What is the counterculture of today?

Question

Welcome to the first forum on counterculture!

What movements within the past two decades could be considered overtly going against mainstream culture? In addressing movements, write also what this counterculture attempts to 'counter' in society.

For ones I could think of, most have conservative political tendencies. The very public anti-vax movement in the US/Canada definitely showcases a strong attitude of societal defiance. Conservative militia groups, like those which performed a standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, have a libertarian message and a very strong rejection to neoliberal/left social and economic policies. I have yet to determine whether the Proud Boys could be considered countercultural in that their agenda seems to be more evocative than substantial - further, they show clearly present support to Donald Trump, and his direction of politics represent a sizeable status quo among conservatives in the US.

Antifa is another group that shows countercultural tendencies, but it seems their agenda is various, purposely disorganized, and more evocative than substantial, so it is hard to peg.

Eager to hear your thoughts on modern day counterculture!

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Answer

Working your original post backwards; the movement called Antifa isn't really anything that is organized; that one could refer to them as a group. However, they emerge from the Woke movement, which is a definite set of people; still disorganized, except through social media. This is a loud but small minority of people on the extreme left. And we know that the extreme left meets the extreme right; so that extremism is extremism.

We can say of the Alt-Right; though they have magazines and a body of proactive ideologues, they are still not an active body of people with a set-purpose. They are however, rife with very well organized and funded groups with lots of shadow, civil and governmental connections. These groups are far-right, para-military and actually deadly set against the U.S. government; seeking an 'Aryan Nation.'

Anti-vaxxers are a part of the body of Conspiracy Theorists that mix in so well, with all these groups. And the left; especially the Woke draw a perfect parallel with the White Supremacist. We have Q-anon with the Flat-Earthers, the Mars Conspiracy and the Lunar Landing Conspiracy. People will just believe anything, and it's not hard to work a small group of people into believing anything through today's social media.

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What is the counterculture of today?

Posted by teabeeonelove

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Reply by Paul Joseph Rovelli