There’s an article I read some years ago that talks about why subcultures or countercultures, from the hippie movement to punk to metal, have a tendency to be very conformist. Which I was really interested in being somewhat of a mix of the three. And I’ve always wondered why I felt so strongly about «fitting in» those cultures, which, in one way or another, is about not fitting in. And the main thing about it is, countercultures are still cultures, they’re just about doing the opposite of what everyone else does. Which means you’re still completely hung up on the mainstream, you’re just angry, following it instead. And if you want people to know you’re part of the group, you’d better have the right look, the right words. Everything has to match. 

And here is where it relates to this guy’s Hostel story. It immediately reminded me of how I have always had mixed feelings about the whole idea of backpacking. Or at least the romanticism surrounding it. That’s not to say anything about the idea of exploring, which I think of as pretty profound, just talking about the modern version of this idea that made too many people I know go backpacking «solo» along the exact same TripAdvisor route as all the other people they know, and called it exploration or described it as a self-discovery journey.