I feel like the phenomenon of counter cultures is similar to that of the rebellious youth. Usually, the angsty teen doesn't rebel just for the heck of it, but rather, because they sense some hypocrisy from their parents and the adults in their life.

Sometimes, the kids find legitimate antidotes or improvements to their elders' mythologies. But I think more often than not, they end up being just as wrong, only in different ways.

I've always suspected that the antidote to the rebellious teen was a parent with a solid philosophy. Is there possibly a small handful of broadly adoptable beliefs that could facilitate non-vapid, non-hypocritical conversations, that are attractive to the teens, artists, and intellectuals, while also being intuitive to the larger masses?

What if the normies and parents all believed the following?:

1. Although private perceptions may indeed reveal private truths, public claims nevertheless deserve publicly observable evidence. (so don't believe people who claim to be prophets, and don't try to be a prophet for everyone else)

2. Good and evil are only recognizable by someone feeling happiness or pain. (so don't make up arbitrary moral codes)

3. All decisions and outcomes are inevitable, given enough contextual knowledge. (so don't judge people; they couldn't help it)

Obviously, this wouldn't be an end to all rebellion and cognitive dissonance at the societal level. Those three beliefs wouldn't magically answer all questions, and there would always continue to be paradigm shifts.

But it seems like they are simple enough, with enough “common sense” that they could be acceptable to the masses, while also being “true” enough as to not be overly assailable by the truth seekers.

And this would make the crowd a little less vapid, so that there would be less of a gap between the normies and the critical thinkers. Which seems like it could be a good thing.