DISCLAIMER: I didn't edit this, nor am I officially qualified to have an opinion. I just spew out what pops up in my head, that's sort of the point of a blog anyhow so don't complain. Please.
This article only made me laugh because of the irony that is so neatly and carefully (yet sloppily and recklessly) sewn into it. I'm sorry but the people who read Adbusters are the glorified hipsters. The ones who protest to the label, who complain about hipsters while riding around on their racing bikes and who joined greenpeace in order to have real proof that they're pledging their undying allegiance to the fight for Earth. The ones who complain about Nike and wear Converse.
At least, the people I know who read Adbusters are like this.
And complain as much as we want about hipsters and hipster culture, it is a defined group. Who are, in their own twisted, copycat way, genuine. They drink, they party, they shop at American Apparel, they show up to work hung over, they ignore politics until it shows up on a t-shirt, they celeb-watch, they are apathetic and self-absorbed. It is a fun lifestyle because it is the lifestyle of those who have the luxury of fun. Oh okay, it used to be underground. Well maybe now it has enough money to move out of a basement apartment. It's not the death of anything, it's the mutation of the creature we've been growing in the dark corner of the underground.
I can't help but think it's a reaction to the age we live in. Where everyone is afraid of....everything. Being watched, being followed, afraid of what is "over there" and how soon it'll be "over here". Mass paranoia didn't create people who are attentive to detail and who want to saturate themselves with all the crap that happens so they can fix it. Instead, all this negativity has created a generation of people who want nothing to do with it. They want to find a way to pay less attention to conflict because (let's face it) there's no getting away from it.
Maybe that is why keffiiyah (sp?) scarves became such a popular fashion accessory? If you want to ignore the grand significance of a symbol of social conflict, why not make it a symbol of the apathetic uniform? Enough hypothesizing, I haven't done enough research to really think that through and commit to a strong argument.
This is an argument and complaint that has been written before. With the death of punk or hip hop or any other counterculture that snuck its way into the mainstream. Hipsterdom is the latest in a long line of lost ownership. That is the reason why people are starting to complain. The irony and attention to aesthetics tied to Hipsterdom have gotten out of hand, but back before people paid attention to it, it was called "indie" and promoted as an acceptable option, an alternative, to the mainstream that no one wants to be a part of.
It is dead, because it is the mainstream (and no one wants to be mainstream).
Punk is dead.
Rock is dead.
Metal is dead.
Indie is dead.
RIP culture, apparently no one likes it when you crawl out of the corner anymore.
*later: my favourite quote: "Are you a hipster" "'Fuck no' she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor"
Because an article bashing Hipster-ism is basically her answer wrapped up in an eco-friendly, hemp bow. Oh, and the photos of hipsters are from the cobrasnake
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