Let's hope the New Earnestness doesn't last; though a New Norman Rockwell Era of Christian boy bands on MTV and single-minded Organization Kid faith in authority and The System may be just what is needed to sow the seeds of countercultures which are something more meaningful than ad-agency lifestyle campaigns. (As a wise Goddess once said, imposition of order leads to escalation of disorder.) Though, as I was thinking recently, if hipster irony in the days before 11/9/2001 had degenerated to Fred Durst, D12 and self-jamming Nike ads, then good riddance to it. Perhaps a cultural firestorm to burn away all the deadwood is just what is needed.