be reincarnated into a demigod or a god?

Here is an example using the shemagh/keffiyea:

God - Taz Arnold, one of Kanye West's associates that is always pushing the trends to the next level. Most people think Taz is weird. But, really he is the next level of style.

Demigod- Kanye usually follows suit after Taz. The only advantage Kanye has over Taz in collecting the new new stuff is money and celebrity power. However, Kanye still cannot keep up with Taz's style because companies seek people like Taz to plant the seed of any product.

Mortals- David Beckham is a mortal because his fame or fortune does not give him trend setting credibility. He is just following what all the cool hip celebrities.