h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Was thinking the other day (yes, it does happen to me too!), and came up with the following with regards to the pluralism of modern day society: "Explosion of polymorphous diversity whose shards stick under my skin and deny me my dream of bohemia."
It's just that now that there's no hegemony so strong and all encompassing as there was at the start of the century, say, there isn't so much room for living on the outside, dreaming of anarchy and all of that... there is an increasing multitude who *do* live this way... it's no longer so uncommon, it's no longer really "avante-garde". of course, hegemony *is* still a monolithic entity, but i don't think that it is in the same way as in the past. so it seems necessary now to find new ways to push forwards and to rebel and to live...

just some musings, that's all.

Hmm... you're right of course, the time has past for classical bohemianism - disregarding the common mores of society is very... well, common these days. It's almost impossible to go further than what is acceptable without causing harm to other people or some such thing. But is it necessary to do so? The antithesis of any thing at all is defined by the properties and qualities of the thing it is the antithesis of. So defined bohemia is very much a mass noun, it is just as much a part of the hegemony now as any more traditional value you can think of.

So what then? What's left to do without being subsumed into society, hegemony, consumer ideology? Well surely the answer must be to find your own path, learn from what others have done, the ways others have moved forward in the past, but in the end the direction must be your own, not only not attempting to recreate the past but also not being restrained in your thinking by seeking to find the direction opposite to that of the prevailing ideology - because there isn't really one - but just by striking out in your own direction and letting everything else take care of itself. Go the right way, and the restraint will fall away from you; for a time at least, and then when society catches on it will try to pull you back in. Then you just have to pull away again

Just some more musings