You are not your fucking khakis.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/01/24/jeffries/index.html

I know that I have been over this before, but it is a topic that is so easily seen in modern America that I can't really get over it. 

Masculine clothing. Sculpted bodies. Casual college men. Bull shit! The dream of perfect, casual lives for everyone is ridiculous. I have no problem with capitalist ventures,  but aiming to mold everyone into this cast is bothersome to no end. Jeffries is trying to bring back the masculine man, which is a good thing, but he doesn't know what the true masculine man is. The true man does not buy a brand of clothing for the image. He buys clothing to keep him warm.

On page two Jeffries remarks that he wants to" market to cool, good-looking people. We don't market to anyone other than that." Very interesting. Is it just me, or does this sound dangerously close to Dystopian fiction? The wealthy, upper class all good looking and have the same clothing. The poor, working/common class are unattractive and have the same clothing. The upper class does not care about the lower class. 

This, of course, does not apply to just Abercrombie and its various branches. Pac Sun, Hot Topic, American Eagle, American Outfitters. Hip, trendy, young. Identify with a group. Conform and be part of what your demise is. Embrace that which you are labeled as and do not question it. Do not try to express that which does not conform to your group. If society in general deems it bad, do not do it. Women cannot want to be stay-at-home wives. Men cannot want to be the voice in the family. Everyone must be equal according to their lot in life.

So buy the clothing. Wear the brand. The people who follow the big-name companies with diehard devotion do more to bring about the demise of what American used to stand for than any hippie liberal or fascist conservative ever could.