There is a misconception that there is some sort of comfortable medium between formal and informal clothes. This is of particular interest to me because I happen to reside almost exclusively in this middle zone. I wear dress shirts, black jeans and occasionally a hoodie with the word “Trombone” inscribed on the arm. Contrary to popular opinion, this is not acceptable as formal wear and is far from being close to casual wear. 

Fashion does not have an analog measurement; it is binary, and I have somehow indulged myself into the uncomfortable medium between the two sides. 

Many people have heard of the show “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” and I rather enjoy watching it for reasons beyond most people’s comprehension. In the first 2 episodes of season 2, there is an antagonist named Discord and his goal is to ultimately bring chaos to the land of Equestria, ruled by Princess Celestia, a supposed deity of some description. A funny aspect of Celestia is that she is both a pegasus pony, a unicorn and a godlike figure, and I thusly compare her to Ganesh. But that’s not especially relevant. The point is that Celestia will always send out lower minions to complete whatever task she needs completed, such as stopping anything from a vicious insect swarm to a frigging dragon. Another point is that Discord was eventually imprisoned in stone, so who do you think is telling the story of the awful things he did? Many of them must be greatly exaggerated or complete lies. Another point is that Celestia banished her sister to the moon for a thousand years because she was apparently some sort of threat.  

Another thing I do is play a lot of Starcraft 2. In the Starcraft storyline, humans (known as “terrans”) have occupied a far away area called the Koprulu Sector. The Sector is ruled by Arcturus Mengsk, a revolutionary who overthrew the previous oppressive government and created his own oppressive government. He basically created new terran culture, his first similarity to Celestia. If anything threatens his power, he metaphorically banishes it to the moon. Here’s a quote from when he was launching a major attack on the original terran government: “I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the Confederates, or the Protoss, or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me.” This is the second similarity. 

The actual protagonist in Starcraft is Jim Raynor, a freedom fighter who is always portrayed as a “terrorist” by Mengsk. Apparently, Raynor causes “panic and chaos” in the Koprulu Sector. Sound familiar? We should always be careful about what characters are actually evil in a story. I personally think that Mengsk and Celestia are pretty malicious and that Discord and Raynor are misunderstood. If you watch My Little Pony or play Starcraft 2, you’ll see many other reasons why order and harmony are sometimes not what they appear to be.