CaRant: Cliques

Somethings are rant worthy, some aren't. Put a Ca in front and you get CaRant: a rant that is done by Calamansi. There are times when my opinions get too strong and manifest into complete essays, but words sometimes fail me and I'm left with a made up word to describe my feelings. Let's expand upon what really goes on when I calag or carage or even better, CaRant.



Cliques really annoy me. It's a part of the stratified school structure, but as you grow older and away from the social structure of middle school, high school and college, you just start to not care and grow up to the point where you see past one's label. But you still are given a label, no matter how old you grow.

In high school, I didn't care about cliques. I didn't make fitting into somewhere just to appeal to a certain clique my priority. I fell where I fell wherever I was happy. In college, much of the same happened. I fell where I fell and I'm happy with who I associate myself with. You don't have to struggle to fit in somewhere when it's already in front of you. Wherever you are happy, that is where you belong. But, unfortunately, that doesn't make you resistant to being labeled.

Cliques in LaTale are just as bad as the infamous high school cliques. You got your popular group (people who Server Microphone spam), your jocks (PvPers), your rich kids(avid sellers or buyers in Free Market), nerdy asians (those who are ostrosized by the community i.e. trolls, the scrutinized), ect. It might be hard to see cliques if you don't know the community too well, but the most obvious way is through guilds. You are given a label that is visable to all to see, giving the person the ability to stereotype you by your label.

Are cliques bad? I don't particularly think so, I just find them stupid. What I don't like is the stereotyping that goes with cliques. If someone is in the popular group, you would expect them to be stupid and not working towards success, but in reality they can be smart and successful in what they want to do. But are you really willing to listen to that? Stereotypes give us a implicit cognitive bias, in which it makes our brain a break in making decisions. In other words, it allows us to autopilot decisions based on stereotypes we've heard.

If you really think that a stratified social structure based off popularity or stereotypes is a problem, then it's something that you really need to pursue. Just like how race seems to not exist, cliques seems to not exist as well. They're invisible to the privileged and common place to the underprivileged. A structural problem can only be resolved by a structural solution, but you can break the boundaries of your own individual life, even though you can't escape the structure around you. Not tolerating these cliques and critiquing them can open the eyes of the people around you. You're not being a killjoy, you're standing up for what you believe in. That's not something you should be ashamed of.

But cliques. So stupid. It's honestly a way for the privileged to have more power than they already have over people who don't fit into their schema or group structure. Just find somewhere to be happy. I mean, seriously. If you need to work hard to fit in somewhere, ask yourself, is the work necessary? Contrary to what society will tell you, there is always a person out there for you, friendship or love. You just need to find them, but trying to fit into somewhere you don't feel comfortable or loved is not the way to find that happiness.

But let's call it a day and wait for our next adventure.