38

The Shunned

You may have wondered what, exactly, was the reason for the list and descriptions of the many cliques that littered the halls of McClane High School in the previous post.

Here is your answer.

Included in that list was a clique that may help explain how cliques came to be formed, and why such a thing needed to exist in the first place.

You see, we humans are a social creature. Through evolution, these relatively small and weak, fleshy (tasty for predators) creatures with the prehensile thumbs found that when they amassed, they grew strong through sheer numbers.

Pack.

Without large fangs and claws, no ability to run at fast speeds, and a suck-ass hairless hide, these pitiful creatures had to use their brains.

And we did. We did quite well. We did so well, in fact, that we have become the most awesome species to have ever existed, any where, at any time.

The ultimate evolutionary result of such awesomeness has become Americans.

And now we have ruled this little planet, the only one of its kind in the whole universe, to such an extent that we have out grown it.

Earth is too small for our Human Awesomeness. That is why she is failing us.

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Shunned means those who are "the others."

In becoming social creatures we learned to shun those outside of our pack. These "Others" bring danger to your pack, your clan.

Such a strong evolutionary trait as self-preservation can never be avoided. Pack means that we draw lines, because there is safety in numbers, safety of your own Kind.

We have run out of natural enemies in the wild, as we grew and came to dominate this planet into submission.

So what do you do, to appease such a strong evolutionary trait?

This: we have turned to look at each other. We have drawn lines against the "Other" in our own species. We use religion, country borders, and economic levels to do this thing that our evolution needs to have done.

We use skin color. We use clothing styles, musical tastes, body shape, automobile choice, neighborhood, and even accent while speaking. How pitiful is that?

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The clique that held the tighest pack bond was the one called the "Okies" at that high school. This was the only one with the family bond. You had to born into it, marry into it, or at least get someone pregnant.

You see, when the Okies employed the misbegotten farming techniques that raped the soil and put no nutrients back into it, well, the rich soil turned to dry dust.

Dust Bowls were born.

So this tight clique of farmers left their hard lives in Oklahoma and ventured across the huge western prairies of the Mighty USA to reach the Golden State of Californication.

There, they encountered anger at their arrival. They were seen as leeches on society: moneyless, homeless, beaten down refugees. In their own America.


"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The Golden State welcomed them. But the Golden People there did not.

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Now what in thee hell is this shit all about that your TDC bud willies has placed on your plate this Saturday morning? What the fuck dude? You're harshing my high?

Why, simply to illustrate a point, which is this:

Some clans are stronger than others.

Some clans persevere, endure incredible adversity, and yet, they survive. They may thrive in the face of such ball-breaking fuckishness. They may even become bad-ass.



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Joey danced and made the young ladies hot for him.

The Football Players ripped off faces and broke bones on the field, and the Cheerleaders made the crowds roar for bloodlust.

The Loadies begged for more, and the Mods made fun of everyone else.

The Punkers regarded themselves as the Shunned, but it was the Okies who were the original Punks, who went to school each day, in the promise to their clans that they would rise above their parents' circumstances and provide a better life for their offspring than they had encountered, as their hopeful parents had in the previous, lost generation who had moved there.

Okies were the original Punks? Why?

Well, because they faced oppression through no evil of their own, and they persevered in face of this, by saying FUCK YOU to the social conventions of the folks who oppressed them.

There are other groups of people who also have done this.

Native Style. American Indian.

Can I get a Tahoo, muthafucka?

Tahoo.

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There was too much to absorb in this first day, too many styles and colors and attitudes there, but an understanding grew out of this experience, which was this:

Everyone needed to belong.

Now remember, there was a large contingency of folks who felt like they didn't belong to any clique. These were the loners, the independent souls, the original thinkers.

Perhaps the homogeny of these United States results in a loss of the idea of roots. Folks say that they are "Heinz 57" when asked about their heritage. This means that they are so diluted from the "melting pot" that they do not have any strong ancestry to claim.

Finally, the fucking story.

"Hey, who are you?" Joey strode away from the group of young ladies who melted for him and came up to me.

"I'm Will. Who are you?" I stood there in the warming sun as kids began to move to their first classes.

"I'm Joey. You a Preppie, huh. Well, it must suck to come to a new place at the end of the year. If ya like, I'll show you around."

I studied his eyes for a faltering hint of malfeasance, and saw that there was none. I said, "That's cool, Joey. What is your first class?"

He smiled. "Spanish."

This, from a Messican.

I laughed. "Really? Looking for an easy A huh?

He frowned. "No, I don't speak Spanish."

What in thee hell? I looked at his tie, his dress suit, his shiny shoes, and a new understanding awoke in me.

This guy did not speak with a Messican accent.

Why?

Evidently, his parents had such a time navigating the Golden State Society with their Messican accent that they chose not to put their only son through such a hardship. They sent him to white schools and did not teach him their native tongue.

I apologized in this manner. "Dude, I don't speak Spanish either! But I'd like, just once, to be able to order a dish of Messican food and have it not burn the hell out of my mouth."

Joey laughed. "No such thing," he said. "When is your lunch period?"

Turned out we had lunch at the same time. We agreed to meet, and he would help me navigate these new waters.

That is when I met the most awesome chick I ever knew in Californication.



Her name was Katheena. She was...

She was...

She was fucking awesome.

You will see, next week.

You have all the backstory. Sorry to put you through all this. There will be no more for this new series. But sometimes, this is needed in order to explain evolution.

The evolution of becoming a Punk.

Or is it De-evolution?



God Help You.

God Help Us All.


--willies out.



























From Dotta. Hehehehe oh jeeeeez