Canada’s Debate

I had another one of my frequent, unplanned and uncontrollable free-association daydreams this morning, while I was shaving. Ignoring the fact that this is not a good time to shave, my thoughts led me somewhere interesting. For some reason Blossom came to mind, which led me to porn, and then to a show I remember watching several months ago where a woman said she couldn’t wait to turn 18 to she could get into pornography itself.

If you came here looking for boobs I’m sorry; this is not a post about porn. Being a nice guy I’ve tossed a picture at the bottom of the post though.

Ok, so when I remembered that dialogue I thought, “Man, our subculture is weird.” Now, every generation of youth is different than the preceding one, but I honestly think that something different is happening here. Subculture, or the distinctive culture of a certain group has always existed a bit on the margins. Kids have always hung out where their parents ain’t, geeks have always avoided jocks by hanging out in the library or stage-crew room, artists have always lived in colonies, etc. What’s striking about all of these examples (at least to me) is that these spaces were always at least partially shared; sub-culture existed on the fringes of the mainstream, but there was always an overlap of physical space. Now the internet (and in theory WWW2) allow for unlimited space. It is possible for someone to seek out inclusion and expression in a space that never only that particular group will see.

Counter-culture is not to be confused with sub-culture. Counter-culture is a sub-culture that is in specific contrast and opposition to the mainstream. Counter-culture has always shared the same space the mainstream. Protestants lived in Catholic countries (and were frequently bbq’ed for it), Hippies hung out in public parks, and punkers rocked out in stadiums and bars. Nowadays anyone who belongs to a counter-culture can find expression on a shitty myspace page where there is not a square to be found.

So here’s my question: Can counter-culture exist without actually occupying the same space as the mainstream? As the public sphere known as the internet grows, and the public sphere known as “hey, it looks nice outside” shrinks counter-culture is fated to move online. Given the inherent element of “opposition” that permeates counter-culture, can it really exist in a world where it doesn’t have to share a sidewalk with Joe Schmoe? (Not to be confused with this Joe.)

Simply put, if a bunch of Sex Pistols fans from the 1970’s had watched a webcast and rocked out in their shitty apartments instead of trashing a stadium, would they still be punks, or just jerks?

Oh, here are the boobs I promised… perverts.