i don't want my tribe on your t-shirt
i actually don't like the widespread diffusion of underground culture into the mainstream.

underground cultures serve needs that are very specific to their members, some of which are not really all that useful - or even healthy - in the larger society. broadcasting them reduces their semiotics to commodity and parody, and at the same time "normalizes" attitudes and motivations which may be empowering or usefully self-referential in context, but which are otherwise absurd at best, and truly ugly at worst.

this goes for hip-hop, goth, s/m, punk, paganism, extreme metal (which, like several of the prior examples, is much more than just a genre of music). people flaunt codes they know nothing of. the shock-value of a subculture's plumage is converted to mere spectacle, and its shocking attitudes are inflated by prurient (and prudish) attention to the point where they erase whatever consciousness shaped them.

i'm not saying that anyone should remain in any kind of closet, or pursue their own worldview with anything but visible pride and gusto. but i do think that people should examine themselves, find what's real, not just hip or cool, and live that, rather than what's in the tabloids, in the mall, or on VH1.