No longer the keeper of the flame? (Updated)

I?ve had one of those realizations, one of those realizations^{(updated below)}.

I?ve parted ways with pop culture in all its forms. My opinions and ideas used to align with pop culture (or counter-culture) or at least be informed takes on pop culture. Then 2016 happened. It’s not just that my cultural icons started passing away en mass. It’s what’s risen to replace them.

It’s not just that my cultural icons started passing away en mass. It’s what’s risen to replace them.

I don?t understand a culture that could elect Donald Trump. Hell, I don?t understand a culture that would even consider voting for him.

I don?t understand how the gamergate/rabid puppies look at themselves in the mirror. I couldn?t be that shamelessly malevolent towards anyone for simply holding a different opinion from mine. This is hyperbullying, accentuated by the internet. Right and wrong don?t matter, politeness doesn?t matter, only volume and vitriol matter now.

Yet these people are the new mainstream, the Trumpsters, the generation defining the culture that we live in.

Pop culture and I have divorced. It?s official. Maybe that?s a good thing.

There are other signs. I?ve noticed a few things on Reddit. First, when it comes to discussing trends and preferences in science fiction, I?m definitely in the old school, deep enough to be a useful resource reference for others, but not one who?s opinion matters going forward. Decades of knowledge and experience given no value because experience now is equated with being ?too old?.

In another Reddit thread, a question was asked – what?s the most over the top performance you?ve seen in a film. I suggested Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. No one knows what I mean. Worse, the answers that are getting the most up-votes are names I don?t know.

Recently, I had some kid (25? 30? years old) tell me that I obviously didn?t know Star Wars very well(!) because when he asked me which ship was the coolest, I replied the Falcon. Wrong! I was told. The coolest ships are the TIE fighters – the mass-produced, not very sturdy ships flown by the Empire. Why were they obviously the coolest? Because they represented power and violence.

Pop culture and I have divorced. It?s official. Maybe that?s a good thing. Maybe we?ll both be happier for it.

Here’s Tim being over the top: