Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization

[kir mokum]

i hate handsome, talented, intelligent people with good taste. those fuckers...

[Revolver]

Originally Posted by kir mokum

i've disliked every subculture i've belonged.

that must be a crappy way to live.

[dj_soo]

i hate any subculture that doesn't embrace me with loving arms.

elitists.

[kir mokum]

Originally Posted by Revolver

that must be a crappy way to live.

i've learned to deal with being surrounded by idiots. most people (especially en mass) are pretty dumb so any large collection of people will inherently consist mostly of idiots. political movements and organizations are a good example.

any subculture i've been apart of was not because i identified with the culture but what the culture was based around. ie skateboarding. generally speaking, most skaters are (...er, were in my experience) total assholes. but i liked skating. i didn't like people because they skated. that's fucking stupid. same goes for ravers, junglists, hippies, atheists, DJs, musicians, artists, mathematicians, philosophers, whatever.

i thought this stuff was self evident. at least to people who ever gave it a thought.

[rawb]

HIPSTERS/WHATEVER ARE BASICALLY A GIANT GLACIER OF PEOPLE. A HUGE SEMI-LIQUID MASS OF BODIES THAT SLOWLY MOVE OVER THE FRESH NOOKS AND CRANNIES CARVED OUT BY NEW OR LONG FORGOTTEN MUSICS, IDEAS, FASHIONS AND CAUSES. UNDER ITS WEIGHT OF NOVELTY AND COMMUNITY, THIS MASS PICKS UP AND DEPOSITS PEOPLE TO/FROM INTO THESE "TRENDS", HYPERACCELERATES THE TRENDS DEVELOPMENT, AND LEAVES ONCE THE DRUGS WEAR OFF. THINGS ARE FOREVER CHANGED ONCE THE GLACIER MOVES ON, WITH ONLY PEOPLE WHO TRULY FEEL A CONNECTION WITH THE ORIGINAL IDEA LEFT BEHIND (AND PROBABLY NOT THE ORIGINATORS, MORE LIKELY THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN RIDING THE TRENDS FOR A WHILE AND JUST GOT SICK OF IT).

PEOPLE WHO DON'T MOVE WITH THE MASS TEND TO RIDICULE IT, BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE WE EITHER ARE PART OF IT, WERE PART OF IT, OR WILL BECOME PART OF IT IN THE NEAR FUTURE. TO HATE THE MAINSTREAM IS TO RIDE ON THE FRONT OR TAIL END OF ITS CYCLE, STILL A HUGE PART OF ITS PROCESS.

TL;DR VERSION: WHEN YOU DISREGARD HOW COOL IT IS TO DO SOMETHING AND FOCUS ON HOW MEANINGFUL IT IS TO YOU, THEN YOU WILL PROBABLY BE THE MOST HAPPY. LIKE IM SURE THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ENJOY SWING DANCING AND LONGBOARDING BECAUSE ITS FUN, NOT BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM CURRENT. l

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by rawb

BUT YEAH TO BE HONEST HIPSTER IS JUST A MADE UP WORD THAT WILL BE REPLACED WHENEVER THE NEXT MUSIC OR CLOTHING FAD COMES ALONG, IT'S NOT AN EVOLUTIONARY PLATEAU ITS JUST A STOP ON THE TOUR BUS OF SOCIAL SUBGROUP POPULARITY

You didn't read the article. Not to mention, we still have bonafide hippies some 40 years after Woodstock and punks 30 years after the Sex Pistols. The difference is hipsters have no agenda or rallying points. The article makes the point that they are the end result of every other subculture, with no real music (since they can't agree on the Animal Collective) or easily identifiable clothing fad (like hemp and dreads for hippies and piercings/mohawks/leather jackets for punks). They have the ability to just fester with the tides of change, and spread like a cancer over viable movements.

[kir mokum]

does anyone else hear philip glass while reading rawb's post?

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by kir mokum

i hate handsome, talented, intelligent people with good taste. those fuckers...

"But I'm losing my edge, to better-looking people, with better ideas, and more talent. And actually, they're really really nice."
LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
a.k.a. The Hipster Creed

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by kir mokum

does anyone else hear philip glass while reading rawb's post?

No, but I did hear it in David Attenborough's voice.

[Liqwid]

Originally Posted by kir mokum

isn't a $20 hoody a $40+ hoody when you get it from the granville AA?

yeah mine wasn't twenty unless you get a discount. i can sometimes...lol

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by rawb

PUNKS BEGAT RAVERS BEGAT HIPSTERS BEGAT ...

Kinda my point.

just under a decade ago, you could replace just about every instance of the word "hipster" in this thread with the word "raver", change the background to baby blue, and nobody would notice the difference.

