Hipsters

[Mälli]

Where I live everyone has started to use the word hipster.

I asked someone what it means and they said a hipster is a person who wears a small beanie, tight jeans and a blouse and that they are mostly rich kids hanging out in suburbs drinking and trying to be adults. :laugh:

Im just confused because Ive heard english people use the word and with this explination of the word it would sound odd in those phrases.

So comrades! Light me up with your wisdom. What is a hipster?

[Angry Young Man]

They wear plaid, drainpipes, cardies and stupid shoes

[Incendiarism]

They're assholes

[Tyrlop]

i'm one

[Comrade B]

People who disagree because it is fashionable, not because of any personal opinion.
Fashion is more important than anything else. It is a goofy youth movement. I have a few friends who could be described as hipsters, they aren't quite as annoying as everyone makes them out to be, but they can get irritating. Especially if you are talking politics.
It is good to point out how their ideas could be linked to fascism, as they usually just say things that would be out of the ordinary for shock value.

[Axle]

http://ginavivinetto.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/hipster-bingo.jpg

[Mälli]

Ok got it. Wow this hipster stuff is stupid.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Hipsterism is dieing out in California... the one good side effect of the recession. Now when I go to the hip clubs it's a lot of younger people looking very slacker-ish and moshing... two years ago it would be all people in the 30s with ironic moustaches on their lips and iphones in their hands.

[Invincible Summer]

Don't forget "tarck" (a purposeful mis-spelling of "track" which refers to the type of bikes they ride - track bikes) fixed gear bikes.

Examples:
http://velospace.org/files/HelloBike1.jpg

http://tannerscott.com/rushhourtraffic/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dqm-trackstar-track-bike-1s.jpg

Hipsters seem to be more about image than function. I mean, PBR and Miller taste like ass. Who the hell drinks that?

[Wolf Larson]

Punk culture was once a political statement but now it's a fashion statement. The capitalist system has co-opted the movement. Most the 'hipsters' I've known over the years aren't revolutionary or of the punk culture but are going through the angst of youth and are fixated on fashion. Many are or become reactionaries when they hit their late 20's but the punk scene overall can be a good way of attracting more people to the class struggle ,but, as you probably know, many aren't even politically conscience and are portraying a hip/edgy lifestyle. Some are downright self destructive. Having that said I'd rather be in a group of hipsters than in the middle of a CPAC conference. Instead of rejecting that culture it should be used to spread working class solidarity. The punk movement should always be open as an entry to radical politics. When it becomes more about fashion and elitism is when it enters the realm of the absurd. Punk shouldn't be a fashion statement. It should be a political statement for disenfranchised youth. Here is SF we've tried to get some of the squatters to challenge private property and much of the revolutionary movement in Oakland, SF and Berkeley has been kept alive because of the early 80's 90's and today's punk culture feeding new faces into the movement. It's a good spring board to get people into serious political activity later in life. These days I'm more political- going to shows/bars etc can be a great way to let off steam but if that's all you do it's pointless. PS. Most hipsters I've known are petty bourgeois that move to the Bay Area from all over America who have gentrified most of the Bay Area up to the Oregon coast. I never drank Pabst. Counterculture can be a good thing though. Perhaps we should all dress and act like suburban soccer moms? Everyone is guilty of fashion in some way shape or form. Just don't let it define you.

[Wolf Larson]

Hipsterism is dieing out in California... the one good side effect of the recession. Now when I go to the hip clubs it's a lot of younger people looking very slacker-ish and moshing... two years ago it would be all people in the 30s with ironic moustaches on their lips and iphones in their hands.

Men wearing guy liner driving vespas and ten speeds. LOL. West Oakland has always been a tad more real than North Oakland but would you prefer the culture in East Bay suburbia?

[bcbm]

man people are still on about this shit?

adbusters (https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html) take

[synthesis]

The problem I have with the term "hipster" is that many of the people who use it also fit into some definition of hipster.

To me, the term represents a culture that is expressly founded on insincerity. Hipsters only say and do things ironically or sarcastically. It represents the evaporation of meaning and purpose from youth culture, and I find it tragic.

[9]

The problem I have with the term "hipster" is that many of the people who use it also fit into some definition of hipster.

