Thursday, March 5, 2009

Hipsters: Shrugging Themselves into Oblivion




"Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture” to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance."

"It’s an odd dance of self-identity – adamantly denying your existence while wearing clearly defined symbols that proclaims it."

"...too self-aware to let themselves feel any form of liberation; they shuffle along, shrugging themselves into oblivion."

"The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new."

Oh snap!!!!!!!!!!

4 comments:

leslie coppin said...

dude, the upper right hand corner guy looks sooo much like some one we know.....won't say any names though...just in case it is.

Spencer said...

I remember reading this article a few months ago and being struck not so much by the author's arguments as a what an old fart he sounded like. "I don't like or understand your subculture! Stay off my lawn!"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning hipsters (hipsterism? hipsterdom?), I just think the article was written from the perspective of someone whose own subculture has faded into obscurity/irrelevancy and is terribly upset by that fact.

Bart said...

yeah, i can see that too, spencer. but i thought he was pretty spot-on for much of it.... a couple things made me laugh aloud.


but maybe i'm just feeling the fade of my own subculture.... (weeping quietly)..... wait? i have a subculture? crap! i didn't even know i had a subculture to mourn! or maybe it's because i secretly wish i could also fit into such impossibly tight jeans........

Anonymous said...

Très agréable en effet je vais probablement le télécharger. Merci