Trends ain't all that bad

We tend to push situations to the limits –and even far past them sometimes– when it comes to fashion and new trends. No society, during any era, ever accepted new trends easily. Starting from the hippies of the 60’s, so we don’t go too far back, and coming to today’s Pokemon Go players. Society disregarded these “misfits”, blamed them for everything that was wrong in society at the time, and never accepted them. Maybe, in the end, they just got used to them, a form of silent tolerance, which fell apart every once in a while through the equivalent anti-movements.

People tend to hate new trends, especially when they gain popularity and become massive. Sometimes because they don’t understand the significance trends have in our life, others because they might seem offensive. Most of the times, though, this red hot hatred exists for absolutely no reason at all.

Hippies were considered a threat to humanity itself; that’s how much they were misunderstood and resented during their time. Now we look back at that era with nostalgia and even idolize some of their representatives. Why? Because we became mature enough so as to understand that not every trend should be regarded as a mass behavior; or as a whole in itself for that matter.

The same thing happened with other trends of the 70’s, the 80’s and the 90’s. Even with trends of the early 00’s. Who doesn’t remember the early millennials slowly turning into emos? We also remember their depression, suicidal tendencies (at least in a theoretical framework). On the other hand, whoever said that never listened or liked a song by Tokyo Hotel or wore something with a checkers pattern is nothing but a big liar.

Everyone hates selfies, but we all post or participate in some. We hate silly hashtags in social media, but we all are going to use one at least once for fun, at a moment of inspiration or despair, etc. We hate Pokemon Go, but who cares, let’s catch Pikachu on our friend’s mobile device, because, well, we have nothing better to do at the time. We also hate hipsters but their clothing choices aren’t that bad.

And so the story goes and the list keeps growing. The more successful a trend is, the more haters it will obtain. However, it is our duty to respect its existence and consider which things led their setters to them. Moreover, we shouldn’t consider them as an avalanche of evil.

Of course some, or even the majority of their characteristics, may be silly, braindead, or even hazardous. However, most of the times there are some traits of these much condemned trends that we would rather like to adopt simply because they facilitate our lives, or even make us happier.

Denying everything positive about them is just a modern way of burning the witch, which doesn’t differ, at all, from the times of the Holy Inquisition. If we actually embrace (no-one talked about adopting) the ongoing trends as actual parts of our lives, maybe the next ones to come are going to be way more mild than the ones we were already used to.