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What is 'counterculture' in 2013?
- Thread starter Zebra
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The Culture Vulture
Member
Not having a tattoo.
You need a mainstream culture in order to have a counterculture in the first place. This is one of the many consequences of having a multicultural society and an horizontal media such as the Internet. Every single political position and lifestyle gets its mass exposure, from religious nuts to militant atheists, from high tech consummerism to outdoor survivalists, from peacenicks to hawks, from homogenized mass consumption to indie tailor-made consumerism, from decadent fast food chains to spartan fitness enthusiasts, almost every single way to live your life has a venue.
Seeing this scenario, the very only contra-cultural forces out there are the ones that aims to homogenize the life of others rather than joining this kind of "polytheistic" landscape. Which is why religious fundamentalism and totalitarian tendencies are so attractive to disfranchised minorities in the developed world. They offer coherence, direction and safety-inducing homogenity in a cacophonic and often contradictory post-modern world.
Seeing this scenario, the very only contra-cultural forces out there are the ones that aims to homogenize the life of others rather than joining this kind of "polytheistic" landscape. Which is why religious fundamentalism and totalitarian tendencies are so attractive to disfranchised minorities in the developed world. They offer coherence, direction and safety-inducing homogenity in a cacophonic and often contradictory post-modern world.
D
Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
That was going to be my reply.
blame space
Banned
- throwing pennies in the garbage
- rejecting ideals of stereotypical masculinity
- being ashamed of being white/male/straight
hahahahaha, you mean mainstream culture?
Jackben
bitch I'm taking calls.
I think you're confused sir. You see, counterculture means the opposite of the current trend.
blame space
Banned
being ashamed in general seems to be something more people should at least consider in 2013.
More like being a bit empathetic and less self-absorbed.
Jackben
bitch I'm taking calls.
But YOLO
zero shift
Banned
While I admit that at a first glance culture may not seem to have evolved as much as it should given that the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s all had their unique cultural tones.
In reality culture is shifting just as much as it ever has, just in different ways. Culture today is being fought socially with LGBT rights, ethnic integration and diversity, and the rejection of traditional values such as marriage and religion. This is such an issue that there is a political party dedicated solely to combat this (I assume you can guess which party). The Traditional America, White America, the one associated with the old times of baseball, apple pie, Christianity, and the nuclear family is losing power with many aspects of it dying off. More women are getting into the workforce, whites are increasingly becoming the minority, so rapidly that its very possible with in our lifetimes a majority of Americans won't be of European descent. People marrying in their twenties are becoming uncommon, gay marriage is pretty much guaranteed to be nation wide at this point and its only a matter of time until weed smoking follows suite.
All of this makes the segment of America that identifies the country as one that is a continuation of the 1950s and one that identifies the country as one that is a continuation of the 1960s. So to answer your question the counterculture in general seems to have all jumped into on giant pot the consists of the young, politically center and further left, and/or non-white. While the "traditional" culture has become one giant bulk of religious, xenophobic, center right and further right, and white.
Today we have a black (biracial) president, many states have legalized gay marriage, two states have decriminalized weed,nearly a majority of births happen out of wedlock, and it will only be a few years until the average age for marriage crosses 30 for both men and women. I will also add that many of this isn't due to sloppiness but more so because more people don't want to get married. None of this seems typical in the 1980s or even the 1990s.
In reality culture is shifting just as much as it ever has, just in different ways. Culture today is being fought socially with LGBT rights, ethnic integration and diversity, and the rejection of traditional values such as marriage and religion. This is such an issue that there is a political party dedicated solely to combat this (I assume you can guess which party). The Traditional America, White America, the one associated with the old times of baseball, apple pie, Christianity, and the nuclear family is losing power with many aspects of it dying off. More women are getting into the workforce, whites are increasingly becoming the minority, so rapidly that its very possible with in our lifetimes a majority of Americans won't be of European descent. People marrying in their twenties are becoming uncommon, gay marriage is pretty much guaranteed to be nation wide at this point and its only a matter of time until weed smoking follows suite.
All of this makes the segment of America that identifies the country as one that is a continuation of the 1950s and one that identifies the country as one that is a continuation of the 1960s. So to answer your question the counterculture in general seems to have all jumped into on giant pot the consists of the young, politically center and further left, and/or non-white. While the "traditional" culture has become one giant bulk of religious, xenophobic, center right and further right, and white.
Today we have a black (biracial) president, many states have legalized gay marriage, two states have decriminalized weed,nearly a majority of births happen out of wedlock, and it will only be a few years until the average age for marriage crosses 30 for both men and women. I will also add that many of this isn't due to sloppiness but more so because more people don't want to get married. None of this seems typical in the 1980s or even the 1990s.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Tea Party.
people who are really into the Zeitgeist Movement and want to change Earths economy to a "resource based economy" and an "abundance economy" are pretty counter culture (sometimes they are outright conspiracy theorists). Not sure how global this movement is but I know they have a group in Miami that holds meetings frequently. My friend got really into it, its very Culty, they once referred to the founder of this movement as "Father Joseph" or something along those lines.
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