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Things like gay pride parades seem very counterculturey to me
Eh. If anything, they've just become big parties. Chicago's draws more than a million people year after year, and I don't think anyone would consider the Lakeview neighborhood to be countercultural, even if you're looking strictly at Boystown.
Even my native St. Louis drew 300,000+ at its pride in downtown St. Louis last year. That figure isn't counting the smaller events in the suburbs either.
Yep, was a funny post and as stated above, Asheville and Ann Arbor escaped his wrath.
I've had an obsession with anything counterculture-related my whole life. I'm from counterculture central - SF. Except it's a lot more tech bro and corporate these days.
Surprise surprise - I'm female, and Asian American, too. Sometimes the most unsuspecting types of people are the most counterculture in mindset, values, interests, etc. As you can imagine, I can write/talk about anything counterculture-related nonstop.
There are quite a few writers, politicians, and notable people, etc. - who are Asian American, female, and embody the counterculture vibe in various strains. One that comes to mind is Larissa Lai - a Chinese Canadian writer in Vancouver whose novels are counterculture to death. They're incredibly creative, thoughtful, and well-written, too. Her first novel took place around 1989 in Vancouver, and it was full of video artists, people sleeping with various genders, and stuck-up college students majoring in the humanities instead of something more "Asian" like accounting or computer science.
Rep. Judy Chu of Monterey Park, CA recently got arrested during a protest - and she's a Chinese American Congresswoman in her 60s. Her Twitter shows she's very proud of it, and I totally support her.
In person, I'm never seen as the least bit counterculture, despite knowing the "vibe" and all the various permutations on such a deep and intrinsic level. People see me, and everything goes straight to Asian stereotypes - STEM, boring, bland, traditional, conservative, fresh off the boat, etc. As you can see from my posts, my knowledge and passion for anything counterculture-related is extremely deep - for better or for worse.
Ann Arbor escaped my wrath - for some reason, I don't think of it much. I mainly think of it as a good school. I do think about University of Wisconsin, Madison - but it's not on the list. I can think of much more colleges, but that would make the list too long.
My list was originally longer, but I deleted a couple of sub-lists just so it wouldn't seem so long. Asheville was on one of my deleted sublists.
Last edited by LetMeIn99; 01-14-2018 at 11:41 AM..
I've known Cleveland was a bit "counterculture" (broad use of the term) since "The Drew Carey Show" and "Whose Line is It Anyway?" days. It's such an awkward TV show name, by the way. Drew Carey had the hipster glasses since before they became very mainstream. Kurt Cobain was wearing those same hipster glasses in 1992 - the earliest I've seen it worn after the 60s or so. The Drew Carey Show's self-effacing jingle with "Cleveland rocks" already told me that Cleveland rocked and had its fringes of counterculture even back then.
The hippest person I knew in the late 90s, who had the Drew Carey glasses and was in a band, was straight from Cinncinati.
Today, when I think 2005-era hipster, I think Philly. SF has moved a long way from the classic late-2000s hipster. It keeps reinventing itself - the core hipster look keeps changing. It's a very annoying look these days. I can barely describe it - it's so different from other places, but the closest equivalent these days are the hipsters in LA. SF has been becoming so soulless brogrammer that its hipsters seem more similar to LA's than to Berkeley's.
Places that you think of as bland and conservative are, in some ways, the most open-minded, most radical places of all. Same with people.
There isn't a true counter-culture today nor has there been one for a long time. The generation gap is long over.
Here's one of the sublists that I had deleted from my original post so it wouldn't seem so long:
Cities across the US that make artisanal, small-batch chocolate that sell for $10+ per bar (checked in hipster grocery):
-Winston-Salem, NC
-Asheville, NC
-Seattle (several brands)
-Oakland, CA
-SF, CA (many brands)
-Salt Lake City, UT (all cities can have their hipster pockets, even in Mormon-heavy SLC)
-Brooklyn
-Portland, OR
-random town in Pennsylvania
This thread is under the U.S. category, so the OP is not asking for international cities that are counterculture. Still, I created a list for that:
Non-US "counterculture" cities:
-Berlin, Germany
-Taipei, Taiwan
-Tokyo, Japan (J-rock, latest fads - usurped by Seoul these days, but they don't have the alt vibe that Japan has)
-Vilnius, Lithuania (quirky, music fests)
-Mexico City (punk rock, Frida Kahlo)
-Salt Spring Island, BC (Wiccans, super counterculture, tries hard to be like little California towns)
-Anything in the Vancouver area, and lots of places in rural British Columbia
-Halifax, NS (?)
-GTA
Last edited by LetMeIn99; 01-14-2018 at 12:03 PM..
OP is using "counterculture" broadly - hipsters, emo, punk, hippies, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamms
There isn't a true counter-culture today nor has there been one for a long time. The generation gap is long over.
I had written "Cleveland was a bit "counterculture" (broad use of the term)." I put counterculture in quotes. I also wrote "broad use of the term." So obviously, I'm not referring to that classic 60s hippie culture.
In my original list, I wrote:
Quote:
Counterculture usually refers to hippies in the 60s-70s who liked fighting "the man," "dropping acid," going to art school, growing beards, having long hair (both men and women), living in communes, and being the complete opposite of what their parents were. Woodstock, the Summer of Love, the Beatles, and Berkeley are what I think of when I hear "counterculture." But the OP is using "counterculture" in a broader sense to include any subcultures that pride themselves in not being mainstream.
There are lots of subcultures that love being "alternative" - but they're usually just trying to fit into the dominant or cool culture, where ever they are. There's a lot of intersection between different subcultures.
I had written "Cleveland was a bit "counterculture" (broad use of the term)." I put counterculture in quotes. I also wrote "broad use of the term." So obviously, I'm not referring to that classic 60s hippie culture.
In my original list, I wrote:
Sorry for the mix-up but I as well qualified my post with ''true counter-culture''. I think a lot of younger, and unfortunately, many not so young folks think they are participating in an actual counter-culture though.
I personally would not use "counterculture" to describe the various "alternative" subcultures, like hipster, punk, the festival crowd, etc. But many people are responding to the OP's post with all the various subcultures.
I don't think the OP is using "counterculture" to just describe the classic 60s hippies. It's not quite the correct use of the term. But most people here are throwing in everything subculture. In my long post, I explained it all - that's why I put "counterculture" in quotes.
I wouldn't say that counterculture is specifically a '60s hippie thing. That is an extremely narrow definition. In the '80s punk was commonly referred to as a counterculture. The argument has been made by historians (and also by '60s hippies and '80s punks) that Diogenes and the Cynics of classical Athens represented the west's first true counterculture and that cultural thread has been with us ever since.
I think a better definition of counterculture would be a group of people who self consciously choose to reject the mores of the wider society and instead live by their own code - especially regarding materialism. Countercultures have an element of asceticism and separation from the values of the main culture.
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The most counterculture people might surprise you
