
Cultural Dopes

The creative class takes influence from Old Money, artists, countercultures, and minority subcultures, and through the mechanism of retro , often embrace outmoded forms of culture from the mainstream and rural groups — e.g "granny" glasses, hunting camouflage as streetwear.
Culture: An Owner's Manual • Culture Is an Ecosystem: A Manifesto Towards a New Cultural Criticism
Amid the mass amnesia sustained by the culture of global capitalism, images have become one of the many depleted and disposable elements that, in their intrinsic archiveability, end up never being discarded, contributing to an ever more congealed and futureless present.
Jonathan Crary • 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep
Even when the Internet appears to be nostalgically churning through the cultural past, it’s still hunting for “old newness.” A familiar video clip from 1986 does not possess virility; what the medium desires is an obscure clip from 1985 that recontextualizes the familiar one. The result is a perpetual sense of now.