Us vs Them

"Us" vs "Them Mentality
Anyone who has seen me knows that I am a person who follows an alternative fashion opposite of the main stream. There are thousands of people like me who do so as well. We are separated in to subcultures: Goths, punks, Scene, Emo, etc. However as time goes on, and as new branches of the lifestyle come up, I cannot ignore the growing hatred that is slowly driving the alternative community apart. To be blunt we are becoming like the mainstream. How? By stating those who use our name (which we did not earn by just being part of it) and do not behave or dress like us our now posers, hipsters, the enemy…the very same way that the mainstream  (not all but most) treat us. I have seen it come to  pass in not only  fashion subcultures but geek culture, comic book nerd vs Otaku (a manga fan), glee fans vs harry potter fans, and so and so on. This reflects on U.S politics as well.  Gay rights and abortion have become such hot button topics that we have developed a complete and total intolerance for the other side. Anyone who does not believe in gay rights/gay culture (I use culture instead of lifestyle because just like normal people they do not have a single strict lifestyle just like heterosexuals do not so I refuse to call it that) is automatically a bigot or a bible thumper, likewise anyone who is for them is either must be a "flaming homo", trying to destroy traditional values or is just a "dirty liberal. There is no middle ground, many people to not even think of the possibility of a middle ground and force people to choose a side. Just yesterday a friend of my mother's declared that lord of the rings was ruined as a "good Christian novel" because one of the characters was a gay actor. The same applies with abortion. If you're pro-choice you must want to kill innocent babies, if pro-life you understand nothing and just want to force unwanted pregnancy on a women. Pick any number of subjects and you can find similar stances. Since The Cold War, we have constantly spilt groups and people opposed to the majority or even just your view as "them" and "us", 9/11 serving just to add full to dying fire. This to me is simply the very definition of Un-American. As America we are called to become a melting pot and realize that your lifestyle is not your neighbor's nor should you hate them because of it. We are also obligated  to make sure that everyone has the same rights as you do ,no more no less, and yet we have fallen so far from this that it is tearing the fabric of our country apart by its seams.  Some people have blame religion for this but frankly that is more of "us" vs "them" just by an opposite side. No, the problem lies simply that as Americans (thanks to the Cold war) we want to be comfortable. We fear views opposed to our own because they do not fit what we view as normal and in return we try to "normalize" them by forcing them to follow are views. Many people even use the excuse of I don't want my children around _____ group so they should be banned. Again, this is unconstitutional and yet somehow very much legal in this country .Corporations buy votes for what values they think are important, citizens vote not on that will benefit us all but on what makes them most comfortable...Just like in the Cold War area. Only unlike that era the majority does not hold the same views and are very split down the middle which is why this "us" vs "them" mentality is so poisonous. Until this type of think is stopped we inch closer and closer to division and ultimately civil war.

- I would also like to add that the "protect the children "approach is extreme flawed and idiotic. Talk your child about what they see if you dislike it and tell them to stay away from that person/group. Just because you don't want to talk to your child about certain topics does not give you the right to decide who and what can exist in this country where all people are supposedly equal. That would be the comic book code of America, red scare, and lavender scare and xenophobia in American and all that did was create strife in our country. Not everything is for children and not all children our scared by things you find offensive.