The Argument Against Fads.

Vic Biorseth, Friday, May 08, 2009
http://www.Thinking-Catholic-Strategic-Center.com

Changes in fashion of dress, speech, public comportment and so forth, particularly when radical or pronounced, are in essence a breaking away or a rebellion against some tradition. Youth, especially, tend to oppose traditions as traditions are increasingly introduced into their lives, and as they increasingly feel constrained by traditions. Opposing tradition, or, misbehaving, is overlooked by adults in little children; but as the child grows and matures, misbehavior is becomes less and less tolerated, and the child either adapts to and adopts the traditions, or rebels against some or all of them.

Fads of fashion.

Changes in behavior to be outside the norm are seen as aberrations in individuals. However, if more than one individual opposes the norm in the same manner, it may be the beginning of a fad, which, if it gains much popularity, may eventually become the new norm. Although this sort of thing is not always bad, it is most frequently not good. We can argue about whether the way we dress today is better than the way they dressed in the French court of Lous XVI or not, with good arguments on both sides; I happen to prefer the fashions that followed that particular fad-become-tradition.

French style and fashion had by that time reached the point where many gentlemen were prettier than the ladies, with their elaborate powdered wigs, elaborate and enormous hats, silk and lace and frilly things, including even facial makeup and perfumes. The successful “rebellion” against all of that brought about the style and fashion of the so-called Dandy, who cast off the powdered wig and all the ruffles and makeup and tights for the more modern “trousers” and suites of clothes that would look more familiar to us today, although not quite the same. It was a move in the right direction, in my opinion.

Women’s styles of the era, of course, were even wilder than those of the men, with the enormous whooped skirts, giant mounds of petty-coats, giant hair-dos and/or wigs, giant hats, incredibly tightly cinched corsets that often caused ladies to easily feint, simply because they could not properly breath deeply enough when tightly bound up in such a strange manner. One wonders how they could even eat anything.

Basically, such fashions and fads most usually come about not so much by any reasoned thought as by mindless, lemming-like herd instinct. Somebody, whether as a rebel or not, dresses or acts or speaks in a manner outside the norm, somebody else thinks that’s cool, and imitates that person. Somebody among those first copy-cats may be a real rebel, but for the most part, all others are, in essence, conformists to this new norm, which is or soon comes to be seen as avant-garde, new, hip, cool or whatever the “with-it” verbiage of the era describes as the latest thing. Generally speaking, those who are always seeking the latest thing are either rebels against existing tradition, or people who hope to be social trend-setters.

When I was a boy, we were all trying to comb our hair like James Dean or Elvis, and all the girls were wearing Bobbie-socks, saddle-oxfords and poodle skirts. It was pretty mindless, looking back on it. Most parents were pretty upset about it and saw us as rebelling against something or other; what we were actually doing was conforming, and trying to look cool. Maybe James Dean and Elvis were rebelling, but we were just conforming to the new look. Our teen idols were popular, and we just wanted to be popular like them.

That is the nature of the fad; mindless, herd instinct and conformity to a new norm.

I look around today and I’m glad I’m not a kid any more.

The in thing seems to be the prison-look, and the gangster-look, in which there is no particular part of one’s anatomy not subject to being wildly and grotesquely tattooed. Barbed wire tattooed around the neck is popular, along with tattooed tears and other “art work” on people’s faces. Piercings everywhere visible; multiple ear studs and rings and dingle-dangles, eyebrow rings, lip rings, and all sorts of booger-collector nose rings and studs and ornaments of various description. Some people look like a veritable Christmas tree. Chartreuse or day-glow orange hair, or some other wild color, all spiked up with some kind of wax or grease, maybe in a Mohawk style, or in huge filthy looking dreadlocks.

It gets worse. Clothing that is grossly over-sized for the wearer. Sleeves hanging down far below finger tips; pant cuffs dragging on the ground after covering shoes, if shoes are worn. Hats so large the person has to tip his head back to see out from under it. If there is a sun visor on the hat, it will be oriented on the head somewhere other than where it would be useful as a sun visor. Multiple, huge, great, very flashy golden (or imitation gold) chains around necks, sometimes supporting enormous gold crosses or other glittery jewelry. Some of these people look like little kids standing in a clothes hamper with piles of laundry all over them. A mound of laundry with a kid under it.

It gets worse yet. Boys fasten – or constantly hold with one hand – their pants below their butts. They’re not even smart enough to pull up their pants, or to know what a pair of outer pants is for. Some of them wear wildly colored under shorts that they want the world to see, so they keep their outer pants down below their butts to show their underwear off. Others just like to show the world their bare asses. Which, in some cases, might look better than their faces; however, most of us would prefer to not have to look at this in public. It’s not just kids; I have seen grown men displaying their asses in public in this manner.

Now, before you write this off as stupidity, it must be pointed out that stupidity is only a part of it. Yes, they’re not smart enough to pull up their pants. However, they are conforming to what they perceive to be a social norm, for their culture, or counter-culture. That is the nature of a fad. For the most part, participants are unthinking, lemming-like followers of the latest trend.

Fads of intellect.

So – what we have discussed so far are fads having to do, mostly, with public appearance, and with public comportment, and that which is known as public style and fashion. But, there are other fads that are considerably more dangerous, because they are fads regarding philosophy, or ways of thinking, and even ways of ordering ones life, and even of ways of ordering society. These are subjects that ought not to be subject to the randomness or temporary whimsy of any mere fad.

