Paper Street

Most of us have by now reached the age of majority, or indeed, the legal age to vote. Unfortunately, a great deal of us, as youth in general, do not actively go out to understand the political process.

Democracy is up there as one of the most important societal revolutions in human history – but we’re not doing enough to protect it. Becoming knowledgeable is a pivotal part of this process.

I don’t often talk politics to friends – for good reason. Every time I have done so, I have faced either a great lack of knowledge, or great ignorance in the defense of one side over another. I could be wrong here, but I don’t think many of us (again, as youth) even know the difference between ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ values.

Why is this a problem? Some of you might feel that the issues don’t pertain to you. Or maybe you believe what you think won’t make a difference. Don’t be disillusioned by the process. I see indifference, and that’s why I’m concerned. Politics does affect you.

To illustrate why politics affects us in every day life, I can do no more than to give some stories from my life. Politics has undoubtedly affected me a great deal. In fact, the greatest, if not the only, reason that I live in Canada is political. My family, along with a great deal of other immigrants from Hong Kong (I’m sure you all know many of them), came here and to other parts of the world in order to escape the 1997 return of the former British colony to China. The fear was legitimate, on the heels of the Tiananmen Square debacle (Google it if you must) of 1989. Families were afraid that they would no longer have any say in issues that affected them. So they found a place where they could have that right.

But here I am, in Canada, where the standard of living is one of the best in the world, and people have become disillusioned by politics. I had a few friends who wanted to join the army – and I asked them whether they paid attention to politics. The answer, both times, was no. I was quite shocked. When I questioned further, I found that one of them supported the Conservative party. Perhaps the irony is lost on some of you. The Conservatives have been adamant in sending more troops to Afghanistan, when many Canadians are clearly opposed to the Canadian presence there. Nobody wants to risk their lives – and here I saw how ignorance could lead to that very thing.

The same thing is happening in the States. I hear far too often on TV, the leaders of the country pulling out 9/11 as a justification for the War in Iraq. Do people really not realize that the two things have virtually nothing in common? Those behind 9/11 were most Arab terrorists. Not Iraqis. Of course, that’s in addition to the fact that the war has already been proven to have been started on false pretenses. Iraq had no WMDs, and many army officials and intelligence officers knew that. Then even after the war clearly going the wrong direction, Bush was re-elected for another term in office to continue his vendetta.

I’d go into more examples, and more political debate, but I’m afraid that’ll fill up another post (to come later).

Clearly, politics is an important force in our lives. Sometimes it’s subtle – so much so that it’s hard to notice. It does, however, have an effect. That’s why you should pay attention.

Get knowledgeable – read the papers (please don’t watch TV for political commentary… it’s fatally flawed, read blogs, listen to the debates. Understand the issues, and then go out and talk about the things that are important to you. The most important part of democracy is the spread of ideas, and the prevalence of good ideas. That won’t happen unless people understand, and talk.

Welcome to Paper Street. Undoubtedly, you must be wondering to yourself, what in the world is this mess? Or perhaps you’re just staring at our pretty header photo mesmerized by the impossible Rubik’s cube. Either way, you’ve found your way into our humble abode – a blog that will, perhaps, one day become great.

So, what is this about? Well, many moons ago, when I started my first blog, I was a little hesitant to post my rants and opinions about a variety of topics. I was a little afraid of judgment from my friends, and I wondered if people would begin to see me as some very strange person. What I found, to my surprise, was that there were a great deal of people who were receptive to new ideas and opinions, and I began to realize the need for more intelligent discussion of ideas. My good friend Alex soon joined the fray and began his own blog, aptly named ‘Societal Rants’, on which he voiced a number of opinions on topics close to his life. While the blog, which I had occasionally contributed to, was not a great success, we did find some willing readers who took the plunge and gave us feedback on our chosen topics. Unfortunately, the blog slowly faded into obscurity as we became busier with other aspects of our lives.

Now, we wish to begin again. Over the last few months, we’ve had some serious discussions about many interesting topics, giving us new ideas and opinions to ponder over. We’ve decided to share our thoughts to the world, and to find out what the rest of you think.

I believe there is a great need in our society for people to think more about what they are doing, and about what is happening to them. Far too often, information (or misinformation) from the mass media is simply accepted by a vast majority, who rarely think about what they hear with a wider perspective. Are things always the way they seem? Well, we’re here to see if that’s the case.

