Hood Rat

It's an easy thing to do.
Just to look at someone and say that they are "so ghetto" or "so country" or "so hood".
You know... maybe they are.
But why should it matter?

I'm as elitist as the next guy.
I hate Ebonics, slabbin' and loudness too.
I hate the hood (but that's why I'm always trying to make it better).

But really... what does someone else's fashion sense have to do with me?
Often, when I was a child, I didn't have the best wardrobe.
Maybe that's why I overcompensate by wearing a lot of subtle Armani Collectioni, Hugo Boss, Valentino or anything else that Barney's or Saks has to offer.
My style might be seen as square or Bougie (pretentious) by some, but it's what I'm comfortable in.
It just reflects the way I see myself.

Maybe I get too much attention.
Maybe that's why I have no need to announce myself by playing my music too loud, talking on a cell phone too loud, dressing in an attention grabbing way or letting people know what I really have.
But for many, they're just slightly more than invisible.
All of their affectations are really just a means to be counted, noticed or seen.

I just checked out Rippa and his post about someone who is country calling someone else "Country".
This could just reflect a low level of self esteem,
or it could be a country way of someone being polite and saying, "Excuse my friend...".

This attempted subjugation is not limited to one race or another.
-Some American Born Mexicans will call those who are newly arrived "Wet Backs".
-Whites use pejorative terms for "lesser" whites too - White Trash, Trailer Park Trash or a host of other insults usually referencing ones ancestry (Wap, Hebie, Kraut, Polock, Potato Eater, etc.)
-Blacks use terms that go both ways in kind of a Nietzschean example of the master/slave mentality and the Will To Power (Miss Ann, Uncle Tom, and Bougie; taken to mean pretentious or "Acting White" - and Ghetto, Country or Hood; taken to mean less than).
-Some Asians will call those newly arrived FOBs, but those who are seen as acting white can be referred to as "Bananas" (used the same way other cultures may use "Oreo" or "Coconut").
(And the list goes on - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs_by_ethnicity)

Don't get me wrong, I'm as shallow as the next guy - maybe even more so.
But it's no fun to boast when those in present company are unable to relate.
It is in poor taste when those who are still aspirational are denigrated for their efforts.
Shit, David Letterman had to tell P.Diddy that bespoke suits have working buttons (And P. Did. is seen as the penultimate by many).
So the fact remains that everyone is still aspirational.
The only ones who have truly "arrived" are those who are able to accept others as they are.
The only ones who have "made it" are those who can help others. (No, it doesn't take a lot of money to help someone if it is done according to one's means).
The only ones who should be universally respected are those who can universally treat others with respect.