Mainstream

When Yoshino talks about the mainstream as a myth, he is discussing the fact that the concept of a social norm to which we can all match ourselves is bogus. There is in fact no such norm because not a single person can adhere to all of the qualities that would form such a mainstream. We are all such different, diverse people that no single standard can encompass more than one of us. Even the straight, white, angry man in the audience had many factors that people ascribing to the mainstream myth would say do not match their standards. He has many traits that would exclude him from the social norm despite how much he looks like a typical american (a laughable idea in itself) from a distance. He is very persuasive in his reasoning mainly because his ideas are echoed by most of us. Each of us views ourselves as special, individual, unique, and so think we do not conform to the mainstream. We are also all aware of little attempts at covering we do every day to be accepted. I would define mainstream as the typical white, straight male and female, unaffected by either unhappiness or unpopularity, always ready to laugh at a joke or be a good friend. None of us can meet all of these requirements all the time.