The world isn’t a perfect place, it probably never will be – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. If you feel that something is wrong, then why shouldn’t you speak up? Every improvement starts with a voice, and every voice needs to be heard. We’ve found some issues that we’d like to share with the world – to give our two cents on what we think about it, and to (hopefully) shed some new light on old views. Most of all, we’d like you to think about the things we say – they may not always be ‘right’ (if such a concept can be defined), and we love to hear your opinions and feedback. We want you to think.

So begins Paper Street, fittingly named after Tyler Durden’s Paper Street Soap Company from the great movie Fight Club, in its anti-capitalist and anti-media spirit. Initially, we’ll only have a few close main contributors, but of course, anyone can comment and discuss our ideas. If you feel interested in joining our endeavour, do not hesitate to tell us, and we’ll gladly let you fling out your ideas.

While we’re writing up our ideas, we’ve imported some of the best posts from Societal Rants, so you can read up if you haven’t yet. We will begin to post some of our thoughts very soon though!

As I’ve said before, use your freedom of thought; use your freedom of speech. Think. That’s the essence of a free society. Now let the fun begin!

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I’m tired of all this social crap of defining what everyone “should” be. We can be told theoretically how to be a good person, but just by practicing these rules, does that genuinely make someone an actual good person?

Actually it seems people are MORE caught up about their “theoretical” goodness than practicality. Sounds similar to the idea of “book smarts” vs. “street smarts”.

Anyways, I say this because I’m sick of trying to be a “good” boyfriend in theory. All this crap at “what to do when you like a girl”, like steps to take starting with “1) ask her out”… etc. etc. blah blah…. is driving me insane. It’s making me base my actions on a list of stupid procedure, instead of doing things from impulse and emotion. Actually that sounds bad in terms of like a business standpoint, but doing business is very opposite than doing things from love. When it comes to love, impulse and emotion is what defines you, not the petty “procedure”.

Do what you want. If you’re in love, and you two know it, do what you want. Don’t be afraid to be judged upon doing what the girl or guy is “supposed” to do, because a textbook can’t show you how to love. So why follow the textbook in the first place?

If anyone’s seen the French movie “A Very Long Engagement”, you’ll notice how they were both deathly in love. And the guy seemed so fruity, but did that matter? No, because he did everything out of love, and didn’t care what ’society’ thinks or says. And neither should we.

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(In response to how our “Matchmaker” activity (which is a survey, and matches you with others at school, as a valentines spirit thing) got cancelled, because some questions “does not promote character development”.)

I’m not understanding my school’s administration. So the purpose of the administration’s actions are to do what is in the best interest of the entire school and the entire community. In this case, because this activity does “not promote character development”, this would ward an activity that is essentially “useless”.

But of course, that would make sense on an obvious scale. Not promoting character development = useless = doesn’t forward the school in terms of reputation towards the community and the board or anyone.

I think the administration is a bit too caught up with the technicalities of how everything makes them look (self-conscious? as in a bad developed character? oh the irony). I remember the time when the administration used to include the wants of the students in their decision making process, even if it is reasonable (which most things are). But nowadays students have no influence…. at least with our administration.

Now let’s compare this to an activity that DOES promote character development. Throw one up for example… how about the Leadership Conference (once known as Supernova)? Oh wait, that would be a horrible example, being that this program designed as a great way for promoting character development is… nonexistent. Let’s try another example… … hmm, can’t think of anything.

So how about hypothetically. Let’s say that there is some sort of day where character development is an event’s key purpose. How about if Student Council has a Spirit Day, called the “Perseverance Day!” or the “Optimism Day!”. Now as students, how do you feel this event will run? In all honesty, even if students ARE some how hyped up about these events (which is next to impossible), will it actually make a difference in terms of actually developing character? Are students going to become more optimistic with everything they do in life, because “Student Council tells them so”? Let’s think about that one.

Now what happens if we have events at school, for the sole purpose of just creating good, clean fun. Like Autumnfest for example! Does hitting each other with spirit sticks, or doughnut eating contest really do a difference on one’s character? No. But does it make a difference in school, where student mindsets are changed about how they see this standard boring institute? Maybe by giving students something besides standard academics, and boring “character development” exercises, they might actually enjoy school. And hey, students wanting to enjoy school wards many things! The most important thing for administration is positive image they’ve created. Hey, RHHS students love coming to school and learning, and being the top trained kids academically and have a great time at school! That looks good to me. And hey, if students are actually wanting to come to school everyday, doesn’t that sound a bit like optimism to you? Oh no, and isn’t optimism a “character” that matters? Oopsie daises, seems like school spirit accidentally promoted character development in a way that… works.

