Jessie+S’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016


 * Basic B's **

In this generation, I feel a constant pressure to be different and never be called the dreaded word “basic.” But is being “basic” such a bad thing? I don't think it is.

If a girl wants to wear leggings, ugg boots, patagonias, rainbows and listen to taylor swift then let her. Why is liking mainstream things seen as a bad thing? The things people like or the things people wear provide no insight into who they are as a person. The word “basic” merely judges a person by what they look like on the outside. Not to mention, the word “basic” is a word mainly used to describe women. What about basic boys? How many hawaiian print button ups, khaki shorts, and nike socks do you see a day? And before you roll your eyes from another feminist argument, it is simply unfair that women are held to a higher standard in appearance than men. Men can buy one shirt and one pair of paints and then buy 100 sets of that, wear it for the rest of their life, and nobody would say anything. If a women did that she would be seen as plain

I have to admit that I'm guilty of calling people “basic” because to be quite honest the thought of being like everyone else scares me too. I have convinced myself to not like certain things because they are “too popular.”

It used to be that everyone wanted to fit in, wear the same clothes and have the same hairstyles, but now in order to fit in you have to stand out. And I guess in some ways that is a good thing, people have more individuality that way, however, if everyone is unique or everyone is the same, it is essentially the same thing. In other words if everyone is unique it becomes the norm.

There have also been times that I have gone out of my way to find things that nobody else knows about. There is a pressure, especially at foothill, to do something incredible and think out of the box even if it means sacrificing who you are as a person. Teenagers especially, will do something unique in order to gain recognition and validation from their peers and even their teachers. And sometimes I find that when people go so far out of the box to be “unique” they often times lose sight of themselves and do something they would not have done if they weren't under pressure.

For example kids will lie on their college applications because they feel like they are not “good enough,” or unique enough, for the college that they are applying to. Colleges pressure kids into going out of the box and creating something amazing and they give off this expectation that in order to be accepted into the best schools like harvard, yale and princeton then you better have created an unmanned rocket to mars by now. But I think what people forget is that if everyone is so unique and so creative then in some ways everyone is the same, and that is the paradox of it all.

I’m tired of being looked down upon by those who think that anything mainstream is below them. And I can’t lie, I have been there too, I have looked down upon mainstream music saying it is “easy to listen to and has a repetitive chord progression, it was probably written in 2 days and has no meaning.” Which may or may not be true but regardless, it is unfair to be pretentious about someone's music or clothing choices when I have no idea what those things mean to someone else. A song that I think has no meaning could mean everything to someone else. There is nothing wrong with liking mainstream music or wearing mainstream clothes, the problem is that those who don’t like those things look down upon those who do. Nobody should have to wear high waisted pants, listen to Velvet Underground and Cage the Elephant to be considered “hip” or unique. Being unique is something that everyone has and it is not something that has to be expressed solely through appearance or music interest. People now are defining how unique or basic someone is based on what they look like on the outside instead of who they are as people and that isn’t fair.

And let’s just talk about the people who try SO HARD to look like they’re not trying. Why did messy buns that take 2 hours to accomplish ever become a thing? It seems a little counterintuitive. If you have to try really hard every morning to find something “hip” to wear or even try really hard to find cool hip bands that you like, then chances are you’re trying to be something you’re not. People are wasting too much time and energy into being a “unique” person that it is actually taking away from who they are. People are trying to fit into a mold of what they think is unique which defeats the entire purpose. By trying so hard to be hip people are destroying who they are in the process. Everyone is unique without even trying and most of us forget that.

I want to live in America where it’s okay to be basic, where people will not be ridiculed for not liking out of the box music or clothes. Where people are free to like what they want to like.