Ever notice this?

YOUR PERSONA IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR INDIVIDUAL WORDS OR ACTIONS.

You say something funny, and no one laughs; for this reason: the kid with social status would make the whole classroom burst into laughter if he said the exact same thing. Everyone is conditioned to seeking out this person's approval. And no matter what you do or say, you're coming out of nowhere, so they think you're trying to get everyone else's approval.

It's not that different from India's caste system. Once the jocks, nerds, 'gangstas', slutty girls, shy girls, find their group, or variations of these generalized groups (like many of us, who don't fit into any, we're sort of invisible/"filler" kids) in the beginning of school, you're pretty much stuck there. There's an unspoken sense of who's "cool" and who's "uncool".

What am I trying to say? I dunno. Its just an observation/rant on how once people get a sense of your overall persona, anything you do outside of it will be seen as "weird" or "trying to fit in". No matter how much talent you have, how funny you are, or even how good looking you are, if it goes against your placement in whatever social group you are or aren't in, it'll have no effect, or a negative effect on your image.

Sucks, doesn't it?

Thats not true. You can always change and change how people look at you. I put on 15 pounds of muscle and cut my hair and people tell me I look like a man now. Doesn't change my personality, but looking older isn't a bad thing. One year there was a dorky little kid on my bowling team and after the summer when he came back he was completely different.

People will always laugh at something funny and if you say enough funny things you become a funny person in their eyes. If nobody laughs, then it was a bad joke and wasn't all that funny. Although, people will more likely laugh at a popular kid. Kinda like a popular band can make a horrible album, but because they're popular it will still sell. That doesn't mean a new or unheard of band can't make a kick ass album :roll:

You are only 19, your face could still be changing.

SocialRetahd said:

You are only 19, your face could still be changing.

Click to expand...

Me? I'm 17.

Thelema, I never said that a band (an unpopular kid) can't make a kickass album (funny joke). I'm saying as long as our image is embedded in people's minds, as the quiet kid, you're not gonna get the same attention as the popular kid would if they did the exact same thing. Plus personality is what I mean by persona. It usually doesn't change, even when looks do, as you said. When you got your haircut, did you make friends with a whole new group of people?

Well, I agree with both Day Tripper and Thelema (diplomat, ain't I?:roll: ). Changing one's status IS possible, but never easy. What sucks is that in our world (and sadly, there's no other) people just DO judge other people and things.Which makes it easier to categorize. And harder to see individualities. I (and other people have also expressed this observation to me) don't like the idea of having to fit into a group or category. I just want to be myself. Of course many people wouldn't let me. So you know what I do? I try hard to keep my own perception of world unaffected by judgements and expectations. I let people space to be themselves and change into whatever they want, whenever they want - and I can only hope that they'll do the same for me.