If the Matchmaker thing was actually still on, definitely I would have something to look forward to. I’ll actually want to come to school that day, regardless of what test / midterm / exam / eut / essay / etc I have to do.

It’s great to keep everything in line by treating school like a corporation, but even corporations have some sort of employee appreciation.

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Credibility: This is purely based on opinion, I have nothing to back me up… though I’m sure somewhere out there a highly elevated professor would agree with me.

I believe that a lot of talents can be learned, and aren’t simply something that one is born with.

I’m going to be using Art and Music as an example for my arguments. For example, a science kid would go up to an art kid and say “Wow, you’re really talented at art. Look at my drawings, they look like crap…”. I would say if that science kid was younger and realised that he or she enjoyed art, and practiced it every day, they would be able to achieve the same level as the art kid. Why? Because that’s exactly what the art kid did, not because of some magical born talent.

So the difference between someone who has a “talent” in art and someone who doesn’t, is that at a young age the art kid had interest in that area and practiced for a long time. I think “interest” and “talent” are very distinctly different, and “talent” is merely a product of one’s “interest”.

Now arguably, and I won’t deny it, there are those who seem to have a “gift” of talent. Okay, lets say Mr. Perfect Pitch was born with the proper conditions where he could learn instruments in a heartbeat… the difference with that is he can skip the “interest” phase and get right to the talent. But this is why I’m not calling it a talent, instead I consider it a “gift”. It’s just a shortcut to the “talent” that everybody can still achieve with determination and hard work.

With the right mindset and determination that one has from an interest in a certain subject, it would influence them into learning quicker and reaching this high level of “talent”. Let me give you a personal example. In grade 8’s time, I would say I could sing to a reasonable degree. It honestly wasn’t anything magical or special where I would consider it a talent. I just was able to hit the right notes in a very small range, no biggie. But then I never sang, even for fun, for years after. So when I sang in grade 10, it sounded like a donkey who got hit by a tractor. But then I discovered how I enjoyed singing, and for a year (grade 11) I used to sing to songs I liked in the privacy of my own home, and kept on singing for my vocal range to increase. And hey, right now I sound ok… not Celine Dion, but the point is I managed to improve my SKILLZ, into what someone would now consider a “talent”. No dear, I’ve worked with my “interest” to getting to this level of “talent”.

Same goes with art. I really, really believe that the only difference between a crappy drawer and picasso, is that picasso actually cared. Now you math kids who hate art and draw skunk crap as a result of trying to draw a beautiful girl… I think that if you had the patience and determination, and a good art teacher, you could actually achieve the level that I’m at. I’m no picasso, so that’s why I think it’s achievable (picasso is pushing it. Heck why am i referencing picasso? DaVinci is more like it.) It’s all about the mind set

Practice makes perfect! Practicing an interest makes it a talent.

Think about it.

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Target audience: High School students getting the effects of Careers class (maybe only my school’s horrible careers program, maybe more)
Bias: Okay, I hate careers class because of my horrible teacher (you know me enough to know this isn’t simply a naive statement) and it is evident in this article. But nonetheless, that isn’t the purpose of the article… so still read on.

I have a problem with what we learn in our grade 10 careers class. This pretty much is where we are first introduced to “job interviews”, and what we are taught is “Be formal. Give them perfect responses. Give a good impression…” Ok these tips all have merit, but their vagueness and oversimplistic statements just so wrong. For an average student, here’s the response to these suggestions: “Ok, so to be formal I’ll be quiet and do exactly what the interviewer says. I’ll give perfect responses by bullshitting every answer and say what seems most ‘ideal’. A good impression would be a suck-up laugh to anything they say. A ha ha!”

You can see where it goes wrong, right?

I have to admit, I’ve even been suckered by this mindset as well. The opinions stated above of the “average student” were pretty good at representing me as well. But now that I’m looking for a job and this learned knowledge comes in to application; I’ve realised it’s gotten me nowhere.

Sure I’ve learned how to write a resume (a horrible resume nonetheless. They didn’t teach me how to properly make a skills based resume for a summer job, which my sister had to tutor) but in terms of interviews it didn’t do anything. It made me worse probably. So while asking my dad for tips regarding my resume and job interviews, he told me the reality of things:

• The purpose of an interview are for two things: to let the employer get to know who you are and if you’re what they need, and also for you to get to know the employer to see if you want to work for them.

