The older I get, the more I'm beginning to realize that this is a (supposed) subculture for people who are very surface-level thinkers. It's a subculture for LARPing, being contrived, boxing yourself off to fit a certain mold.
I've wondered in recent years why these spaces tend to delve in extremist positions:
On the Leftist fringe, purity spirals, having a one-dimensional view about global conflicts and conceding no middle-ground, being on a constant conquest of 'cancelling' 'problematic' musicians with NO FORGIVENESS (ironically many of the people I've know over the years who were actual bigots are now hopping on this bandwagon and LARPing as super progressive/"woke"), for some of the smallest infractions. And this is not in the good faith way of wanting to better the lives of people, it's a cliqueish group of people that are weaponizing turbulent political issues as another disengenuous way to be Mean Girls in their niche social cirles.
And undeniably there are rightwing extremists, misogynistic wannabe 'dom' dipshits, who look up to figures like Tate / Trump, and think that being a chud is somehow "the new punk rock" while they simp for billionaires that are wrecking the global economy, absolutely despise anything alternative, would love a world where having piercings/tattoos/alternative fashion was illegal and everyone had to conform to strict, 1950's gender roles.
Both types lack the self-awareness to think that some of the things they believe in might be bullshit.
Everything I've said thus far is even a thought-crime in these spaces. You're not supposed to have pattern recognition, you're not supposed to think very much. You're supposed to just lap up whatever nightclub slop gets thrown your way, lick the DJs' taints like they're gods among men (wow, pushing buttons in Rekordbox, I think they may be the next Mozart).
You're not allowed to be earnest, passionate, actually love the MUSIC. That's why so many people in these spaces don't give a shit if the DJs play the same drivel every night, that doesn't even fit the description of what is on the flyer.
It's why the scene is so prone to people who end up becoming has-beens, stay-at-home fuddy duddies, because it's a scene that's so easy to give up on.
I've never witnessed this behavior in Germany. People there are, dare I say, happier? It certainly isn't a crime to be really excited to attend a festival and enjoy the social aspect of it. In America, attending a festival or liking a band is treated as means of climbing a social ladder, or being in the 'know.' It's stupid behavior.
I think it's the trickle down effect of Americanism. The lazy, apathetic, consumerist, attitude, with no intellectual curiosity, just cult-like dogmatism.
You're not allowed to be earnest, passionate, actually love the MUSIC. That's why so many people in these spaces don't give a shit if the DJs play the same drivel every night, that doesn't even fit the description of what is on the flyer.
It's why the scene is so prone to people who end up becoming has-beens, stay-at-home fuddy duddies, because it's a scene that's so easy to give up on.
I've never witnessed this behavior in Germany. People there are, dare I say, happier? It certainly isn't a crime to be really excited to attend a festival and enjoy the social aspect of it. In America, attending a festival or liking a band is treated as means of climbing a social ladder, or being in the 'know.' It's stupid behavior.
I think it's the trickle down effect of Americanism. The lazy, apathetic, consumerist, attitude, with no intellectual curiosity, just cult-like dogmatism.
But strangely, it's the Goth/Industrial subcultures that get affected the most. My anecdotal guess would be the scene being notorious of mental illness, narcissism.
If you want to get along in these social spaces, shut your brain off, don't be TOO passionate about anything, be an NPC in dark clothing, the DJ/promoter is your god, the music is a means to climb the social ladder, align your politics with one of the two fringe extremes (choose what kind of extremist insufferable you want to be until that no longer becomes the trend i/g: it used to be the meta to pick on Emo/Scene kids).
If you want to get along in these social spaces, shut your brain off, don't be TOO passionate about anything, be an NPC in dark clothing, the DJ/promoter is your god, the music is a means to climb the social ladder, align your politics with one of the two fringe extremes (choose what kind of extremist insufferable you want to be until that no longer becomes the trend i/g: it used to be the meta to pick on Emo/Scene kids).