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April 29, 2002- Volume 7 Issue 19
Thou shalt be judged
By
Mark Probest
Contributor
Recently I was involved in a class discussion
that stirred my curiosity as to the validity of first impressions, and to the
extent of the consequences exacted by these initial judgements. The class debate
was centered around common subcultures prevalent in our society and the similar
characteristics that bond each individual subculture together. Examples of a
subculture, (defined as the meaning systems and modes of expression developed by
groups in particular parts of the social structure in the course of their
collective attempts to come to terms with the contradictions of their shared
social situations,) would be the grunge movement of the early nineties or the
punk movement of the seventies. The general consensus of the class was that
subcultures were a major part of their identity as youths growing up but there
were passionate disagreements as to the general labeling that occurs when a
person shows identifiable characteristics that represent a media branded
subculture.
Many students felt that being classified in one particular subculture brought
about an array of judgements that were false and detrimental to their own
identity while other students argued that going through subcultures and
classifications was part of growing up and relatively harmless.
While I found both sides of the discussion very interesting, the next day I
found myself focusing on a different aspect of the debate. I began to wonder
about the depth of classification that a subculture cloaks a person in and to
what degree does that costume draw judgements from surrounding observers.
Obviously individual effects of a subculture are going to be as varied as the
reciprocal judgements they invoke due to the unique personalities and
perspectives of every human. My question deals with the perceived similarities
that exist within subcultures and the individuals who identify with them. As we
discovered in our class debate, it is an often gray area not easily sorted to
black or white.
A good example of this is the subculture known as the Deadheads who
follow the band, The Grateful Dead. I have two friends who consider
themselves hardcore Deadheads, spending past years traveling around the
states from one concert to the next, and yet neither one of them enjoys smoking
marijuana. It is amazing to me the reaction I get when I tell this to people
because they are so conditioned to associate smoking marijuana with The Grateful
Dead. While both guys admit that marijuana is a norm within the Deadhead
culture, there are fans who prefer to stay drug free. Unfortunately, because
these gentlemen are huge fans of The Grateful Dead’s music, they are perceived
as illegal drug users.
The same is true of the rave subculture that currently exists in our society.
Due to the excessive amount of ecstasy that is being sold, bought, and used at
raves, the drug is now a perceived necessity of the modern day raver. Because
marijuana and ecstasy are factually prevalent in their previously mentioned
subcultures, is it wrong to assume that each individual associated with the
subculture must be a drug user? I use the example of drugs because solely being
classified as a drug user brings about a plethora of preconceived judgements by
itself. When we make the mental leap of a Grateful Dead fan becoming a Deadhead,
and then our minds immediately jump to drug user, hippie, unemployed, liberal,
and all of these other preconceived notions of the subculture, we
unintentionally brand the peson with additional judgements involving these other
related characteristics. Suddenly our first impression of a person who we find
is part of the Deadhead subculture is loaded with preconceived ideas and
judgements even though we have no factual knowledge whether any of them are
true.
The fact is our society is loaded with preconceived notions no matter what
culture, subculture, race, or gender you are associated with. Men, women,
heterosexuals, and homosexuals are all set up from an early age to feel and
believe they should act in certain ways. My feeling is that our society made
enormous strides during the twentieth century to break down a lot of these
branded judgements and to take each person on his or her own merits, but there
is still much work for us to accomplish. I agree with many of my classmates that
the subcultures I associated with while growing up gave me a lot of direction,
inspiration, and identity, but I didn’t represent every characteristic of those
cultures.
Most people don’t, and the subculture wasn’t every thing I stood for. That is an
important distinction when we encode the basic characteristics of societal
labels in our minds. Once we actually get to know someone we typically learn the
complexities of that person which extend far beyond any one culture or first
impression we may have preconceived.