[rawb]

or you just buy it from a print shop for $20 and not be a total chump

[ebbomega]

BUT THEN I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TELL EVERYBODY I BOUGHT IT AT HOT TOPI^W^WAMERICAN APPARELl

[G3N3R4L]

Originally Posted by rawb

WORSE THAN THE SPANISH INQUISITION?

NOBODY expects the spanish inquisition..

[Mangle]

^^^ Strewth!

[ebbomega]

Originally Posted by rawb

LIKE IM SURE THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO ENJOY SWING DANCING AND LONGBOARDING BECAUSE ITS FUN, NOT BECAUSE IT MAKES THEM CURRENT.

You still living in that movie? People haven't been swing dancing since the 90s. Except for old folks and farm girls.

(nobody doubles down on eleven against a two anyways)

[rawb]

Originally Posted by ebbomega

You still living in that movie? People haven't been swing dancing since the 90s. Except for old folks and farm girls.

(nobody doubles down on eleven against a two anyways)

THATS MY POINT, SWING DANCING IS A PAST FAD
BUT IN 10-20 YEARS WHEN IT COMES BACK AGAIN THERE WILL BE PEOPLE FROM THE LAST POPULARITY SPIKE STILL DOING THEIR THING BECAUSE THEY ENJOY IT

[*SunShyne*]

I feel the need to point out that I just got back from shopping at Suzy Shier... spent $37.xx after taxes on 3 shirts, a pair of pants and a skirt.

I never understood why people spend $100 on a t-shirt, or a hoodie... there's just so much you can buy with that $100

[rawb]

Originally Posted by *SunShyne*

I never understood why people spend $100 on a t-shirt, or a hoodie...

SO THEY DON'T END UP LOOKING LIKE A SEADONKEY LIKE YOU

[miss.myra]

anti conformity is the new conformity?

lol adbusters.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

anti conformity is the new conformity?

Absolutely. Just look at Ladyhawk.
"Yeah, we want something where everybody wears something different, man, but the same, you know?" - Chong from Up In Smoke

[*SunShyne*]

Looking good by means of fashion, while in essence a purely self centered and vain objective, can project a persona onto others who may judge solely on appearances and allow a person to fit into the situation at hand even if it is outside of their norm. I attribute much of my success in life, love, and business to dressing to the current situation, while still maintaining within the fiscal constraints of post secondary education.

For something to be sustainable it must be affordable to all, social equity. As such for Organic “green chic” trends in sustainable fashion there is a requirement for the attire to be affordable to all patrons.

I ended up winning a $50 gift certificate to “Not Just Pretty”. Upon looking on their website (www.notjustpretty.com) I saw that my $50 would not go very far when the simple shirt seen below was $169.
Chloe Angus Oyster Jersey Shirt [S1-303311] - $169.00CAD : Not Just Pretty Modern Organic Clothing
While it is made of organic cotton and Bamboo fabric the fact that the shirt was half of my monthly food budget made me think that it may not be a sustainable option.


But this is the on going trend within “sustainable” culture. The whole system is being designed on the facet that the general public loves to jump on trends, and as such sustainable options can, and will, charge what ever they want and the trendy will pay. This puts those who have interest in general global efficiency in a difficult situation, they can either pay the outrageously inflated prices to be “sustainable,” and believe me, the quotation marks are there deliberately, or they must chose to be unsustainable to achieve true sustainability by using their capital in manners which in the end are more sustainable.


There is no difference in buying in organic clothing than there is in being trendy (besides the goodness of knowing you're working on that carbon footprint)

[GSG9]

Originally Posted by rawb

SO THEY DON'T END UP LOOKING LIKE A SEADONKEY LIKE YOU

hahahaha nice duce. nice.

[Maurice420]

Originally Posted by kir mokum

does anyone else hear philip glass while reading rawb's post?

I'm hearing Philip Glass with Eno.

[decypher]

Originally Posted by Mangle

You didn't read the article. Not to mention, we still have bonafide hippies some 40 years after Woodstock and punks 30 years after the Sex Pistols. The difference is hipsters have no agenda or rallying points. The article makes the point that they are the end result of every other subculture, with no real music (since they can't agree on the Animal Collective) or easily identifiable clothing fad (like hemp and dreads for hippies and piercings/mohawks/leather jackets for punks). They have the ability to just fester with the tides of change, and spread like a cancer over viable movements.

yeh but even punk was keeping the capitalist cycle rolling like hipsterism. It doesn't matter whether you were pushing a punk agenda or celebrating superficiality like hipsters, it still only existed on a material cultural level just that the ideology was different. Punk still did jackshit but reproduce levels of domination in society and promote consumerism, just like all the other subcultures. Just like in SLC punk when this neurotic guy spends the entire movie whining about society then ends up going to law school. No matter how you try and live outside of the system like hippies or punk, you are so very much a part of it.