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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SnickersDOM · M

I see more people complaining about "political correctness" than I ever, ever see any manifestation of political correctness ... it feels like all the angst over this is made-up. More often than not, the people whining about it also can't even define it, or define "woke" for that matter either. They rarely can define any of the awful things they routinely complain about, but they damn sure know it's bad!

Everyoone still has free speech (which ihcludes whatever you're perceiving as "backlash"). People have not suddenly shut their collective mouths. Quite the opposite. In case you haven't noticed, the US for example now has a batshit crazy man-child idiot for its head of state — for the second time no less! That couln't ever happen in a reality where the whiny grievance culture that enabled him is actually being "canceled".

And I never understand anyone complaining about the basic linguistic utility of words having meanings ... you'll never see me say "I am human, I hate that word, because it puts me in a box". Well that doesn't change the fact that I am human, and I am everything that box entails. It is basic reality. Complaining about something that innocuous would be like complaining about 2+2 always being equal to 4, and manufacturing some existential crisis over 2+2 being placed into some horrible "box" when in fact it's not even a big deal at all. It's like some people need smething to be upset about and will pull things out of thin air to have a focal point for their axnieties.

Moreover, "counterculture" is itself a box!!!
And it still exists, it's never gone away, if anything only the shape has changed, as does with anythign with the passage of time and advances in technology. It's not just the non-counterculture people who are now more screen-oriented rather than outdoor-oriented.

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!!!!

SnickersDOM · M

@Ohplease47 that's what I hear .. and yet counterculture was still alive and well even a decade later, with the punk culture as one example of its continuation

I realize that every single generation is inevitably going to have a contingent that fees like a perpetual martyr in some way, perhaps even seeking that in some way

And that also will always inevitably include people in First World nations who aren't having to eek out a subsistence living like less fortunate people in undeveloped nations who haven't even heard of manufactured crises like "political correctness" but are instead just trying not to die

Ohplease47 · F

@SnickersDOM the punk "culture"

Never got it or continued it.

It was just another part of the general cultural

REACTIONISM