Some trends just seem to sneak up on you. One minute you’re not paying much attention to them and the next minute they’re ubiquitous. Take body tattoos as an example. I don’t remember anybody sporting a tattoo in the 70s or even the 80s. Prior to 1990, you would see tattoos on the arms of sailors and the foreheads of the Manson clan, but that was about it. Then came the tramp stamp and every girl had to have a silly little flower or butterfly emblazoned on her lower back, just above her buttocks. It escalated quickly after that until a large cross-section of the population had disfigured their bodies in one way or another with tattoos.

Embracement of environmentalism and climate cultism is another fashion trend that has taken hold in my lifetime. As traditional religiosity has declined, environmentalism has risen. Some speculate that environmentalism fills the spiritual vacuum left with the decline in Judeo-Christian religious observance. Historians of religion might even gather a better understanding of Christianity’s initial rapid rise by studying its present-day rapid displacement by pagan worship of the environment. 

In tandem with the decline of Judeo-Christian observance, I have noticed the capture of religious institutions by the LGBTQ+ community.  Apart from some Baptist denominations, most churches prominently display gay pride flags and symbols.  The overt symbolism on church properties may just reflect a wider acceptance of the queer movement in society, but it seems to point to much deeper rot within these institutions.

For lesbians, becoming pastors of local parishes fits well with their lifestyle. Although church revenue has fallen with the decline in parishioners, most churches can still provide a modest livelihood to the church pastors. The tasks associated with church governance are not unusually burdensome and with the moral standing that the position confers, lesbians are given free rein to pursue their political evangelism which is their true vocation.

There are other societal fashions that seem to have emerged within my lifespan. There is the prevailing tendency to attribute the cause of every discomfort and anxiety to a deep-seated medical condition. I saw it take off in the 70s and 80s, when stressed parents looked to the medical profession to provide them with a name, ADHD, to the problem of why their precious Johnny was not on track for Harvard. The medical profession’s answer was to repurpose an earlier pharmacological wonder, which had fueled the Nazi Blitzkrieg across France in 1945 and kept housewives slim and attentive in the 50s, for boys of anxious parents. In the ‘90s, it was time to treat the female population en masse with a new class of wonder drugs, SSRIs, a class of drugs meant to soften all of life’s rough edges. The fact that the medical research underpinning each drug’s efficacy was found to be shoddy, did not dampen the drugs’ popularity.

Finally, we arrive at the mass delusion called transgenderism. I had personally not heard of it until reports percolated out of Hollywood that celebrity kids were attempting to change their gender. I attributed their transgender dysphoria as a craving for attention after living in the shadow of their famous parents. Within the last decade, the mania broke out into mainstream culture and got the blessing of the medical professionals. I see the ostentatiousness of transgenders in the same way that I view the exhibitionism of the tattooed set that punctuates our beaches with artful displays of roses, skulls, and religious symbols.

Fashions and manias will remain with mankind forever.  The instinct to identify with the fashion of the crowd is primal.  To our ancient ancestors, banishment from the tribe meant death. Our psychology has evolved to ensure our survival and as such, has adapted to reinforce group identity.

Possessing a healthy skepticism about any new societal trends makes a person (largely) immune to societal contagions.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.