Quote:
Originally Posted by Simplicity
People's identities are mostly a construct of various touchstones that allow them to project something of significance they'd like to see within themselves. The problem is that what most people want more than anything is to be seen as 'cool' and that's a moving target. That's why things like coffee and craft beer become outward representations of the people who drink them: they're 'genuine' and somewhat subversive to the pervasive culture, and they allow the user to extrinsically espouse a sense of fairness and equitability. But nobody actually cares about gourmet coffee and craft beer to die on those hills. When they become even remotely mainstream, they no longer allow the user to hold them out as evidence of their independent thinking as diversion from the hive mind. The products lose their currency. And people move on to the next thing which might mean urban chicken farming or something equally as ridiculous but equally effective in its ability to give people a sense of subversion from the society that they see as a trap.
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This stuff is pretty mainstream now, though. 10 years ago you really had to go out of your way to find craft brews, and the weird vac-pot coffee making contraptions were the kind of thing you might see in an obscure shop in Tokyo. These days, you can find craft beer at the local MLCC, and any Winnipeg neighbourhood with actual pedestrian traffic has an artisanal café or two. I figure once something starts becoming a common sight in Winnipeg, it's fair to assume it's on its way to becoming mainstream.
So what are self-conscious image seekers moving on to next?
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