What Are We Gonna Do With All This Trash?: The politics of "weird."

March 16, 2007

The politics of "weird."

Many words in our vernacular have lost not only their impact but also their meaning; words such as "genius" and "love" are used so commonly to describe a wide array of people and feelings that when used according to their correct definition the result is luke warm at best. The word "weird", however, has retained its usefullness simply by not betraying the users ignorance and indecisiveness of a particular subject, opinion etc. Many people employ the word "weird" to describe a particular event or artistic expression so that they may offer an opinion which does not have to rely on intelligence but on emotion and they are not forced to stand by their opnion since the particular in question is an anomoly not needing serious analysis. For example, most people not familiar with bollywood songs or afrobeat or Squarepusher may encounter these songs and musicians with astonishment not knowing what it is that they are hearing. I imagine that these people feel affronted by this "new" music and cannot offer a ready made opinion since these opinions are not available in pop media. This, then, puts the person in the position of thinking independently about a subject that is not dear to their harts; not having been trained to do so, they feel that they may be percieved as stupid or ignorant. By describing the songs or genre as weird they allow themselves an opinion which can change once they have come in contact with a trusted opinion. Another example that can be used comes from the world of fashion. I'm sure we've all been in the position of wearing something that others at the time considered unflattering and which was described as weird; several months later these critics were to find out that that particular style is in fashion. What do these people do? They go ahead and wear the same clothes that they criticized earlier by saying that "weird" is not a bad thing at all! To put a long story short I fucking hate the word "weird" and do not have a favorable opinion of those that use it to describe everything under the sun!!

2 comments:

Mike said...: So, who called you weird last night?; 5:19 PM
Marie Debris said...: You're so weird Trashish.; 10:45 PM

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A History Of Trash

Trash, at first, was a pretty cool guy. You know, he’d come over with some beers, and you’d hang out and have a couple of laughs. Maybe Trash brought some weed with him, and you guys tried to sync up Dark Side Of The Moon with The Wizard Of Oz until you remembered you lost your VHS copy of that movie sometime in college and that you fucking hate Pink Floyd. Good times were had, nonetheless.

But then, you don’t know what changed, but Trash started to overstay his welcome. He’d just linger for hours, never taking the hint you wanted him to leave, no matter how many times you yawned obnoxiously or mentioned how early you had to get up tomorrow. Trash just didn’t get it. You were getting older. You didn’t have the time anymore to stay up until 3 a.m. to talk about the Port season of “The Wire” or how much you miss Jawbox. Eventually, you just stopped taking Trash’s phone calls and no longer replied to his group e-mails about sneaking into abandoned mental hospitals.

Last time you saw Trash, he was smoking alone outside a local dive bar, looking down at his decaying and mismatched shoes. You hoped he had been doing well. You hoped he had not been hurt by the disintegration of your friendship. And if he had, you wanted to comfort him. You wanted to tell him that even though people move on with their lives, it doesn’t mean they stop caring. You wanted him to see in your eyes a sincere appreciation for the time you shared, because all the relationships in our lives help make us who we are, and even if you weren’t the best of friends anymore, you wanted him to know that there would always be a piece of Trash in your heart.

But instead, you looked away and crossed the street. You were with your new girlfriend, and you really didn’t want to have to explain Trash to her. She’d never understand.