EMBRACING ALL THAT COMES INCLUDED

EMBRACING ALL THAT COMES INCLUDED

Recently I saw something that was a little odd. Groups wanting to pick and choose, as if it was a Chinese take out menu, what they got out of a fandom or collective. You see this a lot in historical reenactment groups like Civil War ones. I mean, you're basically having one side be soldiers fighting because of slavery and, well, representing traitors to the union. No matter how much you want to claim that as something to be proud of in your heritage, you're going to have to reconcile with that little fun fact.

I will easily say that I am one of those who wax nostalgia towards the 40's, 50's and 60's. I do, after all, have a full restored 65 Mustang. And so I often very much embrace the clothing of the era and let's face it, the part in my hair and my whole hair style that I have had my whole life is very much a product of the past. So.. yeah, I do follow the "vintage scene". Recently I caught wind of a sort of "Vintage style and not Vintage Values" sort of movement. I guess white guilt just kicked in to high gear or something because it just seemed odd.

First off, of course, like the civil war reenactment folks, I'm positive don't actually want slavery to be back. So like that, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the "scene" of vintage style can agree that they don't want to go back to a time of segregation and Jim crow laws. That's just fucking stupid. And of course even though you're wearing some classy dress from the 40's, you sure as fuck don't want to be regulated to nothing more than something to crank out children and have a roast ready for their husband when they get home.

But let's get a little real here. What the fuck exactly are the values that folks who say they don't subscribe to the vintage values actually fighting against and disliking? Because I could find a shit ton of great values from yesteryear that we don't really participate in all that much anymore that we should be trying to keep alive. Because by saying you don't subscribe to vintage values, you throw the baby out with the bath water.

Do you really want to dismiss the whole Rosie the Riveter attitude of "We can do it"? Because that is what you're fucking doing. Was there wrongs in the past that as a culture we later course correct? Fuck yeah. A lot of them. But in a lot of ways, you had a lot of values we should be wishing were still around. Family unity in that having dinner at the table and having some fucking manners in it all? There's a reason you say someone is old fashioned in a positive way. Sure, not the times when you're grandpa talks about how many japs he killed or how the chinaman in the grocery store looked at him crossways. But that's just typical grandparent racism that every generation latches on because of the circumstances of their era. I'm pretty sure that the current generation will always have a distrust of folks from middle eastern countries because of this war we're fighting overseas.

I may be waxing nostalgia on this one, but it seemed like back in the day, while women suffered a lot of inequality in just about every aspect, the dating scene was pretty accurately positive. Now stick with me here. While if you were assumed to sleep around, you would be labeled loose or a floosey, but let's be fucking real, that still happens now. Back then it seemed like folks would "go out" with a wide array of suitors and it was a lot more free flowing until you went "steady". A lot of the prudent standards were sort of buried heads in the sand. Much like how many folks now see living together to families that are very conservative. I know a couple who just got married that lived together for a long time now, her parents were very much blind to the fact that they did that. I mean, they knew, but they just ignored it at best as they could.

Let's go on with this inequality. Is it any better now? Yeah, women can pursue careers of their choosing now that at one point were not looked at with any chance in hell of them even being able to get. But the glass ceiling is still there blocking you all the way. The pay gap is still fucking terrible.

Do you see how close we were to a woman president but because the majority of the country couldn't get over some fucking email server, we ended up with the choice of the dumbest president ever? Yeah, this is a clear example that even though a beyond qualified person got looked over because of her gender, that it's not that long ago far away time that you should worry about the values of, it's the current here and now. We're still just as fucked. So yeah, I guess you don't want to be associated with jim crow laws or the notion that you are "just some housewife tee hee", but the reality is perception and actually how you carry yourself are very different and you should fucking not just assume because you embrace the style of an era that it comes with the automatic assumption that you are also a racist piece of sexist acceptance asshole.

It's about being better. Because the moment you lump that shit to the past and not own the current here and now as they still remain, then you just push it to the side and act better when in reality we are not better off in progress than those dressed differently from 50 or 60 years from the past.