Joining In/Staying Out

The group to which I am most commonly attributed membership is the homosexual community. As many people know, there are numerous symbols that are tagged onto this group of people, such as the rainbow and the purple triangle. These symbols allow others to group people, similar to our notion of pattern recognition, into specific classes that may not necessarily have positive consequences.

For example, whenever there is a rainbow in the sky, my friends often call me out, saying that the rainbow represents me in some way. How a reflected spectrum of light reprepresents me is mind-boggling. Sure, the rainbow has been a 'gay' item for quite a while, but that doesn't mean that I necessarily want to be associated with it or called out every time it rains.

Sure, I'm proud of who I am and my individulity within the society I live in, but sometimes I feel as though people hold on to old thoughts and beliefs in order to secularize others from the main population.

What if someone likes rainbows and has a rainbow sticker on their car? Are the gay? Maybe so, but what if they aren't. To people driving behind them, I'm guessing the majority would assume somewhere in their thoughts that the driver of the car is gay. This is a great example of pattern recognition that also shows how strongly this symbol of homosexuality transcends all other meanings. A rainbow is a rainbow, but not when it comes to sexuality (?). Whatever the case, similar to how
Walker describes our buying patterns as being based on "past experiences," the experiences we associate with rainbows and the homosexual community will always rule in a situation of judgment.

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A group that I am not a member of, and, for the most part, don't understand the meanings of their symbols, are fraternities. I respect Greek life for the companionship that it stands for; however, each time I see a grouping of Greek letters somewhere representing those of a fraternity, I usually don't wonder more than "What do those even mean?" It's also difficult to grasp because there are so many different combinations of letters that I never know what frat is associated with which symbols. And apparently multiple brotherhoods share the same symbols even though they are spread across the country?

Obviously, if I were involved in that 'brand' of college student, I would have a better understanding of the symbols and what they stood for, as do most consumers. However, since I am outside of that 'market,' the Greek branding letters have no true meaning to me.