Quote Originally Posted by Dreadbelly
People seem to forget that the kilt was also the garmet of farmers and peasants. Rough men that lived off the land. Hard men. Men who did not look the least bit frilly or dare I say, foppish. These were pragmatic idealists who wore the kilt because it did the job... Should we forget this in our rush to define tradition? Should we only embrace the "pretty" aspects of tradition and sort of stuff the rest of it back into the cultural closet?
Thats something that bugged me reading this thread. A few posts back, someone posted that the pic on the tartan police website got their hackles up because they were wearing the full gear kilts (tanks I believe they are called in kilt-slang) like togas at a toga party and they are a historical garment and deserve to be treated with more respect.

I'm willing to bet a lot of land was farmed wearing a 'tank' and a lot of partying and dirty business as well. It wasnt only the rich and famous and well-to-do wearing that getup, it was the poor sods working in the fields and whatnot wearing them too... were THEY disrespecting the heritage? No, because they were CREATING the heritage... but then if thats the case, how is wearing it more casually, and having fun while doing so so darn disrespectful?

The same person posted that if he wore all sorts of american garb and wore it in a silly fashion it'd be insulting... for one, most of the garb he mentioned was not a type of garment, but a specific one, or symbol. Something about the seal of the president of the USA on his sequined *** or somesuch. Yes, that is disrespectful because it's disrespecting a specific symbol. A better example would be to cut holes in your blue-jeans and dye them funny colors... oh, wait, we do that already... or I believe he mentioned a pioneer outfit of some sort... so what, wear it goofy if you want, I'm american and you arent offending me by disrespecting some style of american garment.

I'm not saying feel free to wear a kilt on your head after you spraypained it pink... but even if you did... you just look like an idiot. Anyone who's personally offended needs to take a step back and calm down a little. It's not your grandfather's war medal he earned by sacrificing his life to save another in the war... it's a kilt. A garment. Thats all. It may have some history, and some may be proud of that history... but to get angry over how someone else chooses to wear something related to that history? Isnt that a bit much?