Kilts and Self-Identity

[staticsan]

I'm also intrigued at how many people responded to this thread and didn't say anything at all about whether kilts and kilt-wearing had anything to do with their self image. That was, after all, My whole point. I'm not angry or upset at that, just intrigued at how many people either wrote down a list of things theat they feel "define them"...or said "I am ME" and little else, or cracked a joke...but nowhere in there was a mention of kilts.

No, kilts, don't define me. Or, to put it another way, take away my kilts and you won't change me.

But kilts (and skirts) are an expression of what I am, however. It's very hard to define how you would be that you would choose to go kilted, I must add. In today's society, there is a certain streak of individuality and non-conformist that would need to be there to wear a kilt - and I say that remembering my audience, because we can 'retreat' into X Marks so easily and forget that our desire to be apart and the common way we've chosen to do that - i.e. kilts - is what has brought us together.

Wade.

[corbinj]

I say we shear the sheeple, put them back out to pasture. Then spin and weave the ultimate definition of what we are or are not from the wool. After we have spun and woven we can dye the cloth to our own unique pattern and color, the kind that identifies us as individuals. Then we can wear it out and around to show how truly unique we are, whether pants or kilt or shorts or whatever. Wait, why is everyone bald? Because we all collectively are someones sheeple, to be shorn and pastured in some catagorical pasture on someones neatly catagorized farm of opinion. I think we are sneeches, some with stars some without, but all sneeches just the same. Read the book or reread it it explains everything. and to theo le sieg (dr.seuss) sorry just the same. see ya.

[Alan H]

Also, I don't think I have ever, in all my days, seen anyone who would CLAIM to be sheeple.

EVERYBODY claims to be unique and amazing and in my humble opinion, they are, and so then...who is left to be sheeple?

*wink*

This is distressing me...these unanswered questions. Perhaps I should declare myself to be the sheeple, and thereby become unique, since nobody else will own up to it. But then...by being unique, I wouldn't be sheeple any more. Besides, I wear kilts and I can't be a sheeple if I wear a kilt, can I? Or can I? Maybe I'm one of *THEM*; the kilted sheeple......Oh, this is making my head hurt.

Where's the Aberlour ten-year?

[Erisianmonkey]

My dear Alan,

Your tongue seems to be further from your cheek than you claim. While you say that you are joking, you make some serious statements that I feel I must respond to, since I am the one who put forth the term "sheeple." You are correct in that sheeple won't claim it, but when you encounter one, you will know. Sheeple are those who think that the mainstream is always right. Sheeple are those people who keep up with the Jonses and look down on anything that deviates from their comfortable norm. Pants wearers? Most of them. But I know of people who would wear kilts that I would define as sheeple, and indeed I feel we might have one or two on the board here, even. One of the identifying marks of a sheeple is an absolute hatred of those who would defy the norm, whether that norm is pants wearing for men, or the choice of accessories for a kilt. A sheeple advises people to worry what other people think, rather than advising someone to first determine what they feel about something-then considering what others would think. A sheeple is one of those people who understand and live by the statement made by Frank Burns in M*A*S*H, "Individuality is fine, as long as we all do it together."

A fine line between being a sheeple and an arrogant jerk? No. A sheeple is, by definition, an arrogant jerk. They are so comfortable in their conformity that they feel that they can abuse others for their choices, regardless of the individual's feelings, because they have the crowd behind them. An independent person, on the other hand, does not care what the crowd thinks of them, and does not attack based on outward appearances. One thing I would note, you find sheeple outside the mainstream as well! The defining nature of sheeple is the "fierce herd" mentality. Anything new or different is attacked, unless accompanied by approval from the leaders of the herd. The herd leaders of sheeple tend, of course, to be celebrities. The only valid defenses from one sheeple to another are "I saw this on ______," or "________ wears these now." Otherwise, the sheeple displaying individuality is likely to encounter attacks or shunning.

Do I care what others think of me? Only on an individual, case-by-case basis. As to what a herd of sheeple thinks, hell no. Does that make me an arrogant jerk? No, because I make my judgements of people based on interaction, not appearance. Sheeple don't.