To me, the term represents a culture that is expressly founded on insincerity. Hipsters only say and do things ironically or sarcastically. It represents the evaporation of meaning and purpose from youth culture, and I find it tragic.

Haha, this reminds me of the thread the other day where someone was complaining about how "kids these days" are so promiscuous, and "kids these days" this and that (the person complaining was, of course, a kid), and stating all these behaviors which kids have been doing forever and acting as though it were something new.
Do you think most of the hippies in the sixties were hippies because there was "meaning and purpose in youth culture" or was it perhaps just another middle class trend that everyone followed because it was fashionable and there was never really any meaning or purpose there to begin with? It is nothing new. Hipsterdom is just another empty fad. Something else will come along soon enough and take its place, just as it seems to have taken the place largely of "emo" and "scene" kids.

[Il Medico]

To me, the term represents a culture that is expressly founded on insincerity. Hipsters only say and do things ironically or sarcastically. It represents the evaporation of meaning and purpose from youth culture, and I find it tragic.
Wait! Being facetious isn't fashionable anymore? Quick everyone grab your stoic faces and be serious!

[Raúl Duke]

I agree with Apikoros and I'll just say, who cares, so what, just have fun. If you think you'll have fun being a "hipster" (which is bit difficult to define compared to emo and scene), go for it.

Just do whatever you feel happy, natural, yourself at.

[synthesis]

I'm not saying that it's wrong or harmful to be ironic, sarcastic, or facetious. That would be a lesson in hypocrisy. I'm saying that the modern culture that is usually identified as "hipsterdom" has those characteristics at its very foundation rather than in the mere qualities of its individuals.

Politics penetrated every aspect of "hippie culture," consciously or not. Hipsters hate each other too much to really coalesce around any kind of coherent political goal. They would rather compete to buy the ugliest sweaters and the tightest jeans.

[Il Medico]

I'm saying that the modern culture that is usually identified as "hipsterdom" has those characteristics at its very foundation rather than in the mere qualities of its individuals.
And that is probably my only problem with people who try to be "hipsters". People who aren't witty attempting to be witty isn't a pretty sight.


Hipsters hate each other okay, I spoke too soon. That also pisses me off as well. The funny thing is they hate people who they consider hipsters, which rather ironically, aren't people who would normally consider themselves "hipsters", but act like hipsters just by being themselves.
too much to really coalesce around any kind of coherent political goal. They would rather compete to buy the ugliest sweaters and the tightest jeans. The lack of political choheison in a sub cultutre doesn't necessarily make it bad. Emo kids weren't/aren't annoying because they had crap politics.

[bcbm]

I'm not saying that it's wrong or harmful to be ironic, sarcastic, or facetious. That would be a lesson in hypocrisy. I'm saying that the modern culture that is usually identified as "hipsterdom" has those characteristics at its very foundation rather than in the mere qualities of its individuals.

Politics penetrated every aspect of "hippie culture," consciously or not. Hipsters hate each other too much to really coalesce around any kind of coherent political goal. They would rather compete to buy the ugliest sweaters and the tightest jeans.

making sweeping generalizations about people because of aesthetic tastes is pretty stupid.

http://www.pittnews.com/sites/default/files/RIOT4_VW_0.jpg

omg tight pants, old school shoes and hoodies they must not have any coherent political goal

http://www.puppetgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/UCSC-OCCUPATION-1.jpg

dance party? bright colored clothes? probably all hate each other.


i also wonder why you would even want/expect some youth subculture to have political goals. there are political and apolitical hipsters, just like there are political and apolitical members of every form of culture.

[black magick hustla]

theres a lot of working class hipsters btw.

[black magick hustla]

depends on what you mean by hipster btw. i know this girl who dresses like a hipster and is a art major and she didnt even know what hipsterdom is. she is a sweetheart and dis not into the whole garbage dettaached thing. i think ironic silliness is p.big though, and sometimes to disgusting proporsions, like making racist jokes

[Bilan]

Get. a. life.
Seriously. It's a wonder why people bother with this shit (with the exception of that awesome picture which helps to categorise hipsters).

