Why did you abandon the mainstream?

[randomness]

(a placeholder for a more substantive post)

In many ways I was never accepted by the mainstream. By virtue of the combination of my race and upbringing, I was always going to be the "other". So in contrast to many of my friends, who appear to have consciously chose the subculture, I ended up here because integrating into the mainstream was problematic.

And there are many mainstream assumptions which I think are completely fucked-up. That tends to reinforce my decision. Not that the particular social niche I find myself in is lacking in fucked-up assumptions, but perhaps there aren't as many, or at least there are fewer which impact me directly.

I'm still thinking about this.

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

And who's to say if someone does something mainstream that they're "following" it? Why can't I do something mainstream (say, like I just did, by getting married to a man) because I made a conscious decision?

See for me, the mainstream never carried me along. Sometimes I do things that fall within the mainstream, sometimes without. But I do them because I want to or because I consciously think about them, not because I am within or without the mainstream. The mainstream has nothing to do with my decisions.

Folks I know have a hard time, say, putting up a Christmas tree because it's so mainstream. Dude, do what you want! screw whether other people do it or not! You want to be a follower of Darwin Ortiz, go ahead. Don't do it because of or in spite of the mainstream. Do it because you want to.

So, um, yeah.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

it's not that they're poseurs. It's that they felt oppressed for so long by those things, because it symbolized everything about "The mainstream" that they didn't like -- not having the right look or attitude or heritage or money or class to fit into the mainstream.

Not fitting into the mainstream is hell at first, but freeing later on because you see that you have other choices besides the mainstream. But it's still hell, because everything (or most things) mainstream are felt to be oppressive. The forest is oppressive therefore each individual tree is oppressive.

But yeah, doing that *is* giving power to it.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Mainstream = "what everyone does". Voting for Bush is mainstream. Reading Harry Potter is mainstream. Getting married, buying a car, buying a house, having 2.5 kids is mainstream. Reading Neil Gaiman is mainstream. Homophobia is kind of mainstream though acceptance is becoming more mainstream.

Livejournal is mainstream. Wikipedia is mainstream.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainstream

Memes are mainstream, by definition. Popular sayings and viral funny things are mainstream. Badger/Mushroom, Lolcats and All Your Base are mainstream.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Another definition, by example maybe?
It's the assumptions that people make that don't apply to me... mainstream is when people assume I'm Christian, or changed my name when I got married, or that I'm heterosexual, or that everyone has or wants to have children.

"It's Christmas so EVERYone goes to the MALL and buys toys for their CHILDREN" ..um, no, sorry, that experience is not universal. Mainstream is the luxury of assuming your experience is the universal or normal one. Find yourself on the outside of enough of those and you start to notice it.

[evilbunnymayhem.livejournal.com]

it's one thing to chat about ideas and concepts... sociological debate etc...
but when you don't do what you want... that's so sad.
So sad for their lack of xmas tree joy. I have a friend who goes out of his way to not do 'mainstream' things because he's 'indie'... an it seems to me more that he misses out on life in general by robbing himself of experiences.
i iz mainstreamz?