ownership

[Abax]

I was irked that these POSERS were out here DOING MY THING.

Is this a bit arrogant or am I reading it wrong?

I read Kid Cossack's statement as being ironic. I think he and Cloves are relating a time when they came to the realize that something they had thought was theirs was becoming ubiquitous.

I've had that realization before. At the time (when I was younger), I wondered if something important was being taken away from me, and had my worth (even self-worth) been somehow diminished. Of course not . . . that seems kind of silly now.

Abax

[IEScotsman]

So I spend my days trying to get people to take a chance and buy it themselves. I have to share the love.
And then it happens, my new thing becomes popular with the masses and every Tom, Dick and Harry races into the store to buy it. I often hear them talking about it with their friends while they browse the cd bins, and it makes me cringe. Because it's no longer my little secret. I can't claim any sort of ownership anymore. All of the new band wagoners feel like poseurs to me.

This seems hypocritical to me. You can't ask someone to like something and then get upset when they like it. Why should you be the only one allowed to admire something? I totally understand your love for music. I'm usually annoying someone (most often my wife) by singing along to every CD in the stereo!

Kilts are an interesting example. If I encourage someone to explore the kilted world and maybe take it up themselves, I think its great when they actually take that leap. But I don't consider it great if instead of taking the leap, they take a few side steps to something that more closely resembles a skirt or the latest Ramones fashion inspiration. A kilt is a kilt. It comes from a heritage and history. And while minor variation are allowable, even encouraged, there must be limitations. Not everything should be acceptable.

[Big Mikey]

Some very interesting comments and thoughts here. The first thing I thought of when I began reading, was tattoos. Fifty years ago, tattoos were things that only criminals, military men and bikers had. They were expressions of nonconformism and individuality. In the 70s, they became more accepted mainly due to artists like Spider Webb and Lyle Tuttle promoting their craft as art. This, coincidently, was when I began collecting. Through the 80s and
90s, tattoos were showing up on everyone. Grandmothers, models, pro athletes were all getting ink. Today, kilts follow the same path. They have been around for a long time but due to enthusiasts, such as the rabble, more members of the public are becoming aware of the joys of kilting. I am certain that the hoopla will die down at some point and the masses will move on to the latest fad and those of us who are truly dedicated will be left to carry on. A quote I heard once sums it best: "Let's all be individuals....TOGETHER!"
Keep the faith and Keep On Kiltin'!

[ccga3359]

This seems hypocritical to me. You can't ask someone to like something and then get upset when they like it.

No you can't, but I don't think Cloves was being hypocritical, only honest.

What we share with each other on this forum is miniscule compared to the rest of the world. We are a select group who enjoy the pleasures of kilts. Even within this forum we are still pretty much being individuals in the world. When new members join we encourage and advise them in to our world. The forum grows and more people are kilted.

Every day there is a posting from a newbie saying I just received my first kilt. We pat them on the back and welcome him to X-Marks. We ask them when they're ordering their next kilt. Our family grows a little every day, and in turn our world gets a little smaller. What's happening to Cloves happens to all of us. We are mourning our waning uniqueness, the loss of a little bit of individuality.

No you can't ask someone to like something and then get upset when they like it. But we do, this is a just small part of what defines us.

[Zardoz]

First off, Cloves; Well said!

I've felt that way about a few things in my time, music is one. The biggest for me was Harley Davidsons, Dad and I started riding them in the early 80's when the company was almost bankrupt, and you didn't see them on the road all the time. We would go to local rallys and be 2 of the 5 or 6 HD riders out of 50 bikers there! Plus all the time we had to hear a lot of crap from our Honda riding buddies etc...You had to be a pretty dedicated biker.

Flash forward about 10 years and you had to get on a waiting list to pay over retail for for a new Harley, and some of those Honda riding buddies are now dyed in the wool, made in USA Harley guys, which is cool, but I got tired of hearing them run down stuff they used to own.

It can suck to wake up and be popular !

I sold my last Harley in 1998, Got back on a Honda, mostly because I liked the particular bike, then I had to listen to everybody ask why I quit Harleys..

I'd tell them it quit being fun after they let everybody have one!

Kilts? Hell I wear them all the time, so the more the merrier! I'd be OK with not being 'the guy in the kilt' everywere! If a kid gets one of those things at Hot Topic and likes it, maybe gets into a nicer one down the line, maybe he learns about his heritage, maybe a friend catches on, etc...it's fresh blood, good for all of us.

[IEScotsman]

No you can't, but I don't think Cloves was being hypocritical, only honest.

What we share with each other on this forum is miniscule compared to the rest of the world. We are a select group who enjoy the pleasures of kilts. Even within this forum we are still pretty much being individuals in the world. When new members join we encourage and advise them in to our world. The forum grows and more people are kilted.

Every day there is a posting from a newbie saying I just received my first kilt. We pat them on the back and welcome him to X-Marks. We ask them when they're ordering their next kilt. Our family grows a little every day, and in turn our world gets a little smaller. What's happening to Cloves happens to all of us. We are mourning our waning uniqueness, the loss of a little bit of individuality.

No you can't ask someone to like something and then get upset when they like it. But we do, this is a just small part of what defines us.

I'm not attacking cloves for her opinion. I'm simply stating that her actions contradict. And while both may be honest, they are also hypocritical.

And why would you mourn when more join our kilted ranks? Shouldn't you be happy? After all, if you are on X Marks to celebrate the kilt and discuss it with others, I would think you would embrace those on the same path.

I'm sure I'm coming off as a "curmudgeon" (stolen from another thread), but I'm only trying to say that if you love something and seek to share it, you should not be dismayed when that love is returned. Be happy about it!

[KiltedKnight]

I'm sure I'm coming off as a "curmudgeon" (stolen from another thread), but I'm only trying to say that if you love something and seek to share it, you should not be dismayed when that love is returned. Be happy about it!

Why does this statement remind me of my ex-wife?

Chris.

[cessna152towser]

I wear a kilt for comfort, almost every day, and I'd be very happy to see kilts become mainstream so that I would stand out less in the crowd. Though there do seem to be quite a few kilt wearers out there who have this ownership complex and when they see another kiltie, give that disdainful look as though they think they are the only one with the right to wear a kilt.

[Fearnest]

I'm only trying to say that if you love something and seek to share it, you should not be dismayed when that love is returned.

The Portuguese have a word for this: "SAUDADE." It's so prevalent, it's a part of their national identity. It doesn't translate well to English, but the closest way to explain it seems to be "a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return."

Although I'm not Portuguese, I absolutely understand this. One is left with very conflicting feelings, and although they're dichotomous, I'd hesitate to call them hypocritical.

So I often feel saudade for music, for kilts, for the "old" army, and especially for specific people.

I'd never presume to speak for Cloves (or anyone else), but this sounds to me like what she's experiencing and describing.

[beloitpiper]

The point is not that we are going backwards, hankering over an image of the past. The point is that it has become a modern fashion statement with an industry of fashion designers to back it up.

I strongly disagree. It is not "backwards" to ressurect old traditions. To some people, a kilt may be a fashion statement, but to me, it is a heritage statement. Do I think the kilt looks fashionable? Yes I do, but I do not use it to shock people or change the fashion industryor anything like that. The only thing I am trying to say when I wear a kilt is "I am d*nm proud of my heritage. I love it, it is part of my deepest being, and I will keep it alive both in my heart and body."