the cult of being counter cultural
the left says they’re countercultural to a sexist, racist world.
the right says they’re countercultural to an increasingly secular and “woke” society.
if everything’s countercultural, then nothing is.
before we discuss what is counter-cultural, let’s first establish the truths of our culture today.
yes, America has historically been a racist, sexist country. we name our institutions after white men and we neglect to discuss that this same plot of land where we’re studying our state’s history in high school was once the site of an Indian tribe that was massacred hundreds of years ago. America is still experiencing the stain of this sin; our minority communities are less educated, and white men are still the most successful demographic. disabled people can rarely access their necessities, some states have only recently decriminalized interracial cohabitation, and our cities are still segregated.
and yes, today’s mainstream media, most of our public universities, and young people are becoming increasingly liberal and rejecting a belief in God or any universal truth at all.
it seems like mainstream media rarely has anything positive to say about christians or republicans. it can often seem like anti-abortion americans are attacked mercilessly by credible sources every day, and the new stupid thing trump said still seems to have the attention of every news source.
both realities are discouraging and understandably cause people to want to flee. there’s nothing wrong with that. our favorite leaders were contrarians, why wouldn’t we want to be like them – rejecting the mainstream, being free thinkers, having that “something different” about us?
the problem is that it’s inherently mainstream to want to be counter cultural.
there’s nothing unique about being counter-cultural anymore. since everyone thinks they are, no one is.
being a contrarian today is often just disguised as being intentionally inflammatory.
Let’s not get this confused: inflammation isn’t original.
additionally, we don’t need to reject all societal norms to be counter-cultural. we can admit that most societal norms are to our benefit; interrupting is considered rude, certain words are considered foul, certain populations are considered vulnerable, and historical events are still sensitive. we’re not meant to break every societal code to be heard, noticed, or respected.
being intentionally provocative often weakens the credibility of whatever message you’re trying to get across. after all, the desire to be counter-cultural stems from the internal desire to be different and the external desire to be noticed as different.
but let’s be thoughtfully different because being different for its own sake is meaningless and lacks substance. plus, if someday you actually do have something of substance to share, society will waive you off as the boy who cried wolf.
for instance, your friend said he was rejecting gender norms a year ago when he decided to shave his head. in reality, he did it because his friends were doing it. now, he’s decided to get a large cross tattoo and he says it’s because he’s found the Lord. you’re left wondering: has he really, or is this another bandwagon he’s hopped on?
being kneutral has several benefits. for one, you’re more likely to be taken seriously. not many people can connect to advertently counter-cultural individuals/philosophies. it’s simply unrelatable. yes, countercultural, inflammatory, loud people are more likely to grab someone’s attention, but what happens beyond that? do we see many minds changed? do we see many eyes opened? usually, people would prefer to have not been made uncomfortable in the first place.
secondly, kneutrality is refreshingly meshing the positive aspects of society by addressing the negative. you don’t have to lose any self-respect to participate in kneutrality. it just requires an open mind which is what’s truly counter-cultural.