The Alien Inside

By: Callum Man

The other day, Machine Gun Kelly released his fifth studio album, “Tickets to My Downfall”. While listening to the album, a few of the songs sparked some serious thought into my head. In this album, Colson Baker speaks a lot about his past, particularly his difficult childhood, and his struggles with alienation.

Part of me connected to his lyrics, specifically about feeling alienated. I realized that everyone has felt alienated at least once in their life, and it sucks. It truly does. It makes you feel empty and alone, it's almost a natural instinct. Which is why we try to assimilate, and forget the part of ourselves that's different, or unique. Because that’s what is socially acceptable.

I think it comes from nature. Prior to building huge civilizations and living in complex societies, we were like every other species: fending for ourselves in the wild. Back then, we followed Darwinism - survival of the fittest. Being different left you more susceptible to the dangers of the wild. As we’ve progressed as a species, we still hold onto this innate instinct to assimilate to survive. To protect ourselves from alienation.

Theoretically, we don’t need this instinct anymore. We should be able to be whoever we want to be, without feeling the toils of alienation. Unfortunately, that’s not how things are.

We’re trained to condemn whatever isn’t “socially acceptable”. Whether it's the media we are exposed to, our family’s beliefs, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs, or anything in between, we are told what is right, and what is wrong. What is acceptable, and what isn’t. I think we’ll be stuck like this for awhile.

Issues like this don’t just change overnight. It’s gonna take awhile, but when the day comes that we can show the world who we truly are, it will spark a new generation of humanity. An unfiltered, chaotic, and beautiful era of raw self-expression.