> I do have to admit there are effectively no "dark corners" anymore.
This is the problem. As soon as a counter-culture gets any amount of steam going a million marketers swoop in to sell it as an identity to anyone with a credit card. Marketers are constantly searching for the undiscovered cool or subversive thing. They have undercover agents infiltrate hobbies, movements, and cliques. They collect endless amounts of data so that they can fine tune their pitch to every individual person's most obscure interests. Whatever you identify as or stand for, there's a marketer willing to sell you something so that you can signal who you are to those around you. Marketers then slowly start to manipulate and change the counter-culture so that it sells better too.
There is no counter-culture because everyone is busy being a part of their preferred culture-bubbles only all of it is mainstream now. It's all so easily accessible that everything esoteric has become exoteric. No matter what it is, you can buy your starter pack right off the rack. Eventually it all gets watered down to capture as many dollars as possible and we're left with all these options, but still wondering where the counter-culture went.
This is the problem. As soon as a counter-culture gets any amount of steam going a million marketers swoop in to sell it as an identity to anyone with a credit card. Marketers are constantly searching for the undiscovered cool or subversive thing. They have undercover agents infiltrate hobbies, movements, and cliques. They collect endless amounts of data so that they can fine tune their pitch to every individual person's most obscure interests. Whatever you identify as or stand for, there's a marketer willing to sell you something so that you can signal who you are to those around you. Marketers then slowly start to manipulate and change the counter-culture so that it sells better too.
There is no counter-culture because everyone is busy being a part of their preferred culture-bubbles only all of it is mainstream now. It's all so easily accessible that everything esoteric has become exoteric. No matter what it is, you can buy your starter pack right off the rack. Eventually it all gets watered down to capture as many dollars as possible and we're left with all these options, but still wondering where the counter-culture went.