C'mon guys - loosen up. People who judge a book by it's cover usually turn out to be illiterate.
And, yet, that generally only applies from one side of the fence, so to speak.
Let me put it this way: I would guess that 90-98% of us here on THR feel that our society has gotten so very sensitive to accusations of "profiling" and stereotyping that we've become ridiculous in our attempts to avoid it.
Our unwillingness to "judge a book by its cover" is what leads airport security to do random searches and extra screenings on old ladies in wheel-chairs, moms with infants, and other persons who are HIGHLY unlikely to try and help their fellow passengers meet their maker today. The same issue gets our LEOs a black eye when they investigate too deeply folks who match a certain stereotypical demographic and happen to be wearing very specific colors/clothing -- that's racial profiling, remember, and that is wrong.
It is a very complicated issue. We say we don't want anyone to judge us for what we wear, but every outfit does convey a certain message. Some of those messages are very important to read correctly, too. Reading people's character, social position or conditioning, abilities, and intents from their appearance is a valid survival skill. It isn't foolproof and it is often misleading (intentionally so, usually), but to say we should "not judge a book by its cover" is to try and deaden a sense that your mind has taken great pains to develop.
That being true, it is silly to pretend that how we dress and present ourselves out in public does not send a message about ourselves and people (that others will assume are) like us. In a parallel manner, it would be silly to think that what we choose to wear will not encourage other people to associate us with elements of society that we might -- or might not -- want to be associated with.
A lot of folks have posted to say, "I live out in the sticks and all my friends and neighbors wear fatigue pants while they're hunting, working on the truck, or mowing the yard." Yeah, that's fine. That's normal. That's utilitarian and unobjectionable. Others kind of seem to be saying, "I went to a wedding in surplus fatigues and boots, and they thought I was some kind of white-supremacist reactionary!" Um, well, DUH. In this case you have chosen, whether you admit it to yourself or us here, to wear attire that will get you noticed and will get you profiled as
something.
It's everyone's right to dress as they please, but for the sake of this discussion at least, try to be honest (with yourself and the group) about why you want to attract notice with whichever costume you choose to wear.
-Sam
