Instant nausea inducement

[Maj.Nick Danger]

My own beef with hipsterism has nothing to do with clothing, really -- I don't find it particularly attractive, but then, I doubt the object is to appeal to my aesthetic sensibility anyway. My objections to hipsterism is the incessant promotion of a supposed "coolness" that's just as much of a ridiculous commercial construct as anything from of the mainstream culture they're supposedly too cool for. Most "countercultures" end up falling into the same trap, but at least they aren't as smug and self-righteous while doing it. Grow up, ya punks.

My sentiments exactly.

Also those of Tower of Power when they wrote this song back in 1973 as a reaction to all the "hipness" generated by the hippie movement.

So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag.
Ease on in a hip thang,
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip.
So you started to let your hair grow.
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe.
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip.

What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know.
What is hip?
If you're really hip,
the question, "Will it show?"
You're into a hip trip.
Maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?

You became a part of a new breed.
Been smokin' only the best weed.
Hangin' out with the so called "Hippie set."
Seen in all the right places.
Seen with just the right faces.
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right.
Come on!
Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Sometimes hipness is, what it ain't.

You went an' found you a guru.
In an effort to find you a new you,
And maybe even raise your conscious level.
While you're striving to find the right road,
There's one thing you should know,
"What's hip today, might become passe'."

Think about it y'all.
What is hip?
Ahhhhhhhhh!
What is hip?
I'd like to know!
What is hip?
Is it in the style of your hair?
What is hip?
Is it in the clothes that you wear?
What is hip?

 

[Dr Doran]

No...it makes them people who dress funny throwing stones at other people who dress funny.

Fair point. But it's rather harmless on a thread like this, isn't it?

Why bother or care what other people look like....?

Sorry, Denise, but we cannot all be Saint Francis of Assissi all the time.

I firmly believe what goes around comes around and since there are numerous threads here about 'what people comment negatively on our clothes'

Ummm ... I'm not annoying the person by interrupting them during the course of their day and saying it to them. I'm offering an opinion ON A FORUM DEDICATED to vintage clothing and hats, to people who I thought would also find the clothing of these kids repellent... very, very big difference.

Why do we find it necessary to constantly comment negatively on how someone else chooses to express themselves?

Why did you bother responding to this thread?

One manner of 'expressing ones tastes' is no BETTER then another.

That is the most absurd thing you have said so far. As Atropos said, it doesn't matter how many 8 year olds call the "Star Wars" theme song a "masterpiece." To people who truly know music, understand the history of music, study composition, write music, play music, and know the biographies of the great composers of the last 4 centuries, Mozart's Requiem will always be better. Ask amongst those who have devoted their lives to this question. You will find their belief remarkably unanimous. Ask again in 300 years: those who have dedicated their lives to understanding music in 2410 will still think Mozart's Requiem is a more impressive piece of work than is John Williams' "Star Wars" theme song.

viva la difference!

That is a sentiment I can live with.

 

[Pompidou]

The elitism in this thread makes the community look bad. This is a public forum, after all. If a fellow wants to wear a beard, or a funny t-shirt, it doesn't deserve snobbery. If anything, hipsters are more like vintagers than any other social group. They dress and act in a deliberate manner to make a social statement, and, if this thread is representative of the whole, feel superior for doing so. We should welcome them as closest kin. Nobody else would understand the motivations.

 

[Silver Dollar]

What the devil does "hip" and "cool" mean anyway? IMHO, it depends on who is doing the defining.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

IMHO, it depends on who is doing the defining.

That would be the people that try to sell it to us.

 

[Lady Day]

Ah, okay, thanks Miss elise

My objections to hipsterism is the incessant promotion of a supposed "coolness" that's just as much of a ridiculous commercial construct as anything from of the mainstream culture they're supposedly too cool for.

The epitome of this statement is Urban Outfitters. One of the most focus grouped 'edgy' 'hip' managed homogenized coolness machines by a major clothing manufacturer Ive ever known.

The thing about hipsters, and I know a lot of them, is that they never call themselves hipsters. Thats a derogatory name other people often call them. I mean really, when was the last time you used the word 'hip' in this context without laughing?

LD

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Folks, be careful here. Our judgments are straying into the ad hominem.

Let's debate facts and issues. Let's disagree without being disagreeable. Lets all be clever and tactful.

 

[David Conwill]

Let's debate facts and issues. Let's disagree without being disagreeable. Lets all be clever and tactful.

Words to live by. Or in my case, at least to aspire to.

-Dave

 

[Feraud]

The thing about hipsters, and I know a lot of them, is that they never call themselves hipsters. Thats a derogatory name other people often call them. I mean really, when was the last time you used the word 'hip' in this context without laughing?

LD

No they don't. Nor do they spout the kind of rhetoric we are desperately trying to defend against.
Tilting at windmills is the best way to describe it..

 

[LizzieMaine]

What the devil does "hip" and "cool" mean anyway? IMHO, it depends on who is doing the defining.

I'll go out on a limb and offer my own definition: "hipness" and "cool" are simply excuses for a constructed sense of cultural superiority. To be "cool" is to insist to the world that you like "better" music, eat "better" food, wear "better" clothes, and to support "better" philosophies than the unwashed rabble. And it's luxuriating in that sense of imagined superiority that's the main reason people obsess so much about being "cool" -- it's not actually about the music, or the food or the clothes or the philosophies at all, it's about being better than Other People.

(And it isn't just so-called hipsters who are guilty of this. Whoever does it, whatever they're wearing, is a prat.)

 

[flat-top]

I manage a store that caters to the hipster crowd. I get a chuckle when I see wafer thin guys with ironic mustaches wearing skinny jeans. Even funnier still are their chubbier counterparts wearing the same skinny jeans. NOT a good look.
Of course, they more than likely think I look ridiculous too.

 

[Feraud]

Heavy guys in skinny jeans is never a good look!

 

[Silver Dollar]

I'll go out on a limb and offer my own definition: "hipness" and "cool" are simply excuses for a constructed sense of cultural superiority. To be "cool" is to insist to the world that you like "better" music, eat "better" food, wear "better" clothes, