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Are you an anti-faddist?
Dec. 6th, 2005 02:52 pmA truly easy way to measure the pulse of human sociology both on and off line is to study fads, like in the excellent book Bellwether by Connie Willis.
In order to create a fad it takes a certain hard described quality of presence and being "there", and to spread this quality to people who maybe don't even know you personally, but who possess the radar to pick it up.
A significantly easier way to make your mark is to create the anti-fad, which is to attack something that is either not yet fully established and therefore still "weak", or more commonly, to attack something that has a foundation but is no longer fully fresh.
The latter is not the same as to rebel against something old, which takes some challenge, but rather to sniff out the soft belly of something that is genuinely liked and is starting to show the first signs of middle age decay. (compare this to mocking Vivaldi contra to mocking Enya) There really is no greater sin in the world of fads than middle age, and the anti-faddists smell this like a pack of wolfs. There is no claiming of wisdom or depth in middle age, just the signs of entropy among the young lines, the already cemented circles in which you move, and the faint smell of death-fear.
Most people that I know, including myself, have been anti-faddists on some occasion or another. It's quite an easy way of gaining a quick fix of instant integrity in a can, and spreading an air redolent of alpha vibes around yourself, quite invigorating really.
The real challenge of course, comes when you bust yourself in the act of genuinely liking something that is despised by people that you share a lot of common ground with - or even better, people you very much respect and want to gain respect from.
So, a true fad is not a philosophy or a system or an original creative idea; it's a trend riding the very surface of other deeper currents. An anti-fad is not something that is against fads in general, but it's a fad in itself that is against either another fad or more commonly against a semi-established current. They can be compared to a parasite and a parasite on a parasite. And again, the anti-fad is neither rebellion nor opposition, there is rarely any challenges in creating it, just a quick grimace.
Here are some easy and common target examples for anti-faddists:
1) The hippie culture (it's perfect, it had some soft and non testosterone slogans to play around with, and it's the perfect age for mocking!)
2) Die hard intellectual Liberals (too vulnerable and idealistic to be practical, too comfortable to be desperate, too afraid to be true lefties)
3) Die hard corporate republicans (the setups are numerable...but be aware, they are becoming trendy, something that has an air of evil is always appealing to both anti-faddists and bellwethers.
4) Feminism (it is associated with the hippie movement sometimes, it is of the wrong age, and there is something desperately imploring about it...almost like importance, which always makes it a target.
5) New Age (perhaps the most easy to-shoot-at target of them all. No research is needed on all the different aspects of this expression, whatever it is, it is bombarded with all the missiles that established religions are spared, mostly because they are old(ish) or because most anti-faddists have an aunt/parent/sibling/old friend/work mate/hamster that is catholic, episcopal, mormon, jewish, muslim, buddhist and a lovely person.
6) Most things produced to be played with by little girls (really, have you thought about it? There is no way to mock someone by saying "he cried like a little boy".)
7) Most things liked by the middle class, middle aged woman. (it's like that particular novel gets...I dunnow..tainted by estrogen if too many ladies of a certain age and background read it...)
The list can really get as long as you like, and of course I'm not even scraping the surface here. I'm not addressing all the sub cultures that are currently losing ground, like the goths or the neo-punks, or those that oddly enough are winning territory again (probably because they have moved full circle in a phase and become embraced by some bellwether anew) like the sci-fi geeks, the ren-fest freaks and the Metal-heads, or those old trends that have moved several circles from hip to non to hip again, and that are beyond the reach of any anti faddists now, like for instance the Mods movement. (the only thing that could tip the scales would be if there suddenly was a major BOOM of middle class mod-brats in suburbia).
And I have not particularly addressed the fact that anti-fads can be dangerous as well. If something is truly important, whether you are against it or not, like for instance the current administration in the United States, the anti fad often undermine both the stamina to support with facts or to oppose with facts.
Really, the anti-fad is the tool of the too-lazy or too-tired, but it is also, no doubt, always slightly interesting - Like shit talking your neighbors.
