My take on society's treatment of Aesthetic Deviants:
Society allows an excruciatingly precise level of deviance, one calculated to sit just before the strand which separates the limitation of individuality and that which is deemed unacceptable.
Perhaps an example of the phenomenon is necessary to better illustrate what I’m trying to say [for the dumb asses out there who got lost]. Let’s use the grooming of Black men. The standard for society is for a man to don a neatly trimmed low cut; goatees, moustaches, and the like being acceptable to a certain degree. The accepted deviation of this would be what many call “dreads”, however, if and only if these dreads are regularly re-twisted and kept neatly, are they considered societally acceptable. At best, the furthest acceptable deviation would be the man with a mildly twisted afro, perhaps a beard, and though his hair is unkempt, it is not without the upkeep of regular shape-ups at the barber to ensure his edges are always in tact, with the same policy standing for his beard.
Jamaica is the very birthplace of Rastafari, from whence spanned the social movement to grow Locks. It was this movement which begat the trend now known as “dreads” in hundreds of countries over the globe. This very trend, and it's pioneer, Robert Nesta Marley has allowed this small Caribbean nation to make a monumental footprint in hearts and minds across the world. Ironically, however, in Jamaica, a man of Rastafari who embodies the principle of not putting a blade to his face or head, is scorned, shunned, socially ostracized and openly vilified among the public.
Now, ain't that about a bitch.
