Countrified Counterculture

I don't think there is any counterculture left in America. Any idea that begins as an underground movement is quickly co-opted by a business corporation, marketed in a blitz, and six months later is so ubiquitous that 90% of the American population is familiar with or owns some bastardized product based off the idea, and the spirit of the idea is dead. A counterculture idea should exist outside the regular bounds of society - if it's a truly valid idea, it will reach a tipping point and spread of its own accord. Quoting directly from Malcolm Gladwell's book, companies purposely seek out these sort of ideas, attach themselves to it and ride the popularity to profit. Even worse, companies have begun seeking out these sort of ideas or simply creating their own convenient ideas and blanketing society with the intent of artificially creating their own tipping point - all for profit.

So that's why there isn't a counterculture in America. It's bought out in its infancy. Instead we have commentators. A counterculture is birthed as a reaction to the failings of popular culture. But now, any counterculture is literally aborted by its forced saturation, removing the potency of its meaning. So all we have left are those who can comment of the ridiculousness of our popular culture. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, some stand-up comedians, some magazine and newspaper editorials are our commentators. Certain television shows and movies can be more indirect commentators, but two facts remain: there is no real counterculture, only commentators, and the commentators exist within the framework of the pop culture.

If there was a counterculture, we probably wouldn't be talking about it. A counterculture begins at the local level and usually stays there - if it is an idea with a true revolutionary spirit it will spread of its own accord, and it doesn't happen in a few weeks. I think that what needs to happen next is not necessarily the birth of true counterculture - that will come later - but a complete shift in people's frame of reference. We need to disconnect from the media, which has us aware of what is going on in every corner of the world. At first this was a great awareness-raising medium, but now it's become a giant advertising tool, telling us what people on the other side of the country are doing and how this is somehow important to us and the way we dress, the cars we drive, the music we listen to, or even the words we use. So what we need is a total frame shift. People are too concerned with other people. There aren't any individuals in the general populace. Individuals should be concerned with individuals. From there society will move forward, people focus on actually being people again.

Sorry this is really disjointed, It's late and I haven't really formed this idea very well. But I do think the next thing for people, for Americans at least, is a complete shift in reference. What we see now just can't be the future.