[furrycelt]

Alan, you make some great points and present some excellent questions. i think about this stuff too.

imho, i think that "sheeple" is a nebulous (but applicable) label. at times i am a sheeple; and sometimes i have to be and shouldn't, and sometimes i need to be. at some point in our lives we all are sheeple. so yeah, even kilt wearers can be sheeple. as Erisianmonkey said, sheeple are people that are in the state of being a member of a herd. we can't all live at the extreme of individualism, then we would not function as a society. but at the same time we cannot exist as drones in a hive, then our world would not progress. yes, a happy balance has to be found.

what i dislike, or rather what saddens me, is those who put on their sheeple suit because they are afraid of life or are just apathetic. to expand on what i said before, when i am kilt-less in public i become hyper-aware of my sheeple-ness. and that reinforces my desire to wear a kilt so that i can make sure that i do not sleepwalk thru life as a sheeple; and more importantly to me, me being kilted in public causes others (some sheeple some not) to stop and think: to think that it is possible to not conform.

and i agree that many of us do walk the line between sheeple-hood and arrogant-jerk-ness pretty well. just as i am at times a sheeple, there are plenty of times that i am an arrogant jerk, heck just look at some of my posts here. but i don't think the line is all that thin (read: "fine") as you mentioned. i think the line is rather wide (and thank goodness too).

[Wompet]

Back to the original question:

When prompted by the question "Who are you?" ... I'm going to focus on kilts.

... What's your take on it, for yourself?

Kilt-wearing does not define who I am - to me.
Does it define me to other people - yes.
If their definition is accurate, I will reinforce it - that is me.
If their definition is a misconception, I will play with their misconceptions - that is also me.

[Alan H]

Back to the original question:

Kilt-wearing does not define who I am - to me.
Does it define me to other people - yes.
If their definition is accurate, I will reinforce it - that is me.
If their definition is a misconception, I will play with their misconceptions - that is also me.

Now, I really enjoyed this answer...<i>grinning

[Alan H]

BTW, regarding the sheeple stuff, my tongue really was in my cheek.

However, I'm always wary of folks who say that pants-wearers are "the other" and WE, The Kilted are BETTER than they are. This can be done in a number of ways; being condescending, thinking that you're doing the pants-wearing guy a favor by explaining to him how wrong he is to wear something different from what you choose to wear, or assuming that anyone who has any brains would OBVIOUSLY wear a kilt, because of Reasons A, B, and C.

In fact, Men who wear pants are no better and no worse than any of us. I wear a kilt sometimes and I have my own personal list of sins and mistakes, and they have precious little to do with what the shape of the cloth is, that I strap 'round my rump in the morning. pants, Kilts, we're all men and women with our strengths and weaknesses. I happen to think (others may disagree) that wearing *something*....a uniform, a kilt, a hat, a pin....does not confer superiority or virtue.

Which at heart is why kilt-wearing is not a part of my self image. It's a fun thing, comfortable and I enjoy them...but what I wear has little to do with how I judge my intrinsic virtue, value or valor.

[McMurdo]

Alan I have been thinking about your question, and have thought about my answer for some time now. For me I am the sum of all my experiences, the good, the bad, the stuff I can't remember, all of it. At my core I have always been and always will be an artist for as long as I can remember I have been an artist, and I have been lucky in that I have been able to pursue my early goal of becoming an artist or at least honing the skills that I have been blessed with.

I am a twin, a brother, a son, sometimes a reluctant part of a family. I am someone who has fought his demons and won, with help of course,
I have been a father figure, I suppose I have been a lot of things to a lot of people.

As far as who I am to me that is even harder to answer, in quite a few ways the answer to who I am to myself is always evolving, at one point in my life I thought all I was was a drunk, a waste of space, a bad example, that was of course only part of an ever changing picture, today I am none of those things, today I am a recovering alcoholic, and I can and I am sure have been used as a good example.

As far as kilts or kilting goes they are simply a garment, and really as far as my identity, only serve to define me to the people around me, or who see me walking down the street. I don't think about it, or any garment as defining me. It is like being defined by my leather jacket or because I ride a motorcycle, or have tattoos, that's not who I am that's what I do or what I wear.

Some people I am sure have defined me by all these things and more, to me however how others define me is largely of little consequence, unless they try to impose some kind of power over me, witch they really can not do unless I allow it to happen.

Well for now today that is my answer, I am sure it would be different later.

[CameronTaylor]

Wether you're kilted, panted, or naked - the only opinion that truly matters is your own. Those that fail to understand this are sheeple (or would that be sheople ???? wood it ???), the rest are individuals or in CduS terminology: Quidam (booming voice here)
Who do you see in the mirror ?


Ax.