which are you?
Reading SK's blog (and the comments) over the last several entries has got me pondering the "straights" (or whatever you'd like to call them -- suits, squares, whatever) /bohemians debate/question.
To me there are two types of straights:
1) the evil bastard straights -- people most concerned with power, money, possessions, etc. These can range from the top heads of state (politicians in general almost universally go in this straight category, it's just the nature of the beast), captains of industry, religious leaders, to the nasty little twit in charge of scheduling workers at the corner convenience store who makes sure to often schedule workers when they have asked to have off.
2) the drone straights -- people who just don't know any better or who just don't care. These are the people who let others do their thinking for them, who think a song is good because it's popular, who will tell you "drugs are bad" but when you ask them why all they can come up with is "because they are illegal" and when you ask why they are illegal they tell you "because they are bad." That kind of thinking/lack of thinking (might not be about drugs, can be about anything) is a big part what makes a drone straight. They accept the idea that bigger is better, the clothes make the man, the more stuff you have the happier you will be, etc., etc., all without ever really giving it any thought.
Bohemians, on the other hand are more interested in the mysterious or esoteric world than they are money, power or possessions. Often don't have traditional jobs, but then some do.
I'm surprised at the number of people who commented there (on SK's blog) who identified themselves as straights (or partial-straights). Even when I had very normal, mainstream, straight jobs I didn't consider myself a straight. Those jobs didn't define me, they were simply what I had to do to be able to get to the point I no longer needed to work them. I always did whatever job I had well, but never really was "there." I remember a few years ago I was talking to a woman I went to high school with. We hadn't seen each other since the day we graduated over 20 years before and we catching up a bit when suddenly she stopped talking and looked at me and said "you always were spacey." I said "thank you," as I considered it a compliment, even though I'm not sure she meant it as such. But to me that is a good thing, to me staring at the reflection of my eye in my glasses instead of paying attention in math or latin class was a good thing (and fascinating as hell too, you would be amazed at what your eye does over the course of 45 minutes in the sun and shade etc.....).
So anyway, I never thought when SK was talking about straights that he was talking about me, even when I held a "real" job. It's not so much what you look like, but how you look at the world and your place in it. So I am very surprised (and kind of disappointed) at the number of others who apparently do think of themselves as straights.
To me there are two types of straights:
1) the evil bastard straights -- people most concerned with power, money, possessions, etc. These can range from the top heads of state (politicians in general almost universally go in this straight category, it's just the nature of the beast), captains of industry, religious leaders, to the nasty little twit in charge of scheduling workers at the corner convenience store who makes sure to often schedule workers when they have asked to have off.
2) the drone straights -- people who just don't know any better or who just don't care. These are the people who let others do their thinking for them, who think a song is good because it's popular, who will tell you "drugs are bad" but when you ask them why all they can come up with is "because they are illegal" and when you ask why they are illegal they tell you "because they are bad." That kind of thinking/lack of thinking (might not be about drugs, can be about anything) is a big part what makes a drone straight. They accept the idea that bigger is better, the clothes make the man, the more stuff you have the happier you will be, etc., etc., all without ever really giving it any thought.
Bohemians, on the other hand are more interested in the mysterious or esoteric world than they are money, power or possessions. Often don't have traditional jobs, but then some do.
I'm surprised at the number of people who commented there (on SK's blog) who identified themselves as straights (or partial-straights). Even when I had very normal, mainstream, straight jobs I didn't consider myself a straight. Those jobs didn't define me, they were simply what I had to do to be able to get to the point I no longer needed to work them. I always did whatever job I had well, but never really was "there." I remember a few years ago I was talking to a woman I went to high school with. We hadn't seen each other since the day we graduated over 20 years before and we catching up a bit when suddenly she stopped talking and looked at me and said "you always were spacey." I said "thank you," as I considered it a compliment, even though I'm not sure she meant it as such. But to me that is a good thing, to me staring at the reflection of my eye in my glasses instead of paying attention in math or latin class was a good thing (and fascinating as hell too, you would be amazed at what your eye does over the course of 45 minutes in the sun and shade etc.....).
So anyway, I never thought when SK was talking about straights that he was talking about me, even when I held a "real" job. It's not so much what you look like, but how you look at the world and your place in it. So I am very surprised (and kind of disappointed) at the number of others who apparently do think of themselves as straights.
posted by eek at 1:49 AM
1 Comments:
Good post. i've never considered myself straight, yet i seem to have mainly been in straight jobs. Again, i'm not really there, although i do a good job. Just waiting for the right thing to present itself i guess. I feel totally alientaed from the people i work with. I like what money can do for me, it's a drug on its own. And now it's hard to back away from it. Choices are shit hard.
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