What’s next for American culture?

Endless Marvel slop.

I wish there'd be a bit change in fashion. This overly made up face/centre part with long hair look on women has really hung around too long.

But then, the birght mutli-coloured clothes, glasses, dyed hair, unisex look in the 20 year olds doesn't inspire me either. It should, because it sounds more like what I think could be fun, but it seems, I dunno, joyless or something. Actually come to think of it, I think it might be due to the rise of injectibles and all this surgery people are getting younger and younger, all so everyone can look the same as each other.

Eh, I turned 40 last year, though. What do I know from fashion, really?

It's always been junk.

It's only nostalgia that polishes moon boots, acid-washed jeans, Farrah Fawcett curls, fern bars, short shorts, juice bars, Beanie Babies, sizzling fajitas, preppy chic, legging, track suits, mall chicks and all the rest into what your memory mistakes for jewels.

[quote]short shorts

Oh, but no. These, at least, are very appealing to me!

(But in all seriousness, I agree with your point entirely. Nostalgia does a hell of a number on our memories!)

The crematorium.

American culture is now Social Media. See, Lies & Videotapes.

^you forgot PR, advertising and manipulations by gov. intel agencies.

Yes fashion too, but everyone’s attitude is sucky and either extremely selfish or completely uninformed and clueless. Their personalities are repugnant.

Then there is this demographic of people who I call “the soup”. They are the same exact men and women over and over and you can’t tell their age or race or distinguish one from another They are 20-40 and just blah, stale copycat replicas repeating the same slang and jargon and go on about like robots. and they all wear glasses now all of these sudden so I’m guessing most are fake lenses. It’s like they all have some sort of digital programming that feeds them a protocol and they just act it all out. Noting is organic or original. Nobody will do anything that could cause them social consequences and life is just one big suck up job to the next person who can move them ahead.

It repulses me. They have zero morals. They are completely apathetic to the human experience.

If you were having a heart attack and dropped dead, half the population would walk past you and not flinch or the other half would take pictures to get attention themselves. “I have so much anxiety because I witnessed a heart attack today” as if they are the ones who had a bad day.

And it’s not just the morality. it’s the lack of vision, the lack of understanding one’s place in time and history and the lack of any sense of being alive and solving challenges using sense and things that have worked in the past. This dreaded lot has thrown the baby out with the bath water.

And when they do take note of history, it’s only skimmed long enough to gleam what is needed to produce a “remake” or “retelling”.

Movies: 99% junk.. Streaming: 99.5% junk. Music: 99.9% JUNK!

I’m so ready for something new and exiting.

Where is the next great writer that shakes things up, the musician who everyone will remember first hearing in their car or the movie star that can stop traffic without makeup? The problem solvers that bring us the next antibiotics? The next motor car or the next big “thing”?

The middle part mermaid hair has to go. So do short shorts for women. Short shorts for men, however, really need to make a comeback.

I think the next big thing is early 2000s nostalgia, if it hasn't happened already: hip hugger jeans, trucker hats, spray tans (I almost wrote 'splay tans'), chunky highlights.

I wonder if social media will ever face a backlash. If people will realize it’s anti-human. And shun it like haxky- sacs or playing marbles.

R9 if all we can do is rehash shit from 20yrs ago, our "culture" is dead.

You just handily provided an example of the very problem we are discussing.

No more comebacks. They have all been done. We need something new.

Bell bottoms were new and crazy when they came out. Now they just look retro. I’m sick of all the “comebacks” and “remakes” let’s get a new voice of a generation. Let’s get some new trends.

OP, I don't think there is anything next. If there are any trends left, you'll find them in China.

Great and interesting post, R8!

I wonder if part of the problem is also that it's not really as easy nowadays for true artists to get a foothold. Once upon a time they could live in shitty parts of a city and work on things. That's not really possible now. Also, with everything going on online now, I imagine it's quite hard for people to get away long enough to think about and make art they otherwise would. A lot of great invention comes from boredom, but if you're constantly plugged into this system, well, where do you get the time to be bored and think up new and exciting things?

Just throwing a few ideas out there.

