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I went to a house party a few weeks ago. I was small-talking with an acquaintance and the topic of hipsters came up.
Apparently, if you blog, ride a bike, read, write, paint, draw, listen to certain music, wear certain clothes, dye your hair or subscribe to anything counter-culture, then you’re a hipster, according to him.
He was a nice guy and all, but I need to clarify a few things.
First of all, it sounded like he was a bona fide hipster hater. Second, doing those things does not make someone a hipster. I ride my bike, I like counter-culture, I blog (obviously), I write, I read, and so on and so forth. But I also like pop culture. I’ll listen to Fergie Ferg alongside Modest Mouse alongside some Dubstep.
Yes, there are hipsters out there who subscribe only to certain things, but I think that the real hipsters are the ones who don’t like or do things just because it’s popular or just because they have a cool complex. I have an inkling that this can lead to apathy, which is supposedly the lowest state a person can be in.
Just like the word “indie,” which originally signified that a band or production is independent and is now associated with a specific sound, the word hipster has attached itself to its own brand. The problem is that a lot of people seem to have a different opinion about what “hipster” really is. I personally don’t know.
If it’s what the gentleman at the party described to me, then I can’t help but think that he’s acting like a reverse hipster. He doesn’t like or do any of those things just because he believes that hipsters do. He’s creating a divide. He’s closing himself off from some cool things and giving a poor excuse for it. If hipsters don’t do things just because others do, wouldn’t that make him a hipster?
The point of this blog is to urge you to like something because you like it, whether it’s popular or not. It’s cool because you think it’s cool. Be passionate. Be yourself, and if folks want to call you a hipster for it, that’s their problem.
I went to a house party a few weeks ago. I was small-talking with an acquaintance and the topic of hipsters came up.
Apparently, if you blog, ride a bike, read, write, paint, draw, listen to certain music, wear certain clothes, dye your hair or subscribe to anything counter-culture, then you’re a hipster, according to him.
He was a nice guy and all, but I need to clarify a few things.
First of all, it sounded like he was a bona fide hipster hater. Second, doing those things does not make someone a hipster. I ride my bike, I like counter-culture, I blog (obviously), I write, I read, and so on and so forth. But I also like pop culture. I’ll listen to Fergie Ferg alongside Modest Mouse alongside some Dubstep.
Yes, there are hipsters out there who subscribe only to certain things, but I think that the real hipsters are the ones who don’t like or do things just because it’s popular or just because they have a cool complex. I have an inkling that this can lead to apathy, which is supposedly the lowest state a person can be in.
Just like the word “indie,” which originally signified that a band or production is independent and is now associated with a specific sound, the word hipster has attached itself to its own brand. The problem is that a lot of people seem to have a different opinion about what “hipster” really is. I personally don’t know.
If it’s what the gentleman at the party described to me, then I can’t help but think that he’s acting like a reverse hipster. He doesn’t like or do any of those things just because he believes that hipsters do. He’s creating a divide. He’s closing himself off from some cool things and giving a poor excuse for it. If hipsters don’t do things just because others do, wouldn’t that make him a hipster?
The point of this blog is to urge you to like something because you like it, whether it’s popular or not. It’s cool because you think it’s cool. Be passionate. Be yourself, and if folks want to call you a hipster for it, that’s their problem.