PHILOSOPHY AHEAD:
Somewhere, someone has already reached this conclusion and stated it better than I have. But here's my version:
Call me cynical if you'd like, but I think it's overly optimistic to assume that humanity is slowly making its way toward a sort of utopian existance. I mean, discrimination and hatred are just parts of the human condition. I doubt we'll ever rid ourselves of them.
Which isn't to say that we shouldn't try to do so, because
trying, even when it's obvious that what we're trying for is an impossibility, is also what makes us human. I think what we're attempting to achieve as human beings isn't perfection, because we'll never get there, but a state where everyone's trying for it and getting as close as possible. Not one, but point nine repeated, sort of thing.
And although I approached this topic from a different direction,
this, at last, is a more-or-less eloquent description of my problems with the phrase "life isn't fair". People use that as an excuse to make life
more unfair, dammit.
(/philosophy)
Speaking of unfair! Our school is considering slowly implementing dress codes, as most found out Thursday, and the rumors and rants are flying. I heard no fewer than three 1984 references over the last half of the day.
Now, I've got nothing against conformists. I mean, one of my best friends is a conformist.
I just think that it's unnatural for two men or two women to conform together, or whatever it is those crazy types get up to in the privacy of their own Ahem.
But when it comes to forced conformity, there I see an issue. As do, apparently, many other people, but it's sort of a given that rebellious teenagers are going to be all "NON-CONFORMITY, FUCK YEAH" whether the situation calls for it or not.
Mon copain Alex says that we can harness these rebellion-happy teenagers for our cause because they may be doing it for the wrong reasons, but they're still doing it and giving support to our side. Personally, I think that kind of support just cheapens our side, but Alex swears by strength in numbers.
This conversation occured because while I am convinced that nearly everyone will find it easier to just follow the damn dress code and keep their heads down and keep going, he thinks that there will, in fact, be an outcry major enough to make the administration reconsider the code.
And again, call me a cynic if you'd like, but I imagine everyone, teachers and admins and students, will have found some sort of equilibrium within about two weeks, when everyone's tired of the issue, and
our side damn sure ain't gonna be the one that the equilibrium settles by.
Our English teacher, who also seems rather annoyed that the dress codes have moved past preventing indecency to codes that would appear to have no purpose but to let the administration show who's boss, said that if the codes go into effect she was thinking of buying identical polo shirts and sewing "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday", etc. on each one. But I don't know if the administration would understand sarcasm of that kidney. I read a statistic once that said 25% of people never develop that sense, and there's probably a disproportionate amount of that 25% in various administrations.
( I also had a Discworld dream. )