American culture (which is really the western world) is stagnated. Like 4th century Roman Empire before the collapse. Put a fork in it it's done.

Yes, cost of living needs to come down for everyone, not just artists.

And leisure time needs to increase drastically. We don't do leisure here--we recover. Not the same thing at all.

And a lot less of our culture would need to be generated simply as a side-apparatus to marketing and making money.

Plastics.

Everybody will be trans for 15 minutes.

R18 men-o-pause already turns the frauen into trans, nearly.

I believe most of it stems from the stagnation in music. The problem is that there are no longer authentic “scenes” developing. Artists like Madonna, Kurt Cobain, The Beatles, and sounds like Disco, New Wave, Hip Hop, House, Emo, etc. all grew organically from real underground local movements which grew, evolved and then exploded. Until a certain point they were insulated, which allowed them to organically develop and grow into something special. Now, there is no underground, everything gets filmed and plastered online in real time, and anything slightly new or trendy gets discovered by corporate trolls who co opt it before it even has time to become something more artistically meaningful.

R20, I was coming here to try and say something similar, but without any of the competence and intelligence you showed. I agree. I just saw a comment under a video of some 80s song saying: "Music has reached a plateau for the past 20 years" or something like that.

Do you agree? When would you put the last true music movement? I'm thinking the 90s, but am interested in others' opinions.

Continuing decline. And when we think it's hit bottom, we'll find there are farther depths to come.

It’s incredibly stale here in England as well. New people don’t seem to get a chance.

People keep saying there’s great new stuff on TV but it always seems to be violent.

And what’s with the endless grey and black in decor and cars?

Lot so good comments! And R20 nails it.

The human ability to disappear, develop, discover, etc, has diminished greatly. I'm guilty of it as well. I've been doing self-isolation for the last week and I've been glued to the internet. I can't seem to turn away form it. I can't read a book anymore. I can barely watch a film without looking up stuff during the viewing.

Edwardian Collars.

R24, almost like we need an EMP to knock us out of complacency and back to reality.

If I could describe the look we are living with and have been for a few years now it would be that everything seems to be flashy and glitzy and ultimately soulless.

I agree, Cinesnatch, I have trained myself out of looking at my phone as much during a movie, but my mind still wanders all over the place.

It does feel like it's something different at the moment, though I do try and keep in mind - was this how my parents felt when they got to my age about their era? And my grandparents? Is this just me reaching that stage of life? And yet, it really does feel like this is something even more than that.

Everyone is terrified of looking ridiculous. So that's why we've all had the same hair for 30 years. Christ nothing has changed and it won't for fear not looking cool in 5 years. Stagnation

[quote] I think the next big thing is early 2000s nostalgia, if it hasn't happened already: [.....] spray tans

I'm already way ahead of the curve, then! Everyone soon will be trying to look like me!

Ruff collars.

[quote]The middle part mermaid hair has to go. So do short shorts for women. Short shorts for men, however, really need to make a comeback.

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed.

Interesting about a possible early 00s comeback - if so it would be quite a change just for one reason alone: the desired body type in women has changed so completely. Early 00s it was a rail thin look. Women who wore the fashions of the time but didn't have the figure were generally mocked (think Kim in Kath and Kim, for example).

Imagine all those people with surgically enhanced asses when faced with an early 00s comeback!

I think you’re right r21, the 90s was sadly the last decade that spawned organic musical movements that ultimately exploded and strongly influenced culture, like alt/grunge/indie rock and house/techno/rave . Can’t really think of anything “new” that evolved that way in this millennium

What's next for American culture? Nuclear Anhilation. :-/

Endless TikTok fuelled bullshit, and when TikTok wanes there will be something even shittier to amuse/medicate the masses while the world burns around them. Culture is dead.

I think music is great now. Spend some time looking and you can find music that sounds fresh, that's original or "fusion" in the broadest sense that borrows buy interprets and adds and builds from some tradition, old or recent. And the music that you started out to find isn't always where you end up, the discovery that turns you in a new direction.

