Trends in counter-culture?

Narkissos

After some time of silently watching the "conspiracy" threads thriving on JWN with a mix of amusement, consternation, boredom and irritation, I suddenly felt like stepping back and trying to think about the phenomenon in its historical development.

Of course, any attempt to understanding requires a measure of simplification, and the pattern that is emerging in my mind is only intuitive and merely offered for the sake of discussion.

It seems to me that the "anti-conformist" flock of "open minds" who can "think outside the box" and "see through the agendas of the establishment" have been going places over the decades. In the 70s they were into (mostly left-wing) political activism. Then the English-speaking "enlightened" crowd parted ways from their Continental European counterpart (which tended to vanish into the general society) and moved on either to Christian fundamentalism (especially of the eschatological, dispensationalist kind) or to "New Age" spirituality (both being nebulas and networks rather than "organisations"). Now (since the beginning of the 21st century) it seems that both movements are losing ground to a new nebula of counter-culture known as "conspiracy theory".

It is critical and pessimistic about the overall "system" as its (hypothetical) "forefathers". It is fatalistic as Christian eschatology was (it doesn't try to change the course of things) but unlike it, it seems to expect no global "salvation" (from either God or history) -- interestingly, any notion of a "New World" is diabolised as a kind of neo-Antichrist motto: an Antichrist without a Christ. It welcomes a great deal of doctrinal and methodological inconsistency (as the "New Age" did). What matters is "being in the know" or at least "searching" (also as a token of mutual recognition among the "enlightened" in spite of wild theoretical disagreements) and spreading its knowledge of doom (a neo-evangelism which is rather a "dysangelism" -- to borrow from Nietzsche's redefinition of the "Gospel"). Its "salvation" reduces to a gloomy perspective of individual (or family, or clan) survival. Politically it is friendly with "libertarian" ideals (a right-wing, capitalistic reversal of historical anarchism), minus the optimism which makes them political and ideal...

Thoughts, refutation or correction welcome (please notice that I'm not discussing whether any particular theory is "right" or "wrong")...

BurnTheShips

Just do what I do. If a thread bores or irritates, ignore it.

BTS

Blithe Freshman

Have you read "The Fourth Turning" , by Strauss & Howe?

They have some interesting thoughts/research on understanding these changes.

They are not conspiracy theorists but historians. They write about historical archetypes, the different generations and how their archetype plays out to influence them & history.The book has put modern events in perspective for me.

They also have a new book "Millenials Rising " I have not read yet.

Blithe

Narkissos

That's what I've been doing Burns (you've seldom seen me on your political threads).

At least in the "conspiracy" stuff I feel something is worth thinking.

journey-on

"Inquiring minds want to know." The ready storehouses of information that the internet provides at the touch of a key allows people who love to search and research to form immense webs of thoughts and ideas. I think certain people with strong investigative personalities see patterns that enable them to fit pieces of the puzzle together in ways others don't think about or can't "see". I'm not saying the picture they put together is right or wrong. I don't know...you don't know...they don't know. But, searchers and doubters who verbalize their "findings" play a role in the balance of humanity's compulsive need to know what lies behind human affairs. Some intuitively understand that there is more than meets the eye and they have a compulsion to determine what it might be and to reveal it.

hamilcarr

Welcome back Narkissos! Interesting analysis but actually I don't see what threads on THIS board you're referring to.

you've seldom seen me on your political threads

However I think we could all learn from your input

Just do what I do. If a thread bores or irritates, ignore it.

I didn't know there are threads you don't reply to.

quietlyleaving

counter cultural movements redefining cultural boundaries - that makes sense. I guess I've never really had an insider's view of the process (other than as a jw of course).

New age was pretty controversial when it first appeared and then it got domesticated and mainstream. I guess conspiracy theories will deliver a punch at the rich and powerful and maybe cause some modifications. But this time it isn't coming from the left so I guess there will be a lot more and different kinds of negotiation going on if the theories take more and more hold.

Narkissos

Thank you all.

I guess conspiracy theories will deliver a punch at the rich and powerful and maybe cause some modifications.

Will they?

Inasmuch as they seem to nurture a diffuse feeling of distrust about "the system" they can also be seen as channeling energy away from action either within "the system" or even against it. If anything they may contribute to a general crisis of "democratic" legitimity (through high levels of abstentionism, marginal "testimony" voting, and a general loss of political commitment -- which, incidentally, we also have in Europe without conspiracy theories!

In a sense the last American election sounds (from here, at least) as a blatant contradiction of this trend -- but is it a reversal of tendency or a "swan song" of democracy in the face of economical crisis.

quietlyleaving

I guess conspiracy theories will deliver a punch at the rich and powerful and maybe cause some modifications.

Will they?

Maybe. I don't think there is going to be a large scale expose or that there is anything to expose. But perhaps we will see more transparency.

Inasmuch as they seem to nurture a diffuse feeling of distrust about "the system" they can also be seen as channeling energy away from action either within "the system" or even against it. If anything they may contribute to a general crisis of "democratic" legitimity (through high levels of abstentionism, marginal "testimony" voting, and a general loss of political commitment -- which, incidentally, we also have in Europe without conspiracy theories!

yes - people are losing faith in democracy but I still think that we should continue to develop it's potential and hold to what it represents and can lead to. We've only seen a very small aspect of what democracy can do imo.

In a sense the last American election sounds (from here, at least) as a blatant contradiction of this trend -- but is it a reversal of tendency or a "swan song" of democracy in the face of economical crisis.

time will tell i guess - hopefully it isn't a swan song

kurtbethel

Conspiracy theorists, who speculate on what entities and forces actually run things behind the scenes, are not to be confused with researchers who do power structure analysis.

Looking at who holds wealth and power, who makes policy and what policies are implemented, and using documented open sources of information can lead to the conclusion that the modern world is not run by people who were selected in the democratic process to look after the interests of the people.

A good place to demonstrate this, if someone is willing to do some light gumshoe work, is to consider NAFTA and the integration of north American workforce, resources and security assets. Was there ever any popular vote to move toward these goals? An hour or so of searching about NAFTA and the Council of Foreign Relations will turn up plans of what goals are in place about these matters, and who supports it. I have seen this dismissed as a conspiracy theory, which shows the bald faced ignorance and inherent laziness of someone making such a dismissal. The supporting documentation, white papers and audio, is openly available for download by any member of the public who wishes to do so. There is not any theory involved in it. As to whether it is a conspiracy, or a plan, that is a matter of semantics or dictionary definitions.

I don't pay much attention to what the left or right are up to. They are like sock puppets. There is no real left in America, mostly just a network of people getting funding from very wealthy foundations to set up countless organizations and front groups and identifying themselves as "progressives".

Trends in counter-culture?

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