I really enjoyed and appreciated this. In spite of how dark the world feels right now, I do have hope that something greater, a new Renaissance perhaps, will emerge. In our lifetime? I'm not sure. But we can start paving the way towards it.
We need to organize the aesthetic subcultures, e.g., goth, steampunk, cottagecore, etc., into functioning societies. They will form online and migrate to the real world, where they will create towns dedicated to their aesthetic.
If the argument is overstated, I will forgive it. There is, after all, such a desperate devaluing of aesthetics in our culture, and in particular of the whole ideal of beauty. I would add an important nuance, however, which is that aesthetics only exist in conversation with other aspects of culture, including the literary, scientific and political. I think this holistic view, more than anything, is what we are now missing. Politics, for example, has become largely anticultural, although in the past (think the Medicis) power and the expressive imagination went hand in hand. Focussing simply on aesthetics will not save us any more than focussing simply on politics, or science, or anything else. We need rather to promote a view of humanity which is fully rounded, and where all of the human interests can work together to the benefit of us all. Notwithstanding, the contemplation, and discussion, of actual beauty is always a good place to start.
I've got to push back on the main premise of this great article. Fandoms etc are not anything like the more organic punks, goths, mods. Those have a style, music and behaviors and what you're talking about, but those haven't really shown up since, really, the end of the 00s (with scene kids). Those are two different categories. The fandoms are metamodern. If you look at things like cottagecore or whatever wave, those aren't sincerely held aesthetics. Punks would've detested patronage and any of those youth groups didn't need it to manifest or grow. Patronage has strings and the rave movement of 08-2012 was probably killed by corporate investment (you got big raves which banned light shows etc). In the 90s, there were shared cultural artifacts people participated in like Madonna vs Cindi Lauper or everyone watching Survivor. After that, there starts to become none. In this sense, we can't have ordered beauty without something more fundamental.
That more fundamental something is a vision of a better world.
Its pursuit prescribes and justifies the order.
---
And the groups you mentioned are similar in the aspect that matters: they are unified by a shared feeling that motivates them to behave in certain ways. This is the religious impulse.
The religious impulse is definitely hope at creation by creation being through and for Jesus (Titus 1:2, Colossians 1:16). Most of these aesthetic groups simply never develop into something more fundamental. The aesthetics that appeal to us are values we already adhere to (e.g. metamodern nostalgia for vaporwave/synthwave and extreme individualism for punk in the late 70s to mid 80s). Aesthetics is definitely downstream of values, but we don't have any shared values. Right now it's all narrative building against an eternal enemy which is why memes worked so well (for the right).
- The aesthetic groups fail to develop because of their lack of leadership and poor organization; the Guildrim project will alleviate this issue
- Aesthetic preferences follow values... usually. But both are malleable.
- Many of the aesthetic groups could not be the basis for a functioning society. But not all. I'm guessing ~30 or so are feasible.
- "We don't have any shared values." - Depends on who "we" is.
- I am aware of the problem of metanarratives fixated on the eternal enemy. I am working on a general purpose solution for it.
---
Guy...
Our civilization is collapsing. We have an opioid epidemic, rapacious elites, degenerate citizenry, an ever-worsening economy, and numerous other problems coming down the pipeline.
I have an idea on how to shield people from the oncoming chaos - take communities that already exist and mature them.
Do you have a better alternative?
"Christianity!"
No. Nobody in our country is going to convert to Christianity. And even if they did, it would make little difference because the leaders of the Christian community are so inept that they cannot provide order of any sort. Meanwhile, the common understanding of what Christianity is has been so heavily perverted from its real form that mass conversions are likely to do more harm than good.
It's good you have energy and high agency and a lot of implementable ideas. I agree with a lot of what you say. I'm hoping you do look at the way aesthetics are adopted by subcultures a bit more. It seems to be a bit anchored in who we are. Hopefully you can find a solution there.
I really enjoyed and appreciated this. In spite of how dark the world feels right now, I do have hope that something greater, a new Renaissance perhaps, will emerge. In our lifetime? I'm not sure. But we can start paving the way towards it.