Word of mouth, the music your older brother made you listen to, popular radio...the old and few routes that steered people down a path to developing a taste for a type of music, those easy ways are largely gone if you want to go deeper than the cheesiest.mosy.popular pop. And maybe you don't have the experience of seeing some.massive act in a massive stadium with massive.numbers of fans, but you have a different, more intimate, more personal experience of "discovery" - and of fresher, more original music. It's a very different sense of shared experience and that plays out on generational grounds with people who look with a sentimental eye to the past and those who work with what the present offers.

Nothing invigorating until the Kartrashians and associates become irrelevant

[quote]Nothing invigorating until the Kartrashians and associates become irrelevant

Please, please, please! From your lips!

R31, yes the rail thin look was in. The tv show Girls5Eva parodied this with the song TBF: Tiny Butts Forever.

TBF/Tiny butts forever/Two silver dollar pancakes in jeans/This will be what people like forever/TBF/Tiny butts in jeans

Fashion has devolved into glorified sweats, drab unisex attire, and mundane items with a designer name stamped on it. To me, a t-shirt with BALMAIN on it is just as cringeworthy as the I’m With Stupid tee. It makes my skin crawl when I see poseurs with logoed garbage on, thinking they are stylish.

They’re is no creativity, everyone is a doppelganger of each other, and there is no recognition of quality, originality or craftsmanship in the younger generations.

Pop music, literature and theater seem like they are pale limp copies of 20th century art. American pop culture is in its decadent phase and no longer responds to innovation. It wasn’t up to the task of responding to the disaster of Trump era, unlike culture in the Sixties when it seemed like movies, music and theater were alive to what was happening in the streets.

R39 we can't afford craftsmanship. We can barely afford natural fibers.

We are where we are do to a race to the bottom. All we can afford are synthetics sewn by slave labor.

Subordinate all of one's culture to business spreadsheets and this is what results.

The line between Porn and other forms of media is going to continue to blur. Sex positivity is a thing now, and the guys going into gay porn these days seem a lot less rough around the edges as they did ten or fifteen years ago. OF is becoming Instagram 2.0. Popular Tiktoks are practically softcore porn. The most famous woman in the world right now is a pornstar, and people keep forgetting that.

[quote]Short shorts for men, however, really need to make a comeback.

r9 short shorts have been back in for years now. All your faves like Milo and Orlando Bloom have been spotted wear male coochie cutters.

Sex culture is gross, even if sex positivity is a good development.

Bring back subtle eroticism. Let us draw a curtain over the raunchy things people are getting up to, not because we are ashamed but simply because we don't all need to share that much.

This focus on pornification is infantile.

The next big shift will be mass acceptance of virtual reality devices- and I guarantee it won’t be positive.

We haven't really had anything new for at least 25 years. And a big chunk of what's happened since the 1970s culturally was already a regurgitation of earlier trends (the 70s had both 40s and 50s nostalgia, 80s had 60s, 90s had 70s and so on).

r35 completely misses the point, and actually through his answer demonstrates the point

No one said you can't "discover" music that you individually like these days, sitting on your computer listening to anything and everything that you want. Clearly technology has allowed us this type of access more than ever before, and that in and of itself is not a bad thing.

What we're saying is that collectively there are no authentic, exciting musical movements that are developing naturally through human interaction and evolving into cultural flashpoints, influencing fashion and art, and creating real culture and change

[quote]Sex positivity is a thing now

I sorta spoke about this on another thread, but it's a very weird thing because it's not sex positivity in the way I would normally think of it. It seems more, I dunno, defiant or something, like: "Yes, I am 300lbs and I am going to show off my body because it will make all the haters so uncomfortable!" while at the same time holding opinions like: "If you show sexual interest in another person that could be problematic!". Rather than something like "fuck who you want and have fun doing it and don't be ashamed".

I'm probably not explaining it well, but it feels like a lot of the fun of sex has been removed from its modern day portrayal, and it's now only seen as either a political act, or an exploration of trauma.

