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I personally think cringe culture killed any form of counterculture

So, I was watching one of my favorite films by one of my favorite directors, about one of my favorite bands ever—I was watching Oliver Stone’s The Doors.

Now, if you haven’t seen this movie, or heard The Doors’ music, or don’t even know who Oliver Stone or Jim Morrison was… what are you doing? Seriously—get off this website for a second, watch the movie, listen to some Doors music, and then come back.

But anyway, I noticed something: Jim Morrison would probably be called “cringe” nowadays, and that honestly saddens me. The reason I say that is because it feels like you’re not allowed to have an original, different, or just plain weird thought anymore. You’re not allowed to be edgy. You’re not allowed to be cutting-edge. Everything feels so… uniform.

Like, what—are we really heading back to the ’50s now?

I mean, I’ll say this: it seems like there are two factors at play. One is this overwhelming political correctness. And don’t get me wrong—I am bisexual. I hate that word, because it puts me in a box, but yes, that’s the label. Still, I don’t like how it feels like you can’t say anything, joke around, or even explore deeper thoughts without backlash.

And on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got “cringe culture,” which just… ruins things, honestly. It basically says that if you don’t fit yourself into a neat little box, you’re somehow not normal.

But what the hell even is normal? And why do we want to be that, anyway?

So yeah—tell me what you think in the comments.
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BohoBabe · M
I think most people consider a person "cringe" when they're trying too hard, when they're coming off as fake. A lot of people in my generation think Freddie Mercury was really cool. I think it's because he never came off as try hard. What you see on stage was just what he was. A modern example is Sabrina Carpenter. The over-the-top sexiness and horniness never comes off as cringe because you can tell she's having fun with it, she knows she's goofy, she embraces it. So it doesn't come off as fake.
Ohplease47 · F
Well as we all figger it out I'll be
Waiting for the sun.🎸

Waiting for u to

Come along...
Waiting for u to
Hear my song....

Waiting to find out
What went wrong.....🤥

.
I’ve seen the movie, and I remember the original Doors. I thought Oliver Stone did a good job, and Val Kilmer was a rather good cast for Morrison.
Ohplease47 · F
@bijouxbroussard hello I love you..the "you" was Pam..and the movie showed the "vid" of that one song, among all the others....people probably wanted to learn more about how they got together...and from other songs, she apparantly had many...shall we say...reservations😼
ViciDraco · 41-45, M
Personally, I think being a kind and caring individual is starting to reach counter culture levels. The got mine, f everyone else and hustle cultures seem to be prevailing at the moment.

It's also hard to develop culture when neighbors don't even speak to each other anymore. If you don't know other people well enough to have a culture it's hard to be counter to that.
FreddieUK · 70-79, M
@ViciDraco
If you don't know other people well enough to have a culture it's hard to be counter to that.

Very well said.
ArtieKat · M
On shuffle just now I had a track released by The Doors years after Jim Morrison died - effectively his poetry set to music. I'll probably make you jealous because I saw The Doors live at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970
RedBaron · M
@Ohplease47 I saw the Grateful Dead twice during my time at Cornell, in 1980 and 1981 at Barton Hall. Great shows!
ArtieKat · M
Ohplease47 · F
@ArtieKat that spirit was deliberately murdered by the military industrial complex. Not too "ok"
Adrift · 61-69, F
If you look throughout time, there has always been a counter culture.
This message was deleted by its author.
Sidewinder · 36-40, M
Counterculture is still alive in me.

Perhaps not ALL of it's aspects, but most of them.

At least all the aspects of it that are interesting to me, leastways.
RedBaron · M
Anyone alive prior to 1980 probably knows about Jim Morrison and the Doors. You come across as quite condescending.
FreddieUK · 70-79, M
By the time I was your age, Morrison was already past his peak notoriety, so I wouldn't be too surprised if many people in the younger generations don't know of him. Well done you for raising keeping the flame alive for him. When The Doors we're at their height, from memory, they were very much the 'bad boys' as far as conventional culture was concerned. They've become saints mainly because of their music these days, I suggest. I've always enjoyed their music, while not following their lifestyle.

I very much agree with you about labels, but I suspect we're all guilty of applying them as it makes life simpler in dealing with other people. I try very hard to fight against it and it's interesting that even on SW we are asked to put ourselves in certain boxes, although fortunately you can leave them empty if you feel they don't reflect your full personhood.

Why would one want to be 'normal'? Fitting in seems to be a basic need for us, whether that's fitting into what one might call traditional culture or counter-culture. It's probably my age, but the term 'cringe' perhaps means something to you which it doesn't mean to me. I still have my moments with The Doors on a 45yo CD (never bought the vinyl) and my extremely conventional lifestyle, the same as I do with Bach whose lifestyle I also do not live.
unregisteredhypercam4 · 22-25, M
Good thing is that *usually* when you suppress stuff like this, it comes back full force
anythingoes477 · 31-35, M
Morrison was neither "cringe" or "counter culture". He was a suicide machine. It was not if he would die by his own actions and lifestyle........it was always when. Drugs created a Morrison that didn't care about common sense or guard rails. He literally lived a life that he knew...and forecast..... would kill him if he continued........and he did.....and it did. As short as his life was..........he was an incredible talent and his music will outlive him by centuries.
I love Jim ❤

I want to be a Shaman 😆

Indians scattered on dawns highway bleeding

Ghosts crowd the young child's fragile eggshell mind

Choose the day. Choose the sign of the day. The earth's divinity. First thing you see. A vast radiant beach in a cool jewelled moon. Couples naked race down by its quiet side.

But we don't laugh anymore.

We're losing the magic, drowning in bureaucratese and antipathy

One inked form away from screaming into the void

Paid bills, littlest of thrills. Numbness. Normal = death
Ohplease47 · F
@PlatonicSquirelFriends the move from the holy green KINDNESS

To otc pills

Spelled the beginning of the killing days of that Nixon and young Truth era.

Ya know???

I sure do.
This message was deleted by its author.
Ohplease47 · F
@SnickersDOM The System destroyed this era with cutthroat vengeange

And ferocity.

And all we have now is the filthy twisted

REACTIONISM

shoved down our starving throats with sneering sorry ridicule and horror.

But inside of me NOTHING of this spirit

EVER could have been or WAS

"CANCELLED"

So there!!!!
This message was deleted by its author.
Ohplease47 · F
@SnickersDOM the punk "culture"

Never got it or continued it.

It was just another part of the general cultural

REACTIONISM

 
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