The reality is hard to process, and most of the difficulty comes from our perceptions. I have written about this in a previous post, I’m aware of bias.
I hope this introduction serves as a sort of disclaimer for the rant to come. I have no scientific evidence nor I did the proper research before posting, so please take it with a grain of salt.
I believe that for periods of time, there will always be a group of people that is not represented by the status quo.
Being part those groups implies carrying with social stigma and the members of the group deal with that with pride. A key part of the identity of the member’s bases on this. Being different to the rest, being a law into themselves.
Over time, some groups will remain in the dark, others will disappear and a some of them will become popular. This doesn’t necessary mean that the group will be part of the status quo, but it will gain acceptance (at some degree).
As the group gains traction, a whole system of production and marketing starts to surge. If we should put the blame on how the system works or not is another topic of discussion, but we can argue that they:
These points make them a good target for marketing! At this point the paradox becomes obvious: they are feeding the system.
This topic deserves a lot of research, I will start to hunt books and articles about this. Before saying goodbye, I’d like to share the video that inspired this rant. Is a scene of an old-ish Argentinian TV series called “Los Simuladores”.
If you can’t understand Spanish the guy in the suit (Santos) asks the boy why he is dressing like that. As the boy answers that he is revealing against the system, Santos argues that the manufacturers of those clothes are the rich people that he is fighting. At the end, he says: “Those days, in order to fight the system, you have to wear a suit”.