[quote]the 70s had both 40s and 50s nostalgia, 80s had 60s, 90s had 70s and so on

If you don't mind me adding to this, I'd say there was 30s nostalgia in the 70s too (some of the clothing seems reminiscent of lines from the 30s) and even Edwardian nostalgia. There was a 50s nostalgia thing in the 80s, and in the early 90s I remember a lot of flower power type 60s stuff too. There really is nothing new under the sun, huh? There does seem to be a 20-30 year cycle.

I remember watching a video on this phenomenon awhile back and they were saying what really sparked a lot of the nostalgia starting in the 70s was the prevalence of op shops which may not have been much of a thing prior to that. But I dunno if that is right or not.

[quote]I hate modem culture.

Well put.

R44 I agree. I used to have to make an effort to see other men naked. Now you can scroll and see an infinite number of naked men.

But nude guys are no longer a scarcity. Which is very weird to the brain. Everything is desensitized. All this tech is slowly giving society psychosis. I think that’s why all these models jump off buildings.

Here are my predictions:

1. After the nonbinary market becomes saturated and it’s no longer cool to be a “they,” everyone will go back to being a he or a she. When this happens, I suspect that transgender people will start speaking up and talking about how offensive it was for people to claim that their gender could change on a daily basis.

2. The “transgender children” fad will come crashing to an end when this generation comes of age and starts suing for misdiagnosis and to recoup detransitioning costs. It will practically become a meme as you see ambulance chasers on TV advertising for detransitioning settlements right alongside mesothelioma.

3. We will finally reach a point where our lives are so saturated by social media and we will be compelled to disconnect. We will finally come to the realization that being glued to a device 16 hours a day is impacting our health in a negative way. There will be a trend to disconnect from social media platforms en masse, and people will finally learn to use smartphones responsibly.

4. The gay and transgender movements will finally realize that they have nothing in common and peacefully split.

5. Young lesbians will inevitably find yet another new label for themselves, as lesbian and queer will both be passé. Only this time they will choose a label only for them, as they have learned their lesson. Last time they chose the “queer” label to show solidarity with people who had no business being in “the community.”

6. Black people will invent a new kind of music and then white people will steal it and make it popular.

7. Republicans will take away some gay rights and it will take a while to get them back, and gays will again learn not to take their rights for granted.

8. Wokeness will die, and we will find a happier medium between hate and woke.

The cosmetics industry must be making a fortune these days. Everything is fake fake fake.

And also I’ve noticed that very recently there was a cut off that happened during Covid. If you did not buy a home during that cut off, you will never own a home in your life. You can forget it. Unless you inherent and then have to split it with 5 relatives.

R48 I totally agree with you. When I said sex positivity is a thing now, I guess I just mean the current sex positivity movement. So it's the trend of framing prostitution, porn acting, exotic dancing, camming, etc. as a legitimate industry. Using terms like sex worker and sex industry. There seems do be a direct relationship to the #metoo movement and the prostitution legalization movement. I graduated last year and I had straight male friends who would be scared of flirting with a random girl at a bar. Because if she doesn't like you, she can tell security that you are harrassing her and making her feel "unsafe". Or worse she takes photos of you and sends it to her friends, who send it to their friends. Look at the West End Caleb situation, yeah he was a dick, but getting publicly shamed that way is a lot of guy's worst nightmare. So instead they just start romantic relationships with tinder matches (a safe environment), or they settle for porn hub, hentai, and chaturbate. Also to R44, a song today can have lyrics that explicity detail pussy licking or fucking and I don't bat an eye, but a song from 50 years ago that just implies sexual activity can make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Time of the Season makes me blush and feel aroused. And then I listen to WAP at work while I'm looking at a spreadsheet.

R52 none of what you just discussed was culture. Merely socio-political trends.

In fact, the over politicization of everything is part of what is ruining and stagnating culture.

People I know in the Marketing/Advertising industry complain that there is so much 'noise' with social media that it is very, very difficult anymore to get anyone's attention- thus the more and more outrageous everything gets, and of course now it seems like media (popular, news, advertising, social, all of it) is in some kind of death spiral.

Also, look how nasty the Fortune 500 companies treat their customers and employees these days. There are a few exceptions, but not really. CEOs have no vision, it’s all profit and loss. Which used to be the accountant’s job.

