Censorship - Baggy Pants

This is what I have been talking about for quite some time now:

The mayor of Delcambre County in LA says he will sign into law a bill proposing the wearing of baggy pants as "indecent exposure." Popularized by the rap community and gangs - excuse me, "hip-hop artists" and "community youth organizations with the right to protect themselves" - baggy pants were originally a kind of socio-political statement about "hand-me-downs." The idea was that inner-city youths could not afford new clothes, so they were forced to wear clothes others in their family had worn before them and "handed-down." But some gangs and criminals wear baggy clothes to conceal weapons and contraband.

As a perpetually skinny guy, I was always on the forefront of this "movement," as I literally have to shop at irregular stores to find pants that fit me. And, in actuality, it may have been a conscious fashion choice by some early-on, but this is really how the movement started; some of us were simply too poor or hard to fit to find clothes that fit correctly.

Of course, since then, it has taken on a life of its own and really has gone completely overboard. It is not unusual to see kids with their entire ass hanging out of their pants! They even have sayings written on the underwear as a kind of sub-text to the first-layer fashion statement.

Critics have said this law unfairly targets blacks because of the "hip-hop" connection, but that's a lot of crap; in fact, the trend is as popular - if not moreso - with young white men, as the mayor correctly points out.

Ironically, the mayor, a CAROL Broussard, says, "They're better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress." Which definitely smacks of homophobia and is inarguably an attempt to shame these kids into dressing more appropriately, for which little Miss Mayor Carrie should apologize, but I've seen this cat and he's just a big-ol' cracker, so don't hold your breath.

Unfortunately, this is not censorship; this is a matter of community standards and a community has every right to say that they, as a community, find this to be indecent or offensive. Puritanical? Yes. Kind of ridiculous? Absolutely. But the way to fight it is simple: the young people move out of the county and away from the city, taking with them the young workforce and buying power. The community will then die.

Of course, this won't happen because kids who are too lazy to pull up their britches are far too lazy to move. Or work, come to think of it.

Besides, by the time all of this comes to fruition, they'll be old enough to realize how silly it is to literally walk around, "showing your ass," and will be onto the next fad: rolling packs of cigarettes up in their short-sleeved shirts.