this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
318 points (97.9% liked)
solarpunk memes
6132 readers
17 users here now
For when you need a laugh!
The definition of a "meme" here is intentionally pretty loose. Images, screenshots, and the like are welcome!
But, keep it lighthearted and/or within our server's ideals.
Posts and comments that are hateful, trolling, inciting, and/or overly negative will be removed at the moderators' discretion.
Please follow all slrpnk.net rules and community guidelines
Have fun!
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That seems to contradict your original statement that cottagecore implies slavery, because if it did then this would be redundant and there would be no need for the "but".
Cottagecore implies labor, yes. If someone is saying they want a cottagecore life without the labor, then they've probably got their head too far up in Wuthering Heights and imagine themselves as English Gentry. That doesn't define cottagecore, though.
Most people who like cottagecore enjoy doing things themselves. Fibercraft of all kinds, soapmaking and candlemaking, baking from scratch. None of that implies slavery, and if you think it does then I would ask where you think those things come from when you buy them from the store.
It's not merely an aesthetic. Just like solarpunk, the aesthetic has been separated from the lifestyle and sanitized, but not in all cases. Homesteading, making things from scratch, is very much a lifestyle.
"Cottage industry" is already a term for people who sell things they make small-scale in their own homes. That seems economically empowering, no? Seems like it would be an integral part to any real solarpunk community, so it makes sense that there's a connection between solarpunk and cottagecore.
Your comment is more or less just lawyering. I'm acknowledging that a lot of people are in it for the aesthetic. You seem to disagree with the meaning of "aesthetic". IMO if you're using it as supplemental to your way of life, it's aesthetic to me, in that it's a hobby, and not political. In fact the closer to political you get, the closer you tend to get to the kind of libertarian, ecofascist, white supremacist ideology. Relevant video.
To re-iterate, I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy cottagecore. Have fun, enjoy, make things, it's great, but it's 100% a hobby as distinct from Solarpunk.
I ain't a lawyer. I presented a rational argument that disagrees with your own. If that's "just lawyering" to you, then I don't want to hear you talk about "ecofascist." If you want to be anti-fascist, great, I'm right there with you, but that means you have to tolerate disagreement when it's presented rationally, at least enough to engage with it rationally, instead of dismissing it with trite little catchphrases like "that's just lawyering."
It seems you're the one who doesn't know the meaning of "aesthetic." Aesthetics are surface-level appearances. If something is purely aesthetic (or should I say solely), then it's superficial. But an aesthetic can go hand-in-hand with function or ideation. An aesthetic can emerge organically.
There's always an aesthetic, so criticizing something for having an aesthetic falls short. Criticize things for having a sanitized aesthetic divorced from the philosophy or politics of the movement it represents, sure. If you go around dressing lile Little Bo Peep but you bought the costume on Etsy because you don't even know how to sew, that's not cottagecore. That's Little House on the Prairie cosplay.
That doesn't say anything about cottagecore as a movement, anymore than someone wearing plastic "steampunk" goggles with useless gears to a convention says anything about "steampunk." It's just an appropriated aesthetic.
That's not what aesthetic means. An amateur golfer wearing sperries, chinos, and a polo isn't doing it just for the aesthetic. He has the aesthetic, sure, and if he wasn't a golfer you could say he's cosplaying as one. But if golfing is just a hobby to him, that doesn't mean he's only doing it for the aesthetic.
If someone mends their own clothing or has a cottage business, that supplements their way of life, yes. That's more than a hobby. It might not be political, but it's certainly more than an aesthetic.
That sounds like an assumption. You can cherrypick a few examples, sure. Someone could also try equating punk with fascism by cherrypicking a few examples of neonazis. It would be a false equivalency, and those neonazis would get their asses kicked if they showed up at most punk venues.
Cottagecore has been integral to black history, whether they know it or not. They might not call it that, but part of poverty is that you learn to make do with what you have, do more with less. You learn to mend your own clothing, make food from scratch. Maybe they don't dress like this is Tudor England, but the underlying philosophy is there, even if they think about it in different terms. So calling it close to white supremacy is kinda wild.
And it's pretty funny that you would share a youtube link right after preaching about politics as a lifestyle...
OK I no longer know what we're talking about but in the interests of not making things more heated than they already are, I'm just not going to respond further.