Whatever happened to the Henry Fords, the Colonel Sanders, Sam Walton? I guess they just don’t come along anymore. Innovative business people these days means how craftily you can find ways to rip off retirees and blue collar workers and squeeze them to the max.

I remember when new brands would seem to come out of nowhere and make a name. Now it’s the same names, that go through 10 new owners and the brand means nothing anymore. It’s all garbage. Make a quick buck and move on.

All companies are so dysfunctional anymore. Institutions to. They used to be more of an order to everything. Now it’s all unpredictable chaos.

I don’t want the right wing incels to hijack this thread. This is not about trans or woke people you have infested enough threads and made your stupid point. Don’t ruin this thread. Deplorables are part of the problem with culture. Do your own thing and stop following talking points.

People have been saying the same thing since the beginning of time, OP

But I know you want to believe everything was better "in my day"

R56, no offense to you or your friends, but I hope that industry dies.

Part of the problem, really.

Plus aren't Americans inured to advertising? When has anyone here bought something because they saw it in an ad?

R55 There is a movement to depoliticize culture. John Waters was at a culture festival associated with it last November. Apparently a foundation that's owned by Peter Theil helped fund the festival. The movement is described as "anti-woke" by the media class, but I'd say it's more anti political because many of the artists are leftists who are feeling restricted from creating art. Although most art that is cool is usually subversive.

R61 - Actually, I agree with you, they are definitely part of the problem.

R59. Here we go again. Anyone who isn’t extreme far left is a republican, a right wing nutjob, an incel, etc. There is no middle ground, right? Only extreme right and extreme left.

[quote]Also to [R44], a song today can have lyrics that explicity detail pussy licking or fucking and I don't bat an eye, but a song from 50 years ago that just implies sexual activity can make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Time of the Season makes me blush and feel aroused. And then I listen to WAP at work while I'm looking at a spreadsheet.

Funny you say that. When it comes to porn, I am nowhere near getting as aroused by it now as I do when just thinking of things I've done in the past, plus I just made a thread on this the other day: I've recently come across porn from the 70s/early 80s where the focus is much more on upper bodies writhing together, very little shots of penetration or anything and it is so much more exciting to me.

[quote]When I said sex positivity is a thing now, I guess I just mean the current sex positivity movement.

Oh, buddy, it's all good, I totally knew what you were saying. :)

Deplorables are not excused from their putrid comments due to the culture being rotten. They don’t get a pass. They are a large part of the problem, as are agenda trolls.

The sex workers and the strippers don’t bother me because they do their work in private.

But the cam set/onlyfans and constant nudity 24/7. Anything goes. is just different. There is just something unnatural about that. Not saying it’s bad or good. Just a change in modern society. A big one.

Okay, we just divide everything up and start over. Easy, smeezy.

R66 What exactly is it that offends you? Not taking nonbinary identity seriously? Bitch no one does! And many trans people actually get annoyed with it and find it offensive.

[quote]Apparently a foundation that's owned by Peter Theil

Oh sweet Jesus.

I would say that there has been a few musical innovations to come along in the electronic/dance music and music production realm since 2000 but there has not been another Madonna or Michael Jackson to come along. No Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis/Phil Spector level innovator

The world is still moving forward, you just turned into the grandparents that shit on your generation. The world is still relevant, not to you because you live in the past.

[quote]The world is still relevant, not to you because you live in the past.

And I'm very much okay with that. I hate their music, they are bored by mine. I have never once cared about that shit.

There is not anybody to dislike at that level these days because there isn’t anyone at that level. Nobody even knows who these new “tastemakers” are anymore except for that same contingent of follower drones the drives the point of this thread.

R72 Wrong! There’s a reason that 80s songs are still played on the radio today and that latest Camila Cabello song featuring the latest rapper du jour will be forgotten in 3 weeks. Because in the old days they actually put effort into writing and producing songs.

Everybody is an “influencer” anymore.

I honestly don't know why people get all traumatized about what 20-somethings think about music or style or fashion or movies. It is a complete bore.

