An issue has been causing me anxiety lately

[AlexC1993]

Hi everyone

How are you? It’s been a while since I have posted on here and there is something that I would like to talk about please.

Recently I was with friends in Perth and we were minding our own business when one of us was accosted and threatened by a member of the public for wearing a ‘Sons of Anarchy’ jacket.

According to the stranger, the shows creator, Kurt Sutter, has told people not to wear these things. I had never heard this before and we were doing nothing wrong but showing our love of a TV show. No offence intended. Although this man became angry and threatened violence if the jacket was not removed.

I am not a fan of confrontations and I detest violence and dealing with angry people is not my forte. We were all shocked and upset that this occurred.

However, after some research, I uncovered news stories and personal blogs of people who have been assaulted and badly treated by those who take umbrage at certain fashion choices.

My anxiety levels rose as I discovered that websites such as Wish, AliExpress and EBay were selling counterfeit versions of patches of real life Motorcycle clubs. Apparently donning this type of garb can in some cases have lethal consequences.

I am very worried,scared and anxious that these websites are selling items that they must not. Ignorant buyers may purchase clothing articles and find themselves in deep trouble.

I think more needs to be done to have this removed from the internet or at least a warning of some kind should be present.

I know we live in a free society and the fashion police are non existent but with our personal experience of being abused for wearing clothing associated with a fictional club I would hate to think about what would happen to those seen wearing the logos of real life clubs. I imagine there would be some horror stories.

Can someone please help me out? People are wasting their hard earned money on something that is very dangerous and I would hate for anyone to get hurt. Thank you very much for reading this.

[james1]

Hello AlexC1993,

Welcome back, I don't think I bumped into you here when you last posted, but it's nice to meet you anyway.

I'm sorry to hear you were confronted by that person in such an aggressive way. I also do not deal with confrontation well at all, and I can only imagine how scary it must've been.

I understand you've done some more research since then and you are now really concerned for others' wellbeing if they buy and wear these items of clothing. You said you are feeling very anxious about this - may I ask what you are trying to do and get help with?

It's really fantastic that you want to ensure others aren't hurt or waste money on products that could be dangerous, and I think there are steps that we can take as individuals to try and achieve this. But I'm also hearing that you are feeling very anxious, and I just wanted to briefly put aside the potential issues that others are facing, and ask whether you are coping?

James

[AlexC1993]

Hi

I am feeling a lot better now thank you. Luckily I have my parents and younger brother for support and I talked through my anxiety with them. They said to try and relax and put it behind me. I am just ‘living in the moment’ and trying my hardest not to ruminate on negative experiences too much.

I have cut ties with all things Sons of Anarchy and Mayans MCand I am now devoted to watching Star Trek the next generation instead. I really love the show and it is a lot better than those other two shows anyway. Also I have deleted the Wish and AliExpress apps and I have vowed never to buy anything from them ever again. They are criminals selling copyright infringements of clothing and even weapons online so no more of them. I am sticking to eBay and giving my money into the hands of Chinese criminals. I hope they get sued in court for what they have done. They don’t care about the safety and well-being of consumers, all they care about is money.

[james1]

Hey AlexC1993,

I'm really pleased to hear you are feeling a lot better now. It sounds like your parents and younger brother were really great and I hope Star Trek will help take these things off your mind 🙂 Sometimes, it can be really helpful just to talk things out and find some distractions while we move away from that highly emotional state. Which is not to say anything you felt is wrong, but when we feel really anxious, often we want to act on it just to get out of the feeling - sometimes, waiting with a friend is all it takes to get out of that feeling.

It sounds like your plan of deleting the apps and just doing the best you can do could be a good way forward. I imagine others will also be doing the same and even if they never shut down completely, they're not scamming as many people as they could have.

James