Why can’t I have a mustache? Well, mainly because a bushy ‘stache on a gentlemen like me tends to suggest “sex offender,” drawing some questionable looks. Why do I feel compelled to roll up the windows or change the station when I’m rocking out to Avril Lavigne in my car and a group of cool kids walks by?
My friends, I’m 21 years old, and I’ve been around the block more than once, but for some reason (like just about every one of you), I still care what people think of me. That sucks. We’ve become a generation of peer approval, and as I sit here in my plaid shorts that I was convinced would help me pick up chicks, I can’t help but feel like a fraud. Social perception dictates far too much of our lives – and we’re all to blame. Even those of you who claim you really don’t need anyone’s approval, I can guarantee you still take a peek in the mirror every time you’re about to leave the house, just to make sure.
What bothers me is that these social conventions have become so prevalent that the very, very few people out there who truly feel no burden from peer perception are immediately labeled negatively. The brave students among us who are willing to sport socks and sandals or Walmart jeans get cast aside. The young ladies on the campus who don’t use summer as an excuse to wear skirts that don’t quite cover butt cleavage or stay in their air-conditioned apartments instead of going to a waterless pool to tan simply aren’t cool anymore.
Now I know a lot of you will make the claim that you are unique. Those of you who dye your hair fluorescent colors or get tattoos from head to toe or walk around the campus shirtless and barefoot are expressing yourselves, and that’s great, really. But remember that while you are trying to be unique, you are putting on a performance for your peers. Would you really go to all that trouble if no one was going to see it? Of course not.
In a society where social protest is the norm, the only really genuine form of counterculture is complete apathy. So here is my official tribute to those of you who are truly blind to peer perception. To those nerds and geeks among us who have never owned a brand-name article of clothing and to the losers and weirdos who still blast Weird Al CDs while they drive, you, my friends, are the true heroes, the last standing authentic Americans.
You know what? I think I might just grow that mustache.
Mike DiMarco is a junior English major. He can be reached at dimarcodbk@gmail.com.
