Early-2000s downtown hedonism masked emerging anti-liberal undercurrents

Evidence

The nihilistic bacchanal of downtown New York in the early 2000s came across as nonideological—or, depending on the potency of the drugs, even anti-consciousness. But beneath the grime and chaos, subtle anti-liberal undercurrents were brewing. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 59

Categorization

• QUESTION: What are those ‘subtle anti-liberal undercurrents’? Seems to be a setup for a later anchor of the 2010s cultural shift — worth watching how Marx connects downtown cool to present-day politics.