(no subject)
Basically, what our society is suffering from is a lack of
individualism. And not just in the traditional sense. If you look back throughout history, each era has its own distinct radical subculture. Whether it's the Enlightenment thinkers, or flappers, there's always a group instituting change. The fifties had beatniks, the sixties and early
seventies, hippies, which phased into the hardcore, grunge and eventually punk and goth of the eighties and nineties, and now*what? Today's
subculture consists of an amalgamation of all these former groups trying to find their way to an effective protest and means to change. But it fails
because all these groups have been somehow absorbed into mainstream
culture. Woodstock is revived by MTV. Gap branches out into Hot Topic. The inner city art forms of rap and hip hop are adopted by the upper classes. The last major prejudice of homosexuality has even been calmed by pop culture through Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
All this leaves us looking for some way to shock and offend, since that
is often the only way to make your voice heard. Unfortunately, the
only recent success at that has been through terrorist attacks. And that
has taken us several steps in the wrong direction. Which leaves me
asking, "How do you make a difference when you effectively have no voice?"
anyone remember that?