After hours of after-hours observation in local bars (most ofwhich I can remember), I'm left wondering if posers continue tolurk in our youth culture.
Mesh (trucker) hats, shaggy hair, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer --these make up the recent movement of cool. But what do we callit?
Calling it "white trash" is tempting, but inaccurate. Not alltrucker hats are worn by white trash. Actual hard-working truckerswear them.
Shaggy hair? Men have been growing long hair since Jesus. But wedon't consider Jesus to be "white trash." Wait, do we?
Well then, what about Pabst Blue Ribbon beer?
Now that's trashy.
But I'm no authority on style. Just last week the fashion policebusted me when I ventured out -- in public, mind you -- wearing ablack belt and navy pants. (Hey, shut up -- my room is dark in themorning.) Considering my lack of fashion sense and wishing toremain sensitive toward America's blue-collar work force, I simplycall this latest trend "working classcool."������
But see, something isn't right.
There's nothing wrong with the working class, unless you countthe growing division between rich and poor that has the workingclass headed to the poorhouse, while voting habits indicate thatthey're fine with bankruptcy and unemployment as long as terroristsdon't get them.
Working hard, marrying and maybe even raising a family all areaspects of the working class spirit. That's the American Dream, andit is cool.
What isn't cool is trying to look like someone you aren't. Thatmakes you a poser.
That brings me back to our youth culture's appropriation of meshhats.
I asked around, and apparently this trend is in an effort toachieve the "trucker look." Breaker 1-9. Are you serious?
Truckers, long the butt of America's jokes -- mocked by fakesouthern accents and given the blanket nickname of "Bubba" -- arenow all the rage.
This makes me want to run outside, raise my arm, and makepulling motions in the air so as to prompt the next passing truckerto lay on that sumbitchin' horn.
That's a big 10-4, good buddy.
But were these hats the product of years of driving a big rig?No.
Were they purchased from the local Tractor Supply Center for thepractical purpose of keeping the sun from one's eyes and allowingthe heat on one's scalp? No.
These can be purchased in malls across America, just to achievethe "trucker look."
Yet the definition of "poser" does not apply here. Why not?
With television shows such as "That 70s Show" and films such as"Dazed and Confused," we've been experiencing a renaissance ofretro. Living in the past is cool.
Kitsch is cool too. That's why working Atari 2600 systems andMr. T lunchboxes are so funny, yet so neat at the same time.
It's why punk bands named The Ataris can cover old Don Henleysongs.
And somehow, that's how trucker hats are cool.
So look around. You're witnessing a zeitgeist.
"What's a zeitgeist?" some might ask. (Small vocabularies arealso cool.)
"What we have here is a combination of retro-kitsch andfaux-posing that is indicative of the times," you can reply.
"You mean our postmodern ennui in which the uncool becomescool?" they'll ask.
"10-4."
"Roll on, big mama."
"Keep on truckin'."
Write to John at kingseyeland@bsu.edu
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