Half-Penny Thoughts — 05jun26

For better or worse, the age of the internet has resulted in a homogenization of our lives. It has blurred boundaries in ways never before possible. Counter-culture is now the performative norm. Punk is dead; long live punk.

It is tempting to put a sandal on one’s head in the way of Jōshū and then just leave the courtyard. Better yet would be if we could put the courtyard on our head and leave the walking to the sandal while we talk a bit about mū with a dog.

If the normal position is resistance to authority to the point of mediocrity, there is little left to rebel against.

During the heyday of 80s punk, people would look at my hair, my clothes, my makeup and ask what it was like to be a punk. I told them they would have to ask a punk, not me. “But aren’t you a punk?” they would ask. “No,” I would say, shaking my head in sadness. “I am a poseur.”

We all were — only a few of us realised the truth of the matter. Products and poseurs, each and every one of us. Even fewer embraced the derisive label — which, I suppose made those who did more punk than the punks. I don’t know. I never pretended to understand the logic of these things.

But… going back to what got my head all in a muddle, was that I was thinking about that third sentence this morning: Counter-culture is now the performative norm. And that seemed like it might have implications.

I could not find anything online that felt truly counter-culture or underground (if you prefer). Everything is daylit. Everything is accepted in the right places. Even being “goblin” is considered acceptable. Taboos are falling by the wayside. Radical normality is a thing even. Forget being “feral” to make your mark, there’s an app for that too.

When there is nothing left to counter, we are left with only ourselves.

And that goes beyond the pale for many. Time to pick up a fetish or two to balance it out as you dust off that motorcycle leather you have tucked away in the back of the closet.

michael raven

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2 responses to “Half-Penny Thoughts — 05jun26”

  1. missparker0106 Avatar
    missparker0106

    I’m a bit surprised. Usually, you and I are pretty much on the same page when it comes to “worldly stuff,” but this time, I respectfully disagree.

    Certainly, there are groups and fashions that some people adhere to religiously. There are even philosophies and beliefs that gather likeminded folks around their particular campfire…but is that the Internet’s fault? Hardly. Advertising–now there’s a centuries-old culprit worth pointing a figure at. Ads going back generations would tout that drinking a certain beverage, smoking a certain brand of cigarette, wearing a certain style of clothes, driving a certain car (Horse and buggy? Chariot?) made you more sexy, desirable, intelligent, etc. ad nauseum. That psychology existed way before the Internet.

    Does music breed poseurs? Absolutely. Again, for some it plays to the primitive desires in the brain that makes us want to belong, so let’s look like everyone else who shares our same taste. Internet’s fault? No, although it does make access to the phenomenon more easy, I suppose. But clans of people who dug the same music go back centuries.

    As for counter-culture–counter whose culture? There are so many issues and public figures that are being protested against that it’s hard, I think, to draw a line of similarity between them all. Should we just stop protesting what we believe to be problems and injustices, because all protesters are the same? I don’t protest because it’s cool and makes me a part of a group–I protest to try to get some semblance of justice and order in a world pretty much dominated by unbridled chaos.

    < sermon/off > I do get that you maybe feel that the internet has watered down counter-culture because it reports on it ad nauseum, but the same could be said of politics, the economy, crime, etc.–the solution is to filter, not try to absorb everything that’s available, thus rendering it watered-down pablum. Bottom line: I hate to think there is even one other person out there who is the duplicate of me–the way I dress, the way I feel, what I believe, what I like/dislike, what motivates me. I am what I am because of what’s uniquely inside of me, not because of what I’m bombarded with by the internet.

    Sorry for the length of this screed and also if I’ve somehow missed the point. If so, set me straight!

    Reply
    1. michael raven Avatar
      michael raven

      😁

      I don’t think you missed my point, I think we’re talking about the same thing differently is all. Hardly a surprise because I am running on about three hours of sleep and ready to keel over. I probably unskillfully articulated what I was attempting to say.

      I think what it comes down to is that I believe there is a short shelf-life for any given cultural collective that’s developed in recent years, however named. That is driven by the internet, algorithmic exposure and “influencers”. Our attention is being focused and directed in ways we’ve never experienced before. And, almost as soon as a movement gets a label, it is already no longer counter or underground compared to anything else in this weird hash we collectively experience. It looses its “edge” as soon as it is named.

      Individuality is something entirely different.

      And, with that, I should probably sleep because I think I stopped making sense around the smiley.

      Reply

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