Not Being "Basic" Doesnt Make You Less Mean...

interesting and thrilling title, i know i know. but this is a conversation that a lot of people have tried (and failed) to properly have, so let me hop on my soapbox and take on the challenge. 

something something nuance or whatever, this isnt about which fashion groups can poke fun at which, but let me talk about that here anyways. while i obviously think that nobody deserves to be picked on for how they dress... a lottttttta people miss the fact that nine times out of ten, the alternative folks (im using this as a catch-all for goth, punk, scene, emo, decora, etc.) arent the perpetrators. historically speaking, they've been the recipients. pretty much what happened that lead up to this point was:

ALTS: hey, uhh... could you not make fun of us for how we dress? a lot of our styles tend to go against the social norms of fashion, and have thus become popular amongs marginalized groups (neurodiverse, disabled, and queer people especially) as forms of a visual expression of the self, so opinion-based or not it comes off as a bit odd.

BASICS: hmmm. well no :) we're gonna do that for YEARS lol.

ALTS: ...okay, well weve tried asking you to stop and weve tried explaining that what youre doing is bullying (which is bad!!!) so we're just gonna joke about the reverse situation if that's oka-

BASICS: omg guysss :( these alt ppl are BULLYING us for our styl :(... you shouldnt bully people for how they dress, it's WRONG!!!

like of course bullying people for how they dress is wrong, bethany, thanks for being the last to notice... i just... couldnt help but note that you noticed that AFTER you were the joking target of it? im sure there's a name for this phenomenon and all but seriously- if you start kicking down on others, and you wont stop no matter how much they ask, you cant act shocked when they start kicking back.

all that aside, i feel as though a handful of alt people (and again, im using this as a catch-all term) think that dressing alternatively automatically means they can't possibly be as "bad" as people who dress basic, and they start acting (in the best way i can put it) the same way they think basic people do...  it's like a slightly less-sad version of how some diet gay people will just rephrase whatever they heard their conservative uncle say about them and use it against polyamourous people. do you not see the irony in what youre spitting?!

one really good example of this: i remember venting about tiktok's shit community on multiple occasions over on my old spacehey, and everyone seemed to agree that tiktok's community was pretty bad. people are seemingly unable to dislike anything and be normal about it, they have to find any moral justification to harass others for enjoying things, they constantly find new ways to poke fun at others, and they'll ignore any criticism or issue with the platform or its prominent members as long as they can put other platforms down for the same problems (or even things that arent remotely a problem at all)... meanwhile, in recent days- spacehey's taken an eerily similar turn!  they cant dislike other users or sites without making it a showcase of their moral standing, theyll harass people they dislike under posts and comments and act morally better for it, and they've taken shots at every other myspace clone to exist while turning a blind eye to the abuse and later neglect of spaceheys moderation and the current performance issues with the site. they really believed that being a retro indie site made them better than tiktoks community... and they were clearly wrong.

to summarize: yes, many who fall into tho societal standards that are considered "basic" tend to be the perpetrators when it comes to punching down on others. but this has lead to a lot of people thinking that not being "basic" automatically means that they cant be as bad for doing the same... you can, lol. ive seen it in homophobic y2k girls who are a bit too comfy listening to ayesha erotica, ive seen it in people who want to wear the styles but not respect the subcultures they stem from, and ive definitely seen it in people who think their clothes dictate how people see their personality... 

let it be said: a devil in hightop converse, kandi, gyaru makeup, or even a battle vest... is still just as much a devil as one in a crop top and dolphin shorts :)