[9]

Politics penetrated every aspect of "hippie culture," consciously or not.

I don't think so, though. Some people who were hippies were politically conscious, just like some people who are hipsters are politically conscious. And probably if there was a draft in the US right now, more youths here would be politically consciousness in general, so more hipsters would be as well (which, I suspect, was largely the case with hippies). But the impression I get from talking to people from that generation is that actually the idea that "hippie culture" was inherently political was basically bullshit, and that it was a fad like anything else which people followed because it was fashionable and for that reason alone, not because of any political ideals or whatever - stereotypes notwithstanding.

[Guerrilla22]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/2316845390_3078e29128.jpg?v=0

[black magick hustla]

i just dislike a lot the stupid detachment thing they have going on man. it revolts me. some of the really crazy stuff they come up for dressing seems cute. their music sucks a lot though. there is nothing more boring and generic than listenin to vampire weekendd or fucking wilco man.

hipsters were about to save themselves when they embraced black metal (which is legit music) for a while but because they have the attention span of a kitty they lost interest

[black magick hustla]

seriosuly do people like that shit or just pretend to? indie folk is pretty awful too. i refuse to admit that these people are not doing this out of image

[bcbm]

depends on what you mean by hipster btwits a basically meaningless slur though. almost nobody who is a "hipster" self-identifies as such. they're probably more prone to talk shit on hipsters than anyone else.


i just dislike a lot the stupid detachment thing they have going on man. it revolts me.i don't think this is a condition limited to hipsters.


their music sucks a lot though. there is nothing more boring and generic than listenin to vampire weekendd or fucking wilco man.most hipsters don't listen to that shit, or more accurately, hipsters listen to the widest range of shit imaginable because the term doesn't describe an actual conscious culture of any sort, but a grab bag of characteristics. some shit bag who has dreads, only wears black and listens to nothing but d-beat can be considered a hipster just as easily as some bro with a moustache and an ironic wolf sweater who listens to anco.

[black magick hustla]

its a basically meaningless slur though. almost nobody who is a "hipster" self-identifies as such. they're probably more prone to talk shit on hipsters than anyone else.

i think that is point


i don't think this is a condition limited to hipsters.

i think it is definitely something that all these people have though.



most hipsters don't listen to that shit, or more accurately, hipsters listen to the widest range of shit imaginable because the term doesn't describe an actual conscious culture of any sort, but a grab bag of characteristics. some shit bag who has dreads, only wears black and listens to nothing but d-beat can be considered a hipster just as easily as some bro with a moustache and an ironic wolf sweater who listens to anco.
nah hipster girls do listen to really boring music. i have empirical evidence.

[Sasha]

no dying out of the hipsters here, i worked an galery opening last week, i'm pretty sure every single person featured on this site: http://www.latfh.com/ was there

[bcbm]

i think it is definitely something that all these people have though.

i haven't noticed it to be more common than with other groups of people i've hung out with.


nah hipster girls do listen to really boring music. i have empirical evidence.

i have empirical evidence that suggests otherwise. en garde

[Mälli]

Wow. I know lots of hipsters! So i guess its just growing here.

[Honggweilo]

Get. a. life.
Seriously. It's a wonder why people bother with this shit (with the exception of that awesome picture which helps to categorise hipsters).
word. class struggle hipsters against (philosophical) post-modernism unite (sorry bcbm :p)

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwtlmwNLlN1qzzhzdo1_500.jpg

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Meh hipsters tend to be decent people.

[Incendiarism]

I only liked hipsters when they were still in their emo post-hardcore circa early 2000 phase

[Rusty Shackleford]

i know hipster-esque people. and ever since i found out about the whole hipsterdom thing i became a bit self conscious about it because lately my brother gave me a pea-coat and i wear a ushanka. then again, thats the only bit of flamboyant dress i have. but i really dig some indie stuff.


i think this self-consciousness actually helped me become a socialist. i remember as a kid ALWAYS asking my mom what class i was in. now that i think about it. its kind of off i asked what class i was in.