Here’s the vision I’m working toward:
We need to organize the aesthetic subcultures, e.g., goth, steampunk, cottagecore, etc., into functioning societies. They will form online and migrate to the real world, where they will create towns dedicated to their aesthetic.
I loved this. Thank you.
This is well written. It goes through the motions of the reactionary diagnosis we know well with admirable brevity and clarity.
If the argument is overstated, I will forgive it. There is, after all, such a desperate devaluing of aesthetics in our culture, and in particular of the whole ideal of beauty. I would add an important nuance, however, which is that aesthetics only exist in conversation with other aspects of culture, including the literary, scientific and political. I think this holistic view, more than anything, is what we are now missing. Politics, for example, has become largely anticultural, although in the past (think the Medicis) power and the expressive imagination went hand in hand. Focussing simply on aesthetics will not save us any more than focussing simply on politics, or science, or anything else. We need rather to promote a view of humanity which is fully rounded, and where all of the human interests can work together to the benefit of us all. Notwithstanding, the contemplation, and discussion, of actual beauty is always a good place to start.
I've got to push back on the main premise of this great article. Fandoms etc are not anything like the more organic punks, goths, mods. Those have a style, music and behaviors and what you're talking about, but those haven't really shown up since, really, the end of the 00s (with scene kids). Those are two different categories. The fandoms are metamodern. If you look at things like cottagecore or whatever wave, those aren't sincerely held aesthetics. Punks would've detested patronage and any of those youth groups didn't need it to manifest or grow. Patronage has strings and the rave movement of 08-2012 was probably killed by corporate investment (you got big raves which banned light shows etc). In the 90s, there were shared cultural artifacts people participated in like Madonna vs Cindi Lauper or everyone watching Survivor. After that, there starts to become none. In this sense, we can't have ordered beauty without something more fundamental.
That more fundamental something is a vision of a better world.
Its pursuit prescribes and justifies the order.
---
And the groups you mentioned are similar in the aspect that matters: they are unified by a shared feeling that motivates them to behave in certain ways. This is the religious impulse.
The religious impulse is definitely hope at creation by creation being through and for Jesus (Titus 1:2, Colossians 1:16). Most of these aesthetic groups simply never develop into something more fundamental. The aesthetics that appeal to us are values we already adhere to (e.g. metamodern nostalgia for vaporwave/synthwave and extreme individualism for punk in the late 70s to mid 80s). Aesthetics is definitely downstream of values, but we don't have any shared values. Right now it's all narrative building against an eternal enemy which is why memes worked so well (for the right).
*sigh*
I don't have the patience for this.
-That is not what the religious impulse is.
- The aesthetic groups fail to develop because of their lack of leadership and poor organization; the Guildrim project will alleviate this issue
- Aesthetic preferences follow values... usually. But both are malleable.
- Many of the aesthetic groups could not be the basis for a functioning society. But not all. I'm guessing ~30 or so are feasible.
- "We don't have any shared values." - Depends on who "we" is.
- I am aware of the problem of metanarratives fixated on the eternal enemy. I am working on a general purpose solution for it.
---
Guy...
Our civilization is collapsing. We have an opioid epidemic, rapacious elites, degenerate citizenry, an ever-worsening economy, and numerous other problems coming down the pipeline.
I have an idea on how to shield people from the oncoming chaos - take communities that already exist and mature them.
Do you have a better alternative?
"Christianity!"
No. Nobody in our country is going to convert to Christianity. And even if they did, it would make little difference because the leaders of the Christian community are so inept that they cannot provide order of any sort. Meanwhile, the common understanding of what Christianity is has been so heavily perverted from its real form that mass conversions are likely to do more harm than good.
It's good you have energy and high agency and a lot of implementable ideas. I agree with a lot of what you say. I'm hoping you do look at the way aesthetics are adopted by subcultures a bit more. It seems to be a bit anchored in who we are. Hopefully you can find a solution there.