In or out? No, I’m not talking cricket here, that’s just too depressing right now if you come from SA. I’m talking about the social setup at varsity. Because, to be perfectly honest (and grammatically incorrect at the same time) there are cool and uncool people all over the world, but nowhere is the divide more blurred than at varsity, or more clear, depending on which side of the fence you stand.
I’m a big fan of fitting in on your own terms. I’ll just never understand people who willingly shoot themselves in the foot just to be “original” and “non-conformist”. Why on earth would you want to make yourself completely unattractive to the opposite sex and the world at large, just to prove a point? Examples include emo kids (who do, granted, sometimes find and make out with their own kind, but how much fun can that be?!), morons who die their hair in different colours, grow dreadlocks for no specific cultural reason, pierce their face so many times they attract small magnets or my personal pet hate, those weird environmental science/biology students who walk around in shapeless clothes and ugly trainers/hiking boots (or God forbid, sometimes barefoot) with unkempt hair and a ratty old backpack.
I weep for those kids. Some of them, with a hair cut, wardrobe change and some makeup would actually be quite attractive. So why punish yourself like that? None of those people can possibly walk past a mirror in the morning and go “wow I look good today”. Ever. Do they even own mirrors? I wonder. I just can’t understand what the point is of making so much effort to not fit in. People mock you. Nobody really likes you. Girls like me sit on Jammie stairs in small groups applying lip-gloss and laughing at you. I just don’t see the benefit! How can you look like that and feel good about yourself?
I’m not saying that everybody should be a mindless zombie and fanatically follow fashion magazines and buy a new outfit every other day… but you can be yourself without looking like Jane Goodall in the middle of Darkest Africa! What irks me the most is that we normal people are actually looked down on by these freaks. They chastise us in their sad little lunchtime groups and on their sad, vegetarian anti-consumerist blogs for being mindless trend-followers with no personality or brains.
Give me a break. We’re the people who fit in. It’s an essentially human trait to want to belong, to desire to fit in – don’t tell me that these ugly, nerdy people don’t feel that somewhere deep down. But no, they say, we are the ones who deserve pity for not being able to see further than the next YDE sale. But how unfair is it for these so-called free spirits to generalize about us?
I wasn’t the only popular, normal person who sacrificed an entire weekend to attend a seminar on social justice and the law. I know rugby and water polo jocks who are well read and study business degrees, the girls I discuss Cosmo magazine and knock back appletinis with are the same girls with whom I discuss politics and Constitutional law… my best mate is a trend-following, fashionable and popular guy who is also the most knowledgeable, most widely read and most intelligent guy I know… I’m not saying that some of the cool kids aren’t as dumb as bricks (sorry Jordan, Simone and Craig) but it’s unfair and narrow-minded to equate stylishness, hotness and popularity with being stupid and shallow. In fact, it’s [pretty stupid and shallow to make an assumption like that. Which makes those people stupid, shallow AND ugly. Oh snap!
There’s a pecking order in this world, and lets face it, hot people who are liked by other people are at the top of it. If a fairy godmother appeared out of nowhere and offered to turn you into either half of Brangelina, you’re not going to say no, are you? Everybody wants to be attractive, popular and successful, as well as achieving meaning in their lives. To some people, being attractive, popular and successful IS the meaning in their lives. Me, I’m happy finding meaning in finishing a law degree and one day pursuing social justice through litigation for the underprivileged. But I also enjoy liking what I see when I look in the mirror, having friends and hitting clubs to get drunk and make out with other hot drunk people.
If that makes me a sheep… well at least I’m a socially accepted, good looking sheep. I don’t suffer from an inferiority complex or pangs of jealousy which make me say hateful things about hot, normal people. In, or out? Whether you admit it, or hide behind your siff badly dyed hair and non-conformist attitude, you know you want to be in.
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Varsity life attracts all walks of life as you have mentioned. A university is an institution that breeds individuality like no other. At highschool we are instinctly taught and forced to conform to one ideal of ‘cool’ as well as the ideal of what your school deems acceptable behaviour, dressing, manners and language. As a varsity student I have come into contact with many different social groups or ‘boxes’ as I like to call them. They may seem very stereotypical but they are only stereotypical because you can find them in almost every university. We have the ‘Jock’s,’ the ‘Barbie’s,’ the ‘Hippie/Stoner/Tree-Hugger/Bunny-Lover’s,’ the Nerds, the typical Party Animals and finally the new breed of ‘cool’- the Emo kids. I often wonder if these people are trying so hard to be ‘different’ or are they just being themselves?!
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