Can someone actually define a Hipster for me, I don't really understand and wikipedia is not that great either. I don't want to read the SP thread cause I haven't read the books at all.
When I think of Hipster, I think of: Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
A solid definition.
To summarize: People who think they're non-comformists, and try to prove it by conforming to a uniform ideal of non-conformity.
Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
When I think of Hipster, I think of: Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
I just don't understand the concept of liking something "ironically." If you like something, you like it. End of story. You don't need to add some sort of bullshit qualifier to the end of it.
I just don't understand the concept of liking something "ironically." If you like something, you like it. End of story. You don't need to add some sort of bullshit qualifier to the end of it.
Liking something ironically is sort of like the old game show Double Dare. Nobody actually likes going down a slide into a pile of goop. It's not actually pleasant. You end up an uncomfortable mess, and you need a shower. Yet, everyone likes watching you do it, so you get lots of positive attention. Even though you don't like doing it, there is this thrill you get when it's about to happen. In the aftermath it's a bad idea, but the top of the slide is like the top of a very small roller coaster. It's all in the meta. The thing you are doing is in and of itself not fun. However, the meta provides a thrill. Because you know that what you are about to do is stupid or bad, there's a thrill of danger when you know it's going to happen. The positive attention is just an extra plus.
Hipsters are the same way. They definitely like other beverages more than PBR. But it's not the taste of the beverage that is giving them pleasure, but the meta of knowing they are drinking piss.
I just don't understand the concept of liking something "ironically." If you like something, you like it. End of story. You don't need to add some sort of bullshit qualifier to the end of it.
More fuel for my "I don't get these hipsters" fire.
"Hipster" used to mean something very different. Until a couple of years ago, I still thought of "Hipster" as pretty interchangeable with "Beatnik".
Beats were much better than the Hipsters of today.
That's what happens. Lots of words go away and them come back with different meanings, or just have their meanings gradually change over time. No point in comparing the old and the new simply because of a semantic connection.
Even so, my first instinct would be to agree that beatniks were much better than hipsters, I know better. It's just the psychologically tendency to look at the past, especially a past before I was born, with rose tinted glasses. If I were around the same time as beatniks, I would probably have looked at them the same way I look at hipsters now.
Shows that it all starts with the same counterculture ideals, then gets commercialized. People on the inside don't want to sell out, but in the end EVERYONE buys in. It's all unavoidable and the pursuit of being genuine becomes a pipe dream. It's makes me think, what's the point, but then I remember that the ride is still fun.
Liking something ironically is sort of like the old game show Double Dare. Nobody actually likes going down a slide into a pile of goop. It's not actually pleasant. You end up an uncomfortable mess, and you need a shower. Yet, everyone likes watching you do it, so you get lots of positive attention. Even though you don't like doing it, there is this thrill you get when it's about to happen. In the aftermath it's a bad idea, but the top of the slide is like the top of a very small roller coaster. It's all in the meta. The thing you are doing is in and of itself not fun. However, the meta provides a thrill. Because you know that what you are about to do is stupid or bad, there's a thrill of danger when you know it's going to happen. The positive attention is just an extra plus.
The problem with this is that hipsters 'ironically' like things that others just like. Example: Darkwing Duck is awesome. You'll see insecure 'hipsters' who 'ironically' wear a Darkwing Duck shirt.
I find the whole idea of 'hipsters' to be dumb. Of course, they'll say I don't understand, to which I reply: "That doesn't make me stop thinking its dumb."
The problem with this is that hipsters 'ironically' like things that others just like. Example: Darkwing Duck is awesome. You'll see insecure 'hipsters' who 'ironically' wear a Darkwing Duck shirt.
It's all a status game. Say you like something that other people might frown upon in the subculture? No problem, you like it ironically. You like Miley Cyrus? Not cool. You Ironically like it? You're cool again.
Well, I think the real problem is that their enjoyment of things is disingenuous. That makes it hard to really form a bond of any sort, unless you're "in the know." Even then, the whole social structure is only based around "being in the know" and not actually about what anyone really likes.
It's sort of the opposite direction of, say, shonen fighting or cheesy metal. You like a shonen fighting show or Amon Amarth despite the fact that they're both stupid; you still actually like them, and you're honest about it. A hipster only likes things - or pretends to like things - that they think are stupid. The former is more honest and makes for better social interaction.
You'll see insecure 'hipsters' who 'ironically' wear a Darkwing Duck shirt.
These are pretty cool shirts: Japanese CyclopsFahrenheit 451 It's aggravating to think someone is wearing those shirts without ever reading the comic/book, and that's somehow cool.
Comments
Urban 20 somethings, obsessed with obscure indie music and 80's fashion. A defining quality of the demographic is liking and adopting stupid or ugly fashions/tastes as an ironic statement; hipsters are big into irony/blase attitudes about everything. I also associate hipsters with a sort of pseudo-intellectual snobbery, mostly about music, but also about literature and philosophical ideas. Often, hipsters are unemployed, freelancers, or working at so-called "dead end jobs" to make the rent, despite being middle class background. Similar to the Japanese "freeter" movement.
Hipsters are the same way. They definitely like other beverages more than PBR. But it's not the taste of the beverage that is giving them pleasure, but the meta of knowing they are drinking piss.
Beats were much better than the Hipsters of today.
Even so, my first instinct would be to agree that beatniks were much better than hipsters, I know better. It's just the psychologically tendency to look at the past, especially a past before I was born, with rose tinted glasses. If I were around the same time as beatniks, I would probably have looked at them the same way I look at hipsters now.
I find the whole idea of 'hipsters' to be dumb. Of course, they'll say I don't understand, to which I reply: "That doesn't make me stop thinking its dumb."
Does this person have way too many accessories?
Gloves, hat, hoodie, scarf, vest, anything from Urban Outfitters, lunchbox purse, adult beverage in paper bag (PBR, I don't blaim you for this. I That would be walking your fixed gear bike onto the Metro to take a nap.
It's sort of the opposite direction of, say, shonen fighting or cheesy metal. You like a shonen fighting show or Amon Amarth despite the fact that they're both stupid; you still actually like them, and you're honest about it. A hipster only likes things - or pretends to like things - that they think are stupid. The former is more honest and makes for better social interaction.
It's aggravating to think someone is wearing those shirts without ever reading the comic/book, and that's somehow cool.