Of course, how obvious was that? Yet we don’t learn these things.

We’re misguided with the idea from careers class that the point of an interview is strictly for the interviewer to see if you have the right answers. No. Absolutely not, there is more depth in an interview. The main purpose is for the interviewer to see who you are as a person, and how can he or she do so when all your responses are “ideal” and “bullshit” answers?

Your bullshit isn’t worth the little treasures it may hold.

Don’t be afraid to let them know who you are. Of course you should be more formal and more polite than when you are talking to friends, but at the same time you need to be as honest and as comfortable for them to even begin wanting to hire you. You’re getting to know the interviewer for your job as much as he or she is getting to know you.

Now I could go on “bullshitting” about how careers class may be worthy of a class… but HA I wont. I wouldn’t bullshit like that, because unlike what they taught us, I’d rather be honest and like myself. I honestly think that my careers class has ruined it for many students who were victims of it (that would be everyone at my school grade 10+). Thanks.

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What’s the deal with PDA (public displays of affection)? In a relationship, I think it’s important that the two are close together, and have a special bond… but this however doesn’t mean they should just stand in the middle of a public place and think they are the only people in this world and make out furiously.

Ok, to an extent, it’s reasonable to share affection and do things that are “cute” or “romantic” even if it’s in a relationship’s ‘own world’. (Often times, guys may not see the “cute”ness of these situations whereas girls do, but I’m not saying that’s giving me a bias to this article). But even with the understanding of relationships naturally aww-ing the public in cases, ultimately, “making out” does NOT qualify as cute or romantic. Seriously. Not even to the ditzy girls who would find anything aww-ing.

Now on the other hand, if we actually get into the situation and understand more than the plain “making out” aspect, such as: a guy and girl meet each other from afar, and haven’t seen each other in such a long time that they run up to each other and kiss, while holding each other in their arms for hours and hours and just stand there together… yes that is a public display of their affection, but it qualifies as being “romantic” or “cute”. Even I, as an angry guy especially on this subject of pda, agree that it qualifies as being aww-worthy. But if these two just walk up to each other after seeing the other just a few hours or minutes ago, and just start orally attacking each other… well does that really seem romantic to you?

The expression “get a room” isn’t merely a simple joke to “hahaha you’re so hilarious!” to. It actually means more than the some how ‘funny’ aspect of them getting down privately in a room. That “get a room” phrase implies that we (as the public) really don’t give a crap how much you two are in love; share your affection within the two of you, not in public. It’s not saying don’t make out, because that would be just plain selfish on the public’s part. It’s saying you can share your connection together, just not here where it makes others furiously disgusted.

On a side (but somewhat related) note, here’s what couples really shouldn’t do:
- don’t patronise others just because you’re in a relationship and they’re not
(do you think because in your mind you put yourself as superior, no one else would think the opposite?)
- don’t detach your friends just because they’re not directly within your relationship’s “world”
(a relationship should be a compliment, not a replacement of other friendships)
- and finally, don’t forget that there are others around you when you decide to publicly display your affection.
- Ultimately, don’t let a relationship cloud your mind.

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I’ve been wondering to myself in English class, “how can one analyze the subject of love and sexuality in poems and stories, if most of us do not actually understand it first hand?” We discuss in class how characters in stories do things for love, feels certain ways, do certain things etc. but how can anyone fully grasp a concept without experiencing it in life?

Anyways, let me explain more specifically the discussion in class. Today my teacher brought up some notices and such about sexual innuendos in a poem we read that no one was able to detect; something about a guy telling a girl not to become a nun, because it’s like a rose who ends up simply dying instead of being plucked and living forever as potpourri (in vague terms: she should lose her virginity to live a useful life). I thought this was beautiful, but could also tell that many of the females in my class only took it in as simply a literature analysis statement.

What I’m trying to get at is, as children we are taught that sex is a forbidden topic. We grow up being hesitant even to mention the word “sex”. Sex education nowadays teaches us the negative aspects of sex in our world, including the consequences such as STDs, and unwanted pregnancies. Of course this is really important to us as a society, because the consequences of sexual intercourse can really damage a life and a future… however this is an automatic assumption that is put upon us as teenagers that we’re all going out to parties every weekend getting drunk and having casual unprotected sex. Of course this applies to a portion of us in the world, but what happens to the young innocent girls who you know would never throw their lives away to risk something such as this?