Politics? Well, they can affect things there, but most just sit on their ass and don't do anything about it, so even there it's not that big a problem.

But the fact that, OMG, I grew up with this music and now nobody gives a fuck! Why does anyone care about that shit?

Digital technology gives us unprecedented access to the whole historical range of human culture. If you don’t see anything that interests you being produced here and now, , check out something from another time and place. I’m reading the Prose Edda, which is one of the primary sources of Norse mythology. Beats the hell out of the Thor movies.

I don’t know a lot of who anybody is and I’m ok with that. I’m not hiding from the internet, I’m picky-ish about the media I consume, but I’m still very much a participant, so if someone’s only claim to fame is through social media which I don’t partake in then I’m 100% ok not knowing about them. If they were truly that important their actual influence would have made it to the media I do consume. I find the need to relabel things that have existed for decades to be annoying. Yoga pants are now flared leggings, non-conforming or androgynous is now emby (to be extra kawaii), plus a bunch of others I already forgot. It all just sounds stupid and unnecessary, but I suppose the youngins need to fill some void by pretending it is all some big discovery they’re making listening to Nirvana. It’s sad that I’m not even that old and I’m already at the “youth is wasted on the young” part of my life. Maybe Covid accelerated the 40s funk due to the last years of my 30s being lost and the realization that we’re a nation of openly selfish and happily uninformed trash.

that is actually one of my favorite things about this era r78, all the great podcasts. You can find them, very easily. And youtube. Everyone knows there's a ton of shit, but there is also a ton of things that are wonderful. Somebody did a whole thing, actually ongoing, on the entire history of Judaism and it was absolutely wonderful. And there just wasn't that ready knowledge when I was growing up, or at least not in that very easy format.

Aside from the general degradation of life and decline in standards, there are still many things that have improved and that afford pleasure. For me - some years back, I discovered a genre of music that I love and is expanding , Symphonic Metal, the most famous exponents of which are Nightwish, Epica and Within Temptation, all of whom are classically trained and have ethereal soprano vocalists Also, as I am a designer, I am in love with women's evening wear over the last 10 years, thanks to innovative techniques. Last, I love being able to stream any tv show or film from any era at no cost, with a few clicks.

[quote]It’s sad that I’m not even that old and I’m already at the “youth is wasted on the young” part of my life. Maybe Covid accelerated the 40s funk due to the last years of my 30s being lost and the realization that we’re a nation of openly selfish and happily uninformed trash.

Come sit by me. Sounds like we're the same age and have gone through exactly the same thing here.

[quote]If you don’t see anything that interests you being produced here and now, , check out something from another time and place.

The options to do this are wonderful, for sure. Actually, I notice on a lot of videos of music from the 70s/80s/90s that there are a lot of comments from today's teens expressing how much they love this music and wish there was more of it around these days.

[quote]Now, there is no underground, everything gets filmed and plastered online in real time, and anything slightly new or trendy gets discovered by corporate trolls who co opt it before it even has time to become something more artistically meaningful.

That reminds me of the underground art festival last year organized by Trevor Bazile, which was funded by alt-righties like Peter Thiel and was eventually dubbed the "Anti-Woke Art Festival." By all accounts, the festival started out as an ironic "ha ha, look what we got people like Thiel to pay for!" event, but ultimately fizzled into random disaffection, a bunch of overly-online dorks reacting to what's already out there but not creating anything of their own. They didn't do anything but have a little fun with some rightwing blood money, and basically killing Trevor Bazile through exhaustion and probably COVID.

As someone who created a lot of new and unique content about 15 years ago, from my perspective, it's kind of pointless to create anything new because some shit is going to come along, steal it, monetize it, and idiots will call YOU the thief. My partner is an artist and gave up fighting that years ago. The artists I follow on social media are constantly posting "please help me report this company, they stole my designs." Etsy, eBay, Amazon and all those t-shirt companies have made millions upon millions by getting a cut from every sale of stolen artwork.

[R80] can you share the details of the history of Judaism podcast/YouTube series?

r46 Yes but all those decades had original content in addition to the nostalgia.