[Honggweilo]

I only liked hipsters when they were still in their emo post-hardcore circa early 2000 phase
welcome to late capitalist cultural hegemony

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

I'm pretty sure a hipster is anyone on this forum who doesn't dress in all black or like the guy from Maoist Rebel News.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I'm pretty sure a hipster is anyone on this forum who doesn't dress in all black or like the guy from Maoist Rebel News.
what if they sport soviet hairstyles like the trotsky-tee or lenin beard.

[Nwoye]

their music sucks a lot though. there is nothing more boring and generic than listenin to vampire weekendd or fucking wilco man.
wilco is sweet.

and "hipster" means nothing. It's just a pejorative.

[bcbm]

wilco is sweet.

and "hipster" means nothing. It's just a pejorative.

sounds like something a hipster would say

[synthesis]

making sweeping generalizations about people because of aesthetic tastes is pretty stupid.
i also wonder why you would even want/expect some youth subculture to have political goals. there are political and apolitical hipsters, just like there are political and apolitical members of every form of culture.I'm just calling it like I see it; we get a lot of them in Portland. Don't take it personally.

I think that if I was going to try and be a cultural critic here, I would argue that "hipsterdom" is a natural outgrowth of the cynicism engendered by contemporary society and politics. Everything is a sham, so why not have some fun with it?

[bcbm]

i'm not taking it personally, i just don't understand why you would expect that.

but yeah, portland hipsters are scum

[black magick hustla]

i always thought midwestern hipsters were better because it seems to me they are more punx and less "white urban kid with a penchant for coke".

[Il Medico]

but yeah, portland hipsters are scum
Spoken like a true hipster. :lol:

[Os Cangaceiros]

I saw so many hipsters during my brief stay in Portland. Hipsters, alt-scene kids and crust punks, which is actually how it was in Seattle, too.

Must be something about the Northwest.

[bcbm]

Spoken like a true hipster. :lol:

everyone already knows im a hipster;)

[Nwoye]

sounds like something a hipster would say
if llistening to wilco makes me a hipster then fucking sign me up

[Il Medico]

everyone already knows im a hipster;)
Yes and you just keep reinforcing the stereotypes. :lol:

[Pirate Utopian]

Hipsters seem like a black hole in which everything is sucked in.
If you like old music hipsters like that too, modern music is run by hipsters as well.

What makes somebody a non-hipster?
Who is the ultimate non-hipster?

[Honggweilo]

Hipsters seem like a black hole in which everything is sucked in.
If you like old music hipsters like that too, modern music is run by hipsters as well.

What makes somebody a non-hipster?
Who is the ultimate non-hipster?
Chuck Norris

[black magick hustla]

if llistening to wilco makes me a hipster then fucking sign me up

it makes you boring as fuck

[9]

Must be something about the Northwest.

I think it's all the pollution in the Puget Sound.

[Raúl Duke]

I don't like Wilco...
Although I supposely have some musical taste that align with hipsters (but others that dont)

[Il Medico]

I don't like Wilco...
Although I supposely have some musical taste that align with hipsters (but others that dont)
bah. Hipster is a vague term anyways. Hipster taste align with everyone in one way or another.

[which doctor]

The nice thing about being a hipster in the midwest is that it's still 'hip' to be a hipster. If I lived anywhere else, I would have to find something new.

[Bright Banana Beard]

I'm a hipster, and i don't like Wilco.

[griffjam]

*

[Jimmie Higgins]

I find hipsters annoying for all their post-modern chic BS (which is out of date and stale anyway... irony/cynicism... so outdated) coupled with a self-important attitude. I also hate them for their lifestylism, and I connect them (fairly or unfairly) to gentrification and racial and class ingnorence.

However, I don't think we can blame them for larger trends in society. It's not like the majority of people who go to hip-hop clubs are inherently any more politically conscious... at present. The beatniks and pre-hippie folk-kids didn't end McCarthyism, they were an expression of the thawing of that repressive political era - they were influenced by civil rights and many had organic connections to the radicals of the 30s and early 40s. Political hip hop did not create black political consciousness 20 years ago - political hip-hop was influenced by the anti-apartheid movement and renewed movements against police brutality.

If hipsters are defined by a sort of apolitical attitude, it should not be seen as coincidental that this subculture developed in a low-point for political consciousness in the US - after the global justice and anti-war movements dead-ended and when liberals were in retreat and popular political expectations were incredibly low.

