What is a Counterculture in the 21st Century?

E

Eric

Mr Moraigero
counterculture these days seems to require not being known to the mainstream; or if known not saleable. nerd culture does not meet this requirement. here in japan the nerd---otaku---culture is very saleable. its homeland, akihabara, is the next red light district of tokyo, or so one well-known story goes.
 
R

rhi

Wild Horses
Actually if to be counter-cultural contains the requirement to be 'daring' then almost none of the people we might once have named counter-cultural were 'daring'.

I had thought that to be counter cultural would mean that the persons concerned were against something...
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
after all these years i still quite like "hakim"'s idea that spending time with friends, inventing games to play, without "consuming" anything is an insurrectionary act -- because we live in an age where isolation is the rule, and people only gather when they are buying drinks, concert tickets, etc, etc.
 
E

Eric

Mr Moraigero
that's a nice idea, I like that

I guess you can be counter in this way though even if you buy drinks (?) why not? the point is just that you are making your own structure right?
 
east

east

Member
Alternative modes of living certainly seems the most viable form of counter-culture these days. Certainly given the escalation in rents/mortgage costs, there's a good argument for people trying to circumnavigate the system without necessarily going down the old route of squatting.
 
slim jenkins

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
The 'counterculture' is alive and well.

A report from the frontline:

We prefer slippers to trainers.
Detest all 'youth music'.
Detest all youths (except those displaying Good Taste).
Prefer riding bicyles but wouldn't turn down an MGV8.
Sartorially: Steve in 'Thomas Crown Affair'.
Politically: anarcho-capitalist-libertarian-situationist nihilism.
Worship Charlie Parker & Godard.
Spit on 'Hello' and 'Loaded' readers.
Rarely go out.
Accept the isolationist society and embrace it rather than pretend that online 'friends' mean anything.
Deny all of the above if questioned.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
slim jenkins said:
The 'counterculture' is alive and well.

A report from the frontline:

We prefer slippers to trainers.
Detest all 'youth music'.
Detest all youths (except those displaying Good Taste).
Prefer riding bicyles but wouldn't turn down an MGV8.
Sartorially: Steve in 'Thomas Crown Affair'.
Politically: anarcho-capitalist-libertarian-situationist nihilism.
Worship Charlie Parker & Godard.
Spit on 'Hello' and 'Loaded' readers.
Rarely go out.
Accept the isolationist society and embrace it rather than pretend that online 'friends' mean anything.
Deny all of the above if questioned.
Click to expand...


...and work for The Chap.
 
V

version

Well-known member
I recently read someone claiming the only counterculture available to "zoomers" is to go offline as their whole culture's based around being visible on social media, personal branding etc and anything you do online will swiftly be turned into a category or thing and absorbed.

It makes it difficult to tell whether such a culture exists, mind you. You won't see it if it does.
 
shakahislop

shakahislop

Well-known member
i was at the park last night and it was filled with people, there was a football match, skateboarders, people doing yoga in the village hall, ten year olds hanging around on swings, and that struck as both i) a throwback to pre-2005 or whenever it is that all that changed and ii) countercultural in a way, precisely because it was all offline
 
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