When I was growing up, my family had a family motto which my Dad established and reinforced through the years. Our family motto was: \u201cno weird kids\u201d.<\/p>\n
As far as family motto\u2019s go, it isn\u2019t a classic. It isn\u2019t something that will carry through into our adult years or give direction or meaning to our lives. But that wasn\u2019t the point. My Dad\u2019s purpose in setting this as our family motto was to keep his kids from getting too caught up in being different, distinctive or \u201ccool\u201d.<\/p>\n
Can I dye my hair? No weird kids. Can I get a piercing of some kind? No weird kids. Can I get involved in this alternative sport or fringe activity? No weird kids. In a way, this family motto could have also been re-stated as \u201cno cool kids\u201d. In a world that is swimming with targeted advertising, \u201clifestyle choices\u201d and alternative identities, our family sought to remain somewhat skeptically apart. No weird kids.<\/p>\n
I had this in mind as I was reading The Rebel Sell: How The Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em> by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. This is an entertaining and challenging book to read. It is full of social commentary and critique, especially around the core idea that the \u201ccounterculture\u201d or ability to be different, unique, or cool, is really just part of a larger consumer culture. The book reaches out broadly to explore the ways that what we might think of as cool or distinctive is actually just an expression of the same thing.<\/p>\n The authors spend a lot of time lampooning ideas like an annual \u201cBuy Nothing Day\u201d as a way to reduce consumerism. They teasingly suggest instead an annual \u201cEarn Nothing Day\u201d.[1]<\/a> They point out that the critique of consumer goods about things that people really don\u2019t need is really a \u201clist of consumer goods that middle-aged intellectuals<\/em> don\u2019t need.\u201d[2]<\/a> The book even begins with an exploration of the Black Spot Sneaker, a \u201csignature brand of \u2018subversive\u2019 running shoes\u201d[3]<\/a> that was put out by Adbusters magazine. The point the authors make is that these \u201csubversive\u201d (or rebel) sneakers, which one might buy as an expression of not<\/em> being a consumer, are in fact, a clear example that countercultural projects like this one are, and always have been, captured by consumerism itself. They are not distinctive or different from it, but merely a more cleverly disguised and \u201ccool\u201d version.<\/p>\n As the reviewer in the Guardian puts it, \u201cthe point of this book is not to be comprehensive or mildly reasonable. It is to provoke and get you thinking. In that it succeeds; the certainties of modern anti-capitalism will not feel as watertight again.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n Part of what makes this book rollicking fun to read, is that Heath and Potter are taking aim at those who would \u201ctake aim\u201d. They are subverting or questioning, \u201ca warmed-over version of the countercultural thinking that has dominated leftist politics since the 1960\u2019s.\u201d[5]<\/a> The Guardian review describes it well, saying, \u201cIn the rare moments when Heath and Potter are not in attack mode, they describe their own political beliefs in orthodox left-leaning terms. They favour the welfare state and aiding the poor. They dislike unfettered business. But the relish with which the authors go about their debunking carries The Rebel Sell into more ambiguous ideological territory.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n In other words, the authors are not reactionary scholars, opposed to things like ethical shopping choices or progressive change, per se. They are largely sympathetic to the aims and ideals of those who seek an \u201calternative\u201d way to live, shop and express themselves. But because of the looping, playful style of the book, it is possible to be reading along, and following the argument, and then, all of a sudden, there is a twist, where they completely upend and subvert the very idea they seemed to be favorably describing.<\/p>\n This is the point that the authors want to make: there\u2019s an easy agreement about what is \u201ccool\u201d or what is \u201cvirtuous\u201d or what is \u201ccountercultural\u201d, and yet, they want to push back and complicate our thinking. The unintended result is, that it is often unclear what the authors are actually<\/em> arguing for.<\/p>\n One reviewer cites a specific example, where the discussion of the Black liberation struggle and the situation of African Americans in the United States comes across as if it were a kind of conservative critique of Black people. The reviewer writes, \u201cin a remarkable passage, the authors contribute inner city poverty in Detroit to the behavior of its victims.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n It is only in the Afterword where Heath and Potter seek to address some of these concerns. After receiving reader feedback, they realize that people have mis-understood their position. Many who read this book believe the authors to be anti-organic vegetables, or against ethical consumption, or that the personal buying habits of regular people don\u2019t matter or make a difference. The authors belatedly try to make clear that this wasn\u2019t their objective with the book.<\/p>\n For me, I appreciated this book because it re-frames the debate in our contemporary culture about what is \u201ccountercultural\u201d, what is truly rebellious, of different or unique. My parents\u2019 concern for their kids from long ago, is the same one that I have now for my own children. That they would not be totally caught up in trying to keep up with what is \u201ccool\u201d, or to follow trends, or to have all the right styles or products. Instead, I want to shape their characters, hearts and minds so they can move with confidence into the wider world.<\/p>\n \u201cNo weird kids\u201d is a weird family motto. But it\u2019s the one that we continue to use, even as a curmudgeonly counter-point to almost everything else our kids will hear.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Limited, 2005), 114.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Limited, 2005), 108.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Limited, 2005), 3.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Andy Beckett, review of\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>, by Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, June 3, 2005, Books,\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2005\/jun\/04\/highereducation.news1<\/a>\u00a0(accessed February 22, 2018).<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>\u00a0(West Sussex: Capstone Publishing Limited, 2005), 3.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Andy Beckett, review of\u00a0The Rebel Sell: How the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>, by Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter,\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, June 3, 2005, Books,\u00a0https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2005\/jun\/04\/highereducation.news1<\/a>\u00a0(accessed February 22, 2018).<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Derrick O’Keefe, review of\u00a0The Rebel Sell: Hw the Counterculture Became Consumer Culture<\/em>, by Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter,\u00a0Dissident Voice<\/em>, June 23, 2005, Books,\u00a0http:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/June05\/OKeefe0623.htm<\/a>(accessed February 22, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was growing up, my family had a family motto which my Dad established and reinforced through the years. Our family motto was: \u201cno weird kids\u201d. As far as family motto\u2019s go, it isn\u2019t a classic. It isn\u2019t something that will carry through into our adult years or give direction or meaning to our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,847,363],"class_list":["post-16667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-heath","tag-heath-and-potter","tag-potter","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16669,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16667\/revisions\/16669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}