[quote]What’s next for American culture?

The graveyard.

[quote]What’s next for American culture?

Genderqueer president?

Even 90's grunge boy clothes were a reinvention of late 70's preteen/teen clothes: t-shirt over a long sleeved jersey, flannel plaid shirt tied at the hips, longshoreman's cap, ski beanie, etc. Think Matt Dillon on an ABC After-school Special. Maybe kids in the PAC NW never stopped dressing that way? IDK

[quote] The artists I follow on social media are constantly posting "please help me report this company, they stole my designs." Etsy, eBay, Amazon and all those t-shirt companies have made millions upon millions by getting a cut from every sale of stolen artwork

I’m sorry if this is a stupid question but can a person copyright a design they made?

Sure r85. It's this series by Sam Aronow,

He's taking a break but it's not done yet, and there's a lot of content already.

How soon you've all forgotten how much I've changed your lives for the better.

The U.S. Ned’s new companies and new brands that can build a reputation over time.

All the legacy brands are tainted. Their names mean nothing anymore. Most of these “names” are a hundred years old and the original owners and long dead and gone. The name should die with them. It no longer means anything.

*needs

I wish there would be reform candidates like their used to be in politics. Those who could specify real problems and offer real solutions.

I’ve had enough of the politician clown cars.

The entire political systems needs reforms. Taxes, immigration and voting reform all need to happen in a comprehensive way. That would solve about 100 different problems that hold back Americans.

Silicon Valley needs to be regulated for one thing. What other industry can you think of that has practically zero regulations? It’s a free-for-all.

A whole new kind of yogurt maybe?

R2, I didn’t think about that. Maybe all the Botox and layers of make-up is making everyone look uniform. You can’t tell them apart anymore.

It seems like there is less people who want to walk their own walk. People like Prince, Richard Simmons, Charro, Elton John etc…

You don’t always have to try to be like everyone else and make yourself a copy of someone else. Put your own spin on it. There is a lady at my job that dresses so crazy and original and looks amazing but it’s not something that everyone else is doing. She is 60 and has more spunk than any of the under 40 crowd. She should be a celebrity. She plays the harp and sings. She is more entertaining than anything from these YouTube “stars” who go to the Starbucks drive through and call it “content”.

People are learning and they do want change. It's just that people don't how to get it. The two-party system is one of the worst things to happen to democracy, both parties are in hands of private interests and define themselves by pandering to two demographics. The US could split into different countries and become more like The UK (a united collection of countries with representatives) but I don't see that happening because it would break up families, hurt companies and the national military would get fragmented.

Social media is getting backlash and more and more people are slowly going off the grid. The pandemic woke people up and they realized how much they missed interacting face to face. Not to mention, I know so many people who only made Facebook or Twitter because their company required it. TikTok's power is overstated, it's all smoke and mirrors, fake numbers and the app is already on its way out. Social media going away would greatly help a real social movement to start. People will start to socialize more and more, people will gather in private and more pushes to reform things will gain serious traction All the movements started on social media were just popularity contests and peer pressure which is why none of them lasted long.

Lady GaGa is probably the closest thing to come out of recent pop culture that was somewhat original.

But personally I found her disappointing because I did not buy her as authentic. Maybe that was wrong of me. I did not see her nor her output as something with integrity. Please forgive me if I was wrong. I wanted to like her. And her crazy concepts and I enjoyed her on a surface level but if you take say even Madonna and all her tarty ways, I still see her as genuine and authentic, if limited and shallow. If that makes since. I think she is genuinely all of those things, but GaGa is not.

The thing about Gaga that made me see her as inauthentic pretty early on was that she never could explain what her music was about. Don't get me wrong, she would talk and talk and talk about it, but it never made any sense.

I will say though, I remember in 2009 hearing her for the first time and at least thinking there was something recognisable about her music and a very "her" sound that was different to what was going on in pop music at the time. And then everyone jumped on that train and that sound became completely overplayed.

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil says the rate of change of the century we are moving into will be 20,000 greater than the century we have left behind. In other words, we haven't seen anything yet.

Madonna is not authentic, but she was fearless. That's something Gaga is not.

