Laura said:
Wonder what's up with that? I mean, using such items - that have for some years been condemned as dangerous and demonic - as ornaments? Is the perception changing?
Fact is, Guardian sent me a little gift that arrived yesterday: a Ouija wallet.
Yup.
parallel said:
Could be one these 'subculture' movements that like to romance something perceived as obscure, kitch or dangerous? Then it could be a push to make the young and unaware goths and other trendfashionistas gather themselves some more astral accessories or worse. Or it could be a 4D STS/STO joint venture, with STO pushing for knowledge acquisition?
The online shop looks a mix of new age, goth, and hipster to me.
The vaguely encompassing "hipster movement"'s sole goal seems to be to commodify and trivialize everything in existence (I mean this actually rather literally--they seem very pathological to me). Their main focus and defining qualities seem, to me, to be consuming any and all "subcultures" as commodities while paying top dollar (expensive faux vintage clothing, for example) aka "fetishization", pure materialism, and nihilistic narcissism. Since they're pure materialists, a Ouija board is nonsense anyway (hilarious nonsense, even), demons don't exist, and nothing matters.
"Christian Lorentzen of Time Out New York argues that "hipsterism fetishizes the authentic" elements of all of the "fringe movements of the postwar era—beat, hippie, punk, even grunge," and draws on the "cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity," and "regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity.""
_https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hipster_%28contemporary_subculture%29
Like any "subculture" and term that is as amorphous and vaguely applying as this one, my take on the definition is that it's evolved and expanded a bit since it's creation to encompass more than Christian's definition and mainly focuses on materialistic fetishization and commodification as a lifestyle choice. I personally don't think it has much to do with perception, but with something that had yet to be commodified/fetishized.
I personally doubt there's any STO involvement--wouldn't it be like selling someone lit torches as earrings; a dangerous but useful tool trivialized and misplaced, probably with negative consequences?
Just my take, though--perhaps it has nothing to do with hipsters.
However, all that aside--Laura you could get some and groove on the go with your fancy new wallet!! :P :D
