Aesthetics rule

I thought thigh highs and cat ear headsets are the style of the modern hacktivist?

20 years ago, it was The Matrix. 10 years ago, Guy Fawkes masks. Thigh highs and cat ears are the least cringy of the possibilities to date.
- Columbine ruined The Matrix look real quick.
- to be fair, while not much of a hacker since the days when you could just open windows and delete the password, most of my casual wardrobe could pass for 'cozy pyjama party matrix cosplay'.
  but new images are always nice.
It's either that or a fursuit
- A dude in a full Fox fursuit is the face behind the string of shutdowns that slowed the nation to a halt. I can see it now, FBI dragging the poor guy out of his room, knocking over models and plushies off his desk as he struggles to get his message out to the public.
That, or a fursuit! There's definitely a current aesthetic imo, but obviously it's a generalization that not everyone fits, as has always been the case.

I think John would be delighted tbh

Wow, I can't believe nobody's even bothered to mention the style from the definitive hacker movie. Just absolutely gobsmacked. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like:

Notably missing from this picture: rollerblades, fingerless gloves, neon dyed hair, tons of fishnets (which I guess you could probably stylize as fish.nets or something), puffy vest, etc.

In my day, being a hacker meant dressing like a weird raver/punk and sending people a GIF of a laughing skull, and that's how we liked it

Hack the planet!
- They're trashing our rights, TRASHING our rights.
Everything about this. Yes!

It's literally part of hacker-ethics to not judge people by their fancy exterior:

Hackers should be judged by their acting, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.

https://www.ccc.de/en/hackerethics

Thanks for posting this!
For those who aren’t familiar - CCC is the chaos computer club, they have lots of talks and events all about tech, politics, intel, hacking/security, etc.
Great resource to socialize with

FFS this comment section is mostly people misunderstanding that John is likely saying this tongue in cheek.

People need to brush up on their cinema.

Even his face always looks like he's waiting for you to laugh at the funny thing he said

I think most anti status quo people wouldn’t be interested in the clothing industrial complex

Maybe people are just more comfortable expressing themselves in different and unique ways that don’t conform to one “outfit/style”

Punk tends to lean towards modifying what you have with what tools are available, and shopping second-hand. As a bonus, the inherent aesthetic is harder for the fashion industry to co-opt.
- The punk aesthetic was invented by a man who owned a fashion label and had his own storefront.
I think hand repaired and hand sewn stuff could easily be it. “I made this dress before taking down the stock exchange”
- Maybe. But it's a craft that takes a lot of practice to get good at, and a lifetime to master.

I met Waters once at a viewing of Pecker. The dude is a gem.

a what

If you want to see the modern hacktivist style just look at UnixSocks

You're telling me a Doritos-stained shirt isn't an aesthetic?

Drip lies in the eye of the beholder

We're the black hoodie guy, which is the media aesthetic the way Ninjas are decked in Kabuki black.

Real ninjas look like peasants because they're covert operatives. Hacktivists look like lower class tech geeks with a band or brand tee (maybe an overworn prized possession like a 1980s Apple tee). The thing is, we willfully choose to look bland, to be not noticed.

Personally I think the modern activist should dress like Devo

But not the Mayan pyramids Devo, I wanna see the potato bodies of the "Oh No It's Devo!" phase.

Okay, I guess I'll put the cat ears away :/

No you fool! That's the fashion he's looking for! Put on the fursuit and thigh high socks and shut down Google!

I just go for punk

Priorities

Srsly, fashion takes time and money and thought.
If any of those in short supply ya jes wear what you got
- Like all of this things listed were cheap and anti-fashion at the time.
  Time, maybe for some things but chucking on a pair of docs and a jacket isn’t time consuming, a Mohawk could be but you don’t style them every day. &tc.