Gaga, Rihanna and Beyonce all were products of good management and marketing. Great performers and all but musical geniuses they were not. The producers who made the music (which was refreshing at the time) were geniuses definitely. I think the days of manufactured pop stars is over. Kpop is the last of that breed but what makes it different is the audience knows what it is, so it's tongue-in-cheek. I agree, music is actually great now but you have to go out of your way to find it. The underground and internet scene is booming. Also Gen Z is actually very musically knowledgable, I was surprised by how many have extremely diverse taste. Not that much cliqueishness, gatekeeping and snobbery as previous generations.

[quote]Also Gen Z is actually very musically knowledgable, I was surprised by how many have extremely diverse taste. Not that much cliqueishness, gatekeeping and snobbery as previous generations.

Agreed. As someone growing up in the 90s/00s you could definitely be defined by the music you listened to, which was particularly difficult when you liked music across the board. People didn't really understand that, then.

Ray Kurzweil is just another scam artist. Like Pritzker and Rothblatt he is a humanist. He thinks people will become cyborgs. All these futurists believe in things that are not even possible.

Interesting R104

My husband's 16 year old niece is not a particular hipster, yet I've been surprised at how broad her taste in music is, how she and her friends seem familiar with bands from previous decades as well as current stuff.

[To wit--we were in the car with her and two of her friends and "Don't Fear The Reaper" came on the radio as I was flipping stations. They all knew it, which surprised me, and I even asked how they knew it, thinking maybe it was on Euphoria or some TV show they watched and all I got was "we love 70s music!!" and I thought of course, Spotify, they can listen to anything. I am 37 and I am not sure how many of my peers had such wide-ranging taste at age 16.]

The 2020s will see a radicalization of youth like the 1960s.

[quote] Everybody just wants to be a clone of someone else. Everyone is so desperate to fit in.

Could it have something to do with the general "What a poser, what an attention whore!" conservative movement on social media discouraging the courage of expressing uniqueness?

There’s a lot going on, you guys are just too old or out of touch to connect with it.

[quote] And I'm very much okay with that. I hate their music, they are bored by mine. I have never once cared about that shit.

You did turn into your grandparents shitting on Elvis and the Beatles. Many famous artists today pay tribute to the past, Billie Eilish cites 70s rock, Cardi B even talks about 80s pop. It's almost impossible to run into a new music act that isn't obsessed with the 1990s which is the new 80s and will be for the next 10 years.

You're just out of touch.

TransHumanism

WW3

[quote] But personally I found her disappointing because I did not buy her as authentic. Maybe that was wrong of me. I did not see her nor her output as something with integrity. Please forgive me if I was wrong. I wanted to like her. And her crazy concepts and I enjoyed her on a surface level…

Gaga during her peak was trying really hard to have something important to say beyond just being the drama/theatre geek that she is. Personally, I think her message of inclusivity and empathy was enough without meat dresses and miming bulimia on stage. She was desperate to live up to the hype she was getting at one time.

PS By comparison Madonna likes to push buttons and piss people off just because she can. She felt no need to live up to any hype because she doesn’t question whether she deserves it or not.

The Oscars will now be broadcast on the WWE.

r115, not even in her Kabbalah phase or when she moved to England and all of a sudden had a posh accent?

To be honest, Madonna in the 80s had to be groundbreaking given the conservative nature of Reagan era. She thrived off of being rebellious. I find think Gaga had much to rebel against in the late 2000s. I was under the impression the meat dresses and elaborate outfits were to promote her talent over her sex appeal given every female pop star was ultra-sexualized at the time. Which would have been a cool message to reject the pornification of culture. She ditched that gimmick as soon as she found the mainstream success she wanted and now she tries to be sexy. Madonna is gross now but I think her impact is far greater and wider.

Oops meant to say I find Gaga had little to rebel against in the late 2000s.

Neither of these people "rebelled" against anything.

Stunts for followers that eat up shit.

Reagan era, where common people were already looking at Hustler magazine and watching porn on tv.? What was the "groundbreaking"' Madonna rebelling against there?