Are you familiar with normcore? There's an argument to be made that the most counterculture thing you can do is to semi-ironically eat a Happy Meal in order to support indie Gameboy devs

> the most counterculture thing you can do is to semi-ironically eat a Happy Meal in order to support indie Gameboy devs

Like Winston at the Chestnut Tree Cafe

Yes. Only once you truly love eating your big mac will the hamburgalar murder you.

When you examine the most common deaths for Americans, it's either the Hamburglar or cars

Of course there is a battleground. The counterculture is more alive than ever. It's just all been thoroughly subsumed by capitalism.

Those kids on the streets protesting most recent excesses of multinational corporations? The hoodies and Guy Fawkes masks they're wearing, the signs they're holding, the chains they're rattling - all bought on Amazon, happily providing specialized merch for the "fuck the system" market niche. And what do those kids achieve? Mostly they generate attention that moves newspapers and keeps millions glued to where they can be best exposed to ads. Etc.

Yes, the suits love the anti-corporate movements. They are a quite profitable form of entertainment.

Counterculture doesn't really work post-90s because mainstream culture started embracing all the previously marginalised groups.

You can hold an illegal gay rave under a bridge, and in response mainstream media figures will write articles demanding the permit process be made easier, then McDonald's will retweet photos of your ravers eating a meal the morning after. This is...okay, I guess. Social permissiveness is the circus, and it's still good even though our share of the bread is constantly shrinking.

Hmm, I think I actually have something to contribute here in terms of understanding: you're right that counterculture doesn't really exist as it may have in the past, but the desire to show individuality still is there which has led to a progressive acceleration in the edginess/weirdness of modern meme culture.

If you feel slightly put off by the memes you see and/or discourse around them, it's sort of by design. It's meant to differentiate.

I've only recently realized this though (as I've expanded my perspective), and I think for the most part, this is something that largely happens subconsciously. If you ask someone gen z or younger, they won't know what you're talking about if you ask. That's mostly because your baseline of edginess/weirdness is defined by relative experience, and someone who's grown up perpetually online is likely to be skewed much more differently than someone who hasn't.

Hate to break it to you but the counterculture in the 2020s is the mindset of Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, and that overall crew. They are the ones pushing back against mainstream consensus and institutions, for better or worse! Really gives a perspective on how the "counterculture" glorified by the baby boomers was perceived by the older generations.