Moments after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last week, there were memes. T-shirts saying “You Missed.” Instagram Reels that scored photo carousels of the event with 50 Cent’s “Many Men.” There were even memecoins.
Hipsters came along, like you say, and pretty much ruined any possibility of a an actual counter-culture. 9/11 was their genesis as that was a moment when society could have taken a deep breath collectively and said "ok what in the actual fuck are we doing with ourselves.". Instead we were encouraged after the worst terrorist attack ever in this country to "go shopping" by our leaders. The superficial hipster trends filled in all other tendencies that might have started a genuine reflection and movement. To become a hipster all that was required was to go out and buy certain music and clothes to fit in to the aesthetic. There was no actual social statement made except to have sloppy brown gray black clothing worn in a certain way, and (maybe) listen to a few Pavement albums. It was completely performative and successfully subverted a true social movement being born.
Baroque Fractal Spirals of Holeopathic Microphonies
Totally agree. Democracy isn’t about calling the other side stupid online.
Hipsters came along, like you say, and pretty much ruined any possibility of a an actual counter-culture. 9/11 was their genesis as that was a moment when society could have taken a deep breath collectively and said "ok what in the actual fuck are we doing with ourselves.". Instead we were encouraged after the worst terrorist attack ever in this country to "go shopping" by our leaders. The superficial hipster trends filled in all other tendencies that might have started a genuine reflection and movement. To become a hipster all that was required was to go out and buy certain music and clothes to fit in to the aesthetic. There was no actual social statement made except to have sloppy brown gray black clothing worn in a certain way, and (maybe) listen to a few Pavement albums. It was completely performative and successfully subverted a true social movement being born.
Great comment! I honestly never made the connection between that and hipster consumerism