These type of girls are brought up being taught that sex is absolutely wrong, and forbidden. There is no right to it, and it shouldn’t even be considered. What this does to them, is it creates this concept in their head where they’re forced to see only the negative aspects of sex, sexual desire, practice, etc. By doing this, they never end up understanding what sex is, and at the same time they don’t want to. While the government is keen on educating the youth and allowing the nation to be more knowledgeable in subject such as the consequences of sexual activity, of course it may work for a part of the population, but it actually ends up sheltering girls who are falsely accused for something they’d never do. The government wants us to be more knowledgeable, but people twist the concepts in their head that they learn as kids and automatically assume that sex and anything having to do with it, is wrong.

Once in a while, the topic of sex comes up with friends and while sometimes it’s just a pure joking “guyish” conversion, other times it actually gets interesting to hear the views of others. With the guys, obviously the discussion revolves around the same “guyish” idea; after all we grow up together and experience puberty similarly as well are significantly more open to discussion on embarrassing personal subjects (which is why this article is about young females, which may sound biased but really isn’t. Yes, guys learn about sex differently). However with girls, it is much more different and actually very interesting to hear the views since they can vary extremely from person to person. I remember hearing the strangest things such as “girls only have sex when they’re feel sad…” and “‘sex’ is something two people share [strictly] for the purpose of advancing relationship.” Hmm, interesting. As for most of those who aren’t sexually active, their concepts generally believe that sex has absolutely nothing to do with anything physically, and is all just an emotional “step” in life.

Ok I’m not writing this article for the purpose of sex education, and I’m not going to preach my views on sex and what it is. However I’m just trying to make the point that we live in a world where our so-called “education” on sex ends up being detrimental instead of providing the benefits from it’s intentions. It has good intentions, and I understand how difficult it is for them to target their audience… but I’m just bringing up a point where what is happening, is happening.

And I’m by no means saying vaguely that “party animals should not have sex, and introverted shy girls should go out insane!” Absolutely not. What I’m saying is those girls who’ve been imposed on the negative concepts of sex in this world are shut off to something that needs to be understood and embraced. Sexual activity isn’t simply “something dirty, that you’d only do when you’re married”. It’s a whole lot more than that, and there are numerous reasons for someone to make a life decision and begin a sexually active life. There are also numerous reasons for someone to choose not to be active. But all that matters is if it’s done for the proper reason and the concequences are properly thought out… along side with the benefits.

Sexuality isn’t bad people. Sex for the wrong reasons, like social acceptance, peer pressure, uncontrollable desires… is wrong. But eventually, in our lives as we mature, what needs to be realised is sexuality is part of us as humans, and is more than just something emotional.

Does one really believe that during mating season for animals, animals are simply “programmed” to randomly mate and have offsprings? There’s actually aspects of sexual attraction and it’s not just the next “programmed step” in life. Surprise surprise, animals have feelings.

Now there obviously isn’t a solution to this whole detriments of sex education. The purpose of this article wasn’t to be an advocate against sex education, it was just to inform people that this is an issue that should be thought about. We hear weird comments going around that are clearly a misinterpretation of sex, and if you think about it all roots from a misconception of what we are being taught. So basically if you are one of these “girls” with similar ideas expressed in this article, just realise that sex isn’t simply “the next emotional step in life”, and is more an aspect of one’s life that shouldn’t be judged with simple conclusions. It can’t be simply judged as “bad” because theres so much more to it to put a single label and assume correctness.

It’s an aspect of life as a human being that should be explored. Just get the whole picture before judging something as simply bad or wrong, and open your mind to the world.

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In the age of universal education, a new problem has appeared before us. With so many students, and so much pressure from parents and teachers, students have been driven to competition like never before. The focus in the classroom has shifted from learning to ‘getting high marks’. So much so that in fact, students no longer absorb information for the sake of learning, but pound it into their brains to get that coveted “perfect” on the next test, quiz, or exam.

Don’t believe me? What are the first words uttered by your friends beside you after getting a test handed back to you? Of course, being bombarded by a series of “What’d you get?“’s is not quite that pleasant, especially if the mark wasn’t all that stellar. When the teacher posts ‘anonymous’ mark updates, the first thing everyone does is crowd around to guess who’s who on the mark lists.

The problem goes beyond simple curiosity in the classroom – in fact, the problem wouldn’t be a problem if people merely wanted to find out how they are doing compared to others. The problem comes when friends start conspiring against other students with higher marks. This is all too common in the AP classes. Groupwork is no longer done with friends to have a good and friendly atmosphere; groups are now formed well in advance when people make ‘deals’ with each other in order to achieve the highest marks. What’s the deal with that? It has never failed to amaze me every time I see it happen.

