CONFORMITY ROCKS!?

Dirty Fuckin Hippie, is a phrase that comes to mind often when you live in British Columbia. All too often the mistake is made that these hemp laden tree dwellers are saving the planet one flower at a time. But what if they’re not? What if the culture jammers, counter-culture enthusiasts and moral martyrs we see who have taken it upon themselves to "rage against the machine" and overthrow the system, have been doing just the opposite? In 1969 Donald and Doris Fisher Started selling washed out Levi's jeans from their used record shop "The Generation Gap" in San Francisco, you don't get more hippie than that. By 2005 the company had more than 150,000 employees and 3000 stores in 10 countries, did the Fishers "sell out"? Andrew Potter and Joseph Heath offer another solution in their 2004 non-fiction THE REBEL SELL. Their careful evaluation and comparison of “alternative” and “mainstream” lifestyles brings new light to the extremely tired argument. Using examples spanning from Kurt Cobain to Ninja Turtles and taking critical review of counter-culture icons like Naomi Klein (who in my opinion had it coming), the authors give a spectacular re-evaluation of consumerism that will enrage and provoke both sides of the debate. All that fun stuff aside this book is also just a good read for anyone interested in the evolution of North American economy. To further prove their own theory I bought the book on sight, the Starbucks Cup with classic Che on the front made a great target for filthy little whistle blowers like me who just wanted to get another look at the horrors of “the system”. There is something beautiful in the thought that at one point, the jammers that were rushing stores to slash leather and spit on retail execs were the same people cramming their fat asses into the acid wash jeans that symbolized the rebellious “Gap” in generations that started the company in the first place!