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]

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.