Now, the traditional way of ordering one’s mind, and of ordering one’s family, and of the correct ordering of one’s society, in Western Civilization, involves adherence to the values and principles that come out of Western Culture’s Ethos. This Western ethos is built upon the religious tenets of Judao-Christianity, which provide the Western traditional sense of being able to tell right from wrong. At the individual level, this sense of right and wrong forms the conscience of the properly raised citizen. At the collective level, this same sense of right and wrong forms the ethos and the guiding principles of the larger culture. Indeed, it even forms the basis for civil law.

There are three major philosophical fads that have infected Western thinking to the point of blurring the Western sense of what’s right and what’s wrong in human behavior.

We have seen in the Darwinism Refuted argument that there is no scientific basis for Darwin’s theory regarding the evolution of species, and that it cannot stand on its own scientific evidence, because it has none and there is none. Even the brief Definition of Darwinism shows that all it ever had was the original “observations” that had nothing to do with the origin or evolution of any new species. You can see the details in the Darwinism page itself. Yet, today, most of the world embraces Darwinism as if it had actually been proven by someone.

Darwinism is a fad, nothing more and nothing less. The only difference between the Darwinism fad and the pants-below-the-ass fad is that the Darwinism fad was originally popularized by the pseudo-sophisticates among the elite intellectuals and so-called intelligentsia of the day rather than among the unthinking youth of the day.

Now, before you write this off as stupidity, it must be pointed out that stupidity is only a part of it. Yes, they’re not smart enough to demand evidences and apply critical thinking to it. However, they are conforming to what they perceive to be a social norm, for their culture, or counter-culture. That is the nature of a fad. For the most part, participants are unthinking, lemming-like followers of the latest trend. They don’t want to be unpopular.

We have seen in the Freudianism Refuted argument that there is no scientific basis for Freud’s theory regarding the repressed memory and the subconscious mind, and that it cannot stand on its own scientific evidence, because it has none and there is none. Even the brief Definition of Freudianism shows that all it ever had was the original “observations” of Freud that could not ever be duplicated and thus had nothing to do with any definitive rules of human behavior. You can see the details in the Freudianism page itself. Yet, today, most of the world embraces Freudianism as if it had actually been proven by someone.

Freudianism is a fad, nothing more and nothing less. The only difference between the Freudianism fad and the pants-below-the-ass fad is that the Freudianism fad was originally popularized by the pseudo-sophisticates among the elite intellectuals and so-called intelligentsia of the day rather than among the unthinking youth of the day.

Now, before you write this off as stupidity, it must be pointed out that stupidity is only a part of it. Yes, they’re not smart enough to demand evidences and apply critical thinking to it. However, they are conforming to what they perceive to be a social norm, for their culture, or counter-culture. That is the nature of a fad. For the most part, participants are unthinking, lemming-like followers of the latest trend. They don’t want to be unpopular.

We have seen in the Marxism Refuted argument that there is no scientific basis for Marx’s theory regarding the evolution of cultures, and that it cannot stand on its own scientific evidence, because it has none and there is none. Even the brief Definition of Marxism shows that all it ever had was the original “observations” that had nothing to do with the natural evolution of any new culture. You can see the details in the Marxism page itself. Yet, today, most of the world embraces Marxism as if it had actually been proven by someone.

Marxism is a fad, nothing more and nothing less. The only difference between the Marxism fad and the pants-below-the-ass fad is that the Marxism fad was originally popularized by the pseudo-sophisticates among the elite intellectuals and so-called intelligentsia of the day rather than among the unthinking youth of the day.

Now, before you write this off as stupidity, it must be pointed out that stupidity is only a part of it. Yes, they’re not smart enough to demand evidences and apply critical thinking to it. However, they are conforming to what they perceive to be a social norm, for their culture, or counter-culture. That is the nature of a fad. For the most part, participants are unthinking, lemming-like followers of the latest trend. They don’t want to be unpopular.

Effects on society.

The three major “intellectual” fads have had a devastating effect on the morality and social norms of Western culture. Darwinism provided a platform for militant atheism and secularism aimed at the religious cleansing of Western culture. Freudianism provided a platform for the promotion of the notion that man needs to loose his inhibitions, which includes his sense of sin and sinfulness, in order to free himself from any sense of guilt and live for joy and pleasure alone. Marxism provided a platform for teaching the fallacy that culture and man himself can be perfected by a social process, the end result of which will be worldly perfection – utopia – man-made heaven here on earth.

The proper sense of right and wrong is just about gone among the intelligentsia today. And it is weakening among the common citizenry.

Due to this fad-driven infection of Western thought, we have had our great sexual revolution and are now living with the consequences. We have seen Western adoption of artificial contraception and even abortion under the guise of pro women’s choice as another contraceptive method. We have seen the advance of the Homo Nazi Movement drive to normalize and mainstream homosexuality everywhere. And now we are seeing, in Obama, the government declaring the irreligious nature of America and taking charge of every aspect of formerly private enterprises.

America, like Europe who has gone before her, is now sinking into irreligion, hedonism, nihilism and social dependency. We begin to take on the trappings of a pagan culture rather than a Christian one. Just saying that a sin is a sin becomes a great social transgression, even a hate crime. Absolute intolerance is expressed at any Judao-Christian expression or recognition of old fashioned right versus wrong. And this is coming from the top down, not from the bottom up. The lower the class of the citizen, the more likely they are to still know right from wrong and to be able to exercise simple common sense.

We have got to turn this situation around.

First, we need to recognize a fad for what it is:

a baseless popular social decoration.

Turn your face back to God, and pray for America.

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