I wonder if the author of this article was around for all the so-called youth movements of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s (assuming that it all ended with punk and hip-hop, there is no 90s?). I sense a trend of people always saying that things were better in the past – isn’t that exactly what the author is doing right now? Were any of us there for these great youth movements to really say if it had any real meaning or if it was just another vapid and self-absorbed culture? We all learn about these things second or third hand, and of course anything we hear is an embellishment. I wonder if in twenty years people our age will look back on now and say something not unlike what the author says about the “subcultures” of the post WWII era.

I personally hav met some really nice people who dress inthat style, they tend to be young. That being said I too get annoyed by the presence of rich people from places of privelege trying to be all “real” by slumming it and living like us mud people. They embrace the things that caused us pain, they savor the authenticity of not having enough money or social capital to live comfortably, and then they wrap themselves around it as some kind of warm blanket or badge of honor that makes them just as good or “real” as us (which is within a ridiculous jedgement dichotomy to begin with). I dont appreciate the judgemental behavior, ability to dismiss minorities/women/poor because they “have lived in the barrio too”, or overall arrogance that comes from the scene. Although I have no problem with rich white kids I get annoyed that they all jock the kind of rap music I personally appreciate in a manner that just wreaks of trying to hard in a unconcerned kind of way.

I usually play some cypress hill or better yet rass kass’ “nature of the threat” and see their reaction, that kind of good rap was born out of poverty, not wealth (although ti fine for them to listen to it, but dont weer your musical prefernce like a badge of authenticity is my point). To put it simply i dont dig rich kids slumming it to be cool. I do dig rich kids genuinely trying to reinvest or work for the betterment of the ghetto, ergo why i have met some cool hipsters.

I have a hipster question though: I have a cousin who grew up in a poor shitty background, got a college scholarship and is now the personafication of a hippyish hipster. All she hangs out with is rich kids who fit this description. The only difference is she comes from a ghetto family (and how annoying it is to see her firends all ecstatic to stay with my aunt and eat beans and tamales is a subdued “I dont care” manner) and actually works/is concerned about the betterment of distressed communities like the one we both grew up in. Where does she fit in this genre? She has a lot of friends who are genuinely good people working for worthy causes but adopted this style and all, where do they fit into this genre/

Is hipsterdom merely defined as a style or a apathetic mindset towards serious issues? And where do people who look the look but are not apathetic stand in it?

Actually, anyone who will buy me a beer because I am an authentic homeboy is cool with me. Just dont patronize me or use my authenticity as a badge of honor, I went through that with graffiti whiteboys in the late 90s.

But, the people getting all upset about hipsters are sorta complicit in it too. Why do you care if someone has a “cooler than thou” attitude unless you yourself are also sorta caught up in the “cool” rat race?

My main problem with hipster-bashing, though, is the people who try to pin the blame for everything thats ill in world on them, when if anything they’re just a toxic byproduct of our larger society. Most of them are brainless turds, peons, and not worthy of discussion.

I understand your opinions. A long time ago I was a notorious internet troll. I would go on blogs and social groups and I would say, “PEOPLE ARE DYING SOMEWHERE AND YOU”RE MAD BECAUSE THERE ARE NO WOMAN ON TV ARE YOU SHITTING ME…”

My thought was, if people weren’t concerned with what I was concerned with that they were less of people than me. That they were less enlightened than me. I felt the little stuff didn’t matter. It was about the bigger picture. Even the subject of race was too minor I would say, “You’re being distracted man, the real issue is capitalism and imperialism and if you want to do some real good you need to be focused on the big picture.”

But you know the thing is what I’ve learned the little stuff affects the big stuff. Media, fashion, tv, race, gender that’s all part of the bigger picture.

You can’t pretend as if those things aren’t happening. You can’t pretend as if those things don’t have an impact.

These little things add up to apathy, not thinking, not caring. Not questioning the little stuff leads to not questioning the big stuff. There is nothing too little to talk about, because nothing is little it’s all big. It all helps.

Alot of people can’t wrap their mind around war far away or the economy, but they can wrap their mind around music or fashion and if you give people things that they can digest maybe one day they will be able to wrap their mind around other issues.

Also to read about things like imperialism, capitalism that’s a luxury. To be able to debate those topics is a luxury that most people don’t have. Most people don’t have the energy to have discourse on theory. That conversation is a very long and intensive one. A conversation that really can’t be had on a blog.

You need to have a variety of voices and perspectives, the dehumanization of people happens all of the time in the US, but it’s just wrapped in things like redevelopment and fashion movements.

And debating a fashion that’s really a dehumanization movement is a very smart thing. It’s not some little bullshit, it’s a heavy topic with a nice fried coating, so we can all discuss an issue without being up to date on economic and social theory.

And actually if you read this article and truly look at the comments on this thread it’s beyond just the marketing it’s a big issue disguised as a little issue.

People being moved from their homes and priced from their neighborhood is a big thing. It’s people feeling that certain people are worth more or are more important than others. Not being concerned with this and thinking this is minor makes things like the US going to a country and killing people seem like a minor thing, it’s about conditioning you know. So this topic is not nearly as trivial as it seems, because at the end of the day it’s all big stuff.

Browne

Uh, at the very least, hippies, beatniks, and punks had either a social critique/agenda or at least some sort of vision of the world as it could be. What’s the vision/critique of the hipster? None of them will even go on record to identify themselves.

Recuperation is a given, underground cultures will eventually get absorbed by mainstream culture. But shit, the hipster scene doesn’t even seem to offer any sense of rebellion to recuperate, or am I wrong?

BTW, you negate your “Dont you people have anything better to think about?” by posting your comment here; you obviously have the time to concern yourself with critiquing these empty pop culture inanities, thus you are one of us.

Gooble, Goofy
Gobble, Goofy
We admit you
Sorta like Us, Sorta like Us

Whats scary is that seemingly intelligent people actually try to write serious articles about “hipsters,” and then people try to have serious discussions about them by posting about them on internet “blogs”. Dont you people have anything better to think about?

Seriously, if you are looking for signs of the decline of Western Civilization: there it is! The fact that intelligent people are focusing their attention on debating about “hipsters”.

On the other hand, perhaps that’s a sign of the SUCCESS of Western Civilization. I dont think they have too much time to concern themselves with these types of empty pop culture inanities in places like, say, Afghanistan or Zimbabwe. I can see it now: “my wife was killed by a machete wielding mob, inflation is at 4000%, I just got ass-raped by a corrupt soldier with a sub-machine gun…. but what Im really concerned about is Ali Baba wearing those tight pants and that white belt….. what is UP with that!?!”

Rock on.

I hate their chain smoking and rude infantilism. That’s all.

Other than that… whatever.

Is that ironic, or not? Isn’t that what anarcho-punks want? [Albeit maybe by different means]

if i don’t have my glasses or contacts on i miss things like when my car got smashed when it was parked in front of my place in hipsterlake, i couldnt’ see the drink driver’s license plate before they drove off with their f*cked up car and I was assed out paying a full deductible.