Rebels with Causes?
This is what Eric Hobsbawm has to say on the phenomenon of youth culture and the subcultures it spawned:
"What is even more significant is that this rejection was not in the name of some pattern of ordering society, though the new libertarianism was given ideological justification by those who felt it needed such labels, but in the name of the unlimited autonomy of individual desire. It assumed a world of self-regarding individualism pushed to its limits. Paradoxically the rebels against the conventions and restrictions shared the assumptions on which mass consumer society was built, or at least the psychological motivations which those who sold consumers goods and services found most effective in selling them" (pg 334 The Age of Extremes)
I'm glad someone else feels that way, even if you could argue that Eric is an old git, the fact is that he's an intelligent, observant old git. I'm still of the mind that alternative culture is equivalent to 'opt-out' culture in many ways, that is a culture that refuses to acknowledge its responsibility to society. And regardless of what we might think, everybody has a responsibility to society.
That isn't to say that 'alternative' cultures don't have anything going for them, celebrating artistic freedom isn't bad, even if the results all too frequently are, but the state of being liberated has to have limits. Maybe young contemporary artists could think about filling the gap that has been left by the cessation of the creation of public monuments and memorials rather than focusing on out-dated 'taboos' such as sexual promiscuity which is neither particularly subversive nor socially useful. Neither do I think that individuals within these groups are completely sealed from the outside world, I'm sure most voted in the last general election, it's more to do with the lack of public acknowledgement that politics matters.
Our 'alternative'cultures still live under the monolithic shadow of the emergence of youth culture. Yes, it was an unprecedented event and yes it meant we have access to an unimaginable volume of media, in terms of music, film, books, websites etc. but when are we going to get over it. Flaunting social convention stops appearing like political action when we live in a society that, apart from Daily Mail readers, which is admittedly a little too large a percentage for my liking, doesn't look twice. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.
The murder of that poor bloke on the number 43 bus, made me think alot. I couldn't belive that passengers let it happen and when he was lying there bleeding, that only one woman stopped to help. Now I'm not saying that this is the fault of the alternative, what I am saying is that this is the result of a society that values the choice to opt in or out of society.
"What is even more significant is that this rejection was not in the name of some pattern of ordering society, though the new libertarianism was given ideological justification by those who felt it needed such labels, but in the name of the unlimited autonomy of individual desire. It assumed a world of self-regarding individualism pushed to its limits. Paradoxically the rebels against the conventions and restrictions shared the assumptions on which mass consumer society was built, or at least the psychological motivations which those who sold consumers goods and services found most effective in selling them" (pg 334 The Age of Extremes)
I'm glad someone else feels that way, even if you could argue that Eric is an old git, the fact is that he's an intelligent, observant old git. I'm still of the mind that alternative culture is equivalent to 'opt-out' culture in many ways, that is a culture that refuses to acknowledge its responsibility to society. And regardless of what we might think, everybody has a responsibility to society.
That isn't to say that 'alternative' cultures don't have anything going for them, celebrating artistic freedom isn't bad, even if the results all too frequently are, but the state of being liberated has to have limits. Maybe young contemporary artists could think about filling the gap that has been left by the cessation of the creation of public monuments and memorials rather than focusing on out-dated 'taboos' such as sexual promiscuity which is neither particularly subversive nor socially useful. Neither do I think that individuals within these groups are completely sealed from the outside world, I'm sure most voted in the last general election, it's more to do with the lack of public acknowledgement that politics matters.
Our 'alternative'cultures still live under the monolithic shadow of the emergence of youth culture. Yes, it was an unprecedented event and yes it meant we have access to an unimaginable volume of media, in terms of music, film, books, websites etc. but when are we going to get over it. Flaunting social convention stops appearing like political action when we live in a society that, apart from Daily Mail readers, which is admittedly a little too large a percentage for my liking, doesn't look twice. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.
The murder of that poor bloke on the number 43 bus, made me think alot. I couldn't belive that passengers let it happen and when he was lying there bleeding, that only one woman stopped to help. Now I'm not saying that this is the fault of the alternative, what I am saying is that this is the result of a society that values the choice to opt in or out of society.
posted by Nick at 2:32 pm
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