So, do you have an anti-fad? Have you ever proclaimed one?
In order to create a fad it takes a certain hard described quality of presence and being "there", and to spread this quality to people who maybe don't even know you personally, but who possess the radar to pick it up.
A significantly easier way to make your mark is to create the anti-fad, which is to attack something that is either not yet fully established and therefore still "weak", or more commonly, to attack something that has a foundation but is no longer fully fresh.
The latter is not the same as to rebel against something old, which takes some challenge, but rather to sniff out the soft belly of something that is genuinely liked and is starting to show the first signs of middle age decay. (compare this to mocking Vivaldi contra to mocking Enya) There really is no greater sin in the world of fads than middle age, and the anti-faddists smell this like a pack of wolfs. There is no claiming of wisdom or depth in middle age, just the signs of entropy among the young lines, the already cemented circles in which you move, and the faint smell of death-fear.
Most people that I know, including myself, have been anti-faddists on some occasion or another. It's quite an easy way of gaining a quick fix of instant integrity in a can, and spreading an air redolent of alpha vibes around yourself, quite invigorating really.
The real challenge of course, comes when you bust yourself in the act of genuinely liking something that is despised by people that you share a lot of common ground with - or even better, people you very much respect and want to gain respect from.
So, a true fad is not a philosophy or a system or an original creative idea; it's a trend riding the very surface of other deeper currents. An anti-fad is not something that is against fads in general, but it's a fad in itself that is against either another fad or more commonly against a semi-established current. They can be compared to a parasite and a parasite on a parasite. And again, the anti-fad is neither rebellion nor opposition, there is rarely any challenges in creating it, just a quick grimace.
Here are some easy and common target examples for anti-faddists:
1) The hippie culture (it's perfect, it had some soft and non testosterone slogans to play around with, and it's the perfect age for mocking!)
2) Die hard intellectual Liberals (too vulnerable and idealistic to be practical, too comfortable to be desperate, too afraid to be true lefties)
3) Die hard corporate republicans (the setups are numerable...but be aware, they are becoming trendy, something that has an air of evil is always appealing to both anti-faddists and bellwethers.
4) Feminism (it is associated with the hippie movement sometimes, it is of the wrong age, and there is something desperately imploring about it...almost like importance, which always makes it a target.
5) New Age (perhaps the most easy to-shoot-at target of them all. No research is needed on all the different aspects of this expression, whatever it is, it is bombarded with all the missiles that established religions are spared, mostly because they are old(ish) or because most anti-faddists have an aunt/parent/sibling/old friend/work mate/hamster that is catholic, episcopal, mormon, jewish, muslim, buddhist and a lovely person.
6) Most things produced to be played with by little girls (really, have you thought about it? There is no way to mock someone by saying "he cried like a little boy".)
7) Most things liked by the middle class, middle aged woman. (it's like that particular novel gets...I dunnow..tainted by estrogen if too many ladies of a certain age and background read it...)
The list can really get as long as you like, and of course I'm not even scraping the surface here. I'm not addressing all the sub cultures that are currently losing ground, like the goths or the neo-punks, or those that oddly enough are winning territory again (probably because they have moved full circle in a phase and become embraced by some bellwether anew) like the sci-fi geeks, the ren-fest freaks and the Metal-heads, or those old trends that have moved several circles from hip to non to hip again, and that are beyond the reach of any anti faddists now, like for instance the Mods movement. (the only thing that could tip the scales would be if there suddenly was a major BOOM of middle class mod-brats in suburbia).
And I have not particularly addressed the fact that anti-fads can be dangerous as well. If something is truly important, whether you are against it or not, like for instance the current administration in the United States, the anti fad often undermine both the stamina to support with facts or to oppose with facts.
Really, the anti-fad is the tool of the too-lazy or too-tired, but it is also, no doubt, always slightly interesting - Like shit talking your neighbors.
So, do you have an anti-fad? Have you ever proclaimed one?