I think that Obama and the recession mean that the era of bike-messenger worshiping, ironic-beer and mustache, hipsterdom is over. Times are too real for ironic escape now.

[StalinFanboy]

I am friends with a lot of rad "hipsters." I don't really call them hipsters, but I will say that all of us dress sort of hipsterish. The reason why I won't say we are hipsters is because I feel like a lot of us are sincere in what we do, and aren't doing things to be hip. I've been doing the things I do long before I started dressing this way.


I do ride a fixie though.

[Panda Tse Tung]

http://ginavivinetto.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/hipster-bingo.jpg
I wear chucks and have a hoody :(.
I am hipster noaw :crying:.

[Invincible Summer]

I am friends with a lot of rad "hipsters." I don't really call them hipsters, but I will say that all of us dress sort of hipsterish. The reason why I won't say we are hipsters is because I feel like a lot of us are sincere in what we do, and aren't doing things to be hip. I've been doing the things I do long before I started dressing this way.


I do ride a fixie though.

Fixies are the only redeeming feature of hipsters, unless it's tarck.

Do you ride a conversion or a real track bike?

[StalinFanboy]

I ride a conversion. It was made by a friend several years ago, and given to me when I decided to ride fixed. It's a little heavy, and I would like to eventually get a lighter frame. But I have no money.

It gets the job done.

[Bilan]

I wear chucks and have a hoody :(.
I am hipster noaw :crying:.

Yes, and an ass, for chucks are shit shoes, and not cheap, and just generally a poor choice.
Hoodies, however, have some good use as cushions.

[Patchd]

Don't we call em indie kids here? :confused:

[bcbm]

Don't we call em indie kids here? :confused:

indie was more a mid to late 90s and very early 00's thing.

[bcbm]

GXvd4Vs2vaM

[Panda Tse Tung]

Yes, and an ass, for chucks are shit shoes, and not cheap, and just generally a poor choice.
Hoodies, however, have some good use as cushions.

Chucks arent shit shoes, their the only shoes thus far i've been capable of wearing for more then a year without them falling apart. Besides my safety-shoes that is, but their not really practical for every day use. I have been wearing those for 5 years tho and they only just are starting to really fall apart.
edit: Also fake chucks are only 10 euro's or so. That only reason to buy real chucks would be if you want a 'special' kind, that is red ones (which are rare in fakes) or with some sort of patern on them. And even then their relatively cheap compared to how long they have lasted for me thus far (i have red ones, so real ones). I used to pay 20 for shoes that last some 6 months or so, now it's 50 and almost over a year.

[Jimmie Higgins]

bcbm - what's up with the video? If I enjoy it does it mean that I'm a hipster? I laughed out loud when the roommate/friend who was not allowed to testify told Judge Judy, "Cool down, mama".

[Sasha]

:lol: when i was checking the newposts overview, this "hipsters" thread just showed up right under the "primitivitsts" one.

[RED DAVE]

Where I live everyone has started to use the word hipster.

I asked someone what it means and they said a hipster is a person who wears a small beanie, tight jeans and a blouse and that they are mostly rich kids hanging out in suburbs drinking and trying to be adults. :laugh:

Im just confused because Ive heard english people use the word and with this explination of the word it would sound odd in those phrases.

So comrades! Light me up with your wisdom. What is a hipster?Originally, during the 1940s and 1950s, hipsters were white fans of jazz in its progressie forms: bebop, cool, etc., predominently in New York and other large cities.

No real hipster would be caught dead in an outfit like you describe. Hipster uniform was a beret, a basque shit, jeans and sneakers. And hipsters smoked dope, shot smack and drank red wine.

RED DAVE

[bcbm]

bcbm - what's up with the video? If I enjoy it does it mean that I'm a hipster? I laughed out loud when the roommate/friend who was not allowed to testify told Judge Judy, "Cool down, mama".

i'd say you're exhibiting warning signs.

[Bilan]

Best. Episode. Of. Judge. Judy. Ever.

[Rusty Shackleford]

that video was hilarious

[Il Medico]

that video was hilarious
Indeed. But damn Judge Judy is an ass.