Even in grade 10 and 11, when marks don’t matter for university or college (exception to the rare student who wishes to go to the States), I see people getting all moody and upset over tests, and even resorting to begging the teacher for better marks (no, I’m not talking about marking mistakes, but real errors that are argued extensively over) – though the people who do this are generally not the ones who need it.

Of course, a little competition will never hurt in the motivation of oneself, but not at the level that I am seeing it at right now. A few people I know (I won’t mention any names) always start a conversation with “What did you get in the last test?” or “I had a XX in that course, can you beat me?” I find this extremely annoying, and is becoming one of my pet peeves. In my opinion, I know what I know, and I know that I don’t need marks to prove myself so, I don’t need to flaunt them in front of people to feel better.

Our schools are now measured by inept benchmarks that nobody except the principal and the government take seriously. Why must they keep comparing schools with one another, and use numbers to represent something as complicated as education? One only needs to pop their head into an AP classroom to see how learning takes a backseat to marks. Universal testing is a waste of time and effort that yields no useful results, and should be scrapped. It’s not like there’s been any positive change from the testing. If anything, the disparity between the ‘upper academic class’ and the ‘lower academic class’ (read: AP and Applied) is growing. The nonchalant attitude in the applied/college and even academic/university classes is a huge contrast to the constant pressure of the AP classes. In a way, we (as in gifted/AP students) have something to learn about school – marks are not the be all and end all of our lives. There are so many more things to do while we’re still young than worry so much about having to ‘beat’ everyone else. Take the stress out of school and learn while you can, enjoy the rest of your time while you aren’t.

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Target Readers: High Schoolers

A little bit more on being politically correct.

Why is there always a need to be politically correct with everything? Of course there are things to sensor subject such as the differences of race (i.e. how racism is bad)… but how come it’s starting to become applied to smaller things in life?

An example is when someone poses an interest in a certain topic or subject, and it’s something unusual… what most people do is they think lowly of them and insult them. Like if someone has interest in computers… kudos to him/her. If that’s what their passion is, then all respect to them. But because having interest in computers doesn’t seem to be so entirely “mainstream”, what most people do is shut them down and label them as “geeks”. So what, having interest in clothes, or interests in spending time with friends is suddenly entirely different?

A specific example pertaining to me personally, is how everybody calls me “gay”. For the record, no I am not homosexual. But I can see where the thoughts are coming from, because I do tend to be more artistic then the regular person, I tend to care more about my hair and clothes then most guys, I have spurts of energy and am more hyper of a person… but now does this some how determine my sexual orientation? Absolutely not. I have an interest in these things: art, clothes, hair.. being hyper…… Why can’t that be respected instead? I have numerous friends who are very accepting of these traits, and they take it to their benefit being that I’m an interesting guy with a fashion sense. But there are those people who’re out there who still think I’m gay…

Recently I was thinking about what to wear for a performance I was doing for school. There were to be 3 people up there, and I was trying to decide what we should wear to reflect the song and just have a good appearance. But then I was shot down by one of the band members saying (paraphrased:) “Why do you care?! I’m supposed to be the ‘girl’ in the band, why are you fussing over this?”. Well I’m sorry if I’m wishing to put more effort like that into this performance. Visuals are complimentary to the performance too. It does matter. But suddenly because I’m a guy I’m now not allowed to care about clothes and how one looks.

Now, how does this relate to Politcal Correctness? Being politically correct means to say/do things without offending the largest possible audience. In the highs chool setting, the largest audience would be the students. So because someone has interest in a topic/hobby that the rest of students don’t, it some how makes it wrong. “Unacceptable”.

“Don’t make fun of me for my hobbies; I don’t make fun of you for being an asshole…” – Garden State

What we need to be able to do is embrace these interests. Accept them. Just insulting another and saying they’re wrong won’t do anything besides crush them emotionally. It’s really easy to tell someone they’re wrong. And at the same time, it’s surprisingly (although it shouldn’t be surprising) useless. Do you honestly think that saying “HAhAHa, you’re such a loser for liking ketchup so much” is gonna make them suddenly change themselves to be a perfect person and more like you? No. No it wont. Learn to embrace other’s interests. Learn to be more sensitive to others. Hey, maybe… just MAYBE… you aren’t a perfect person either. People are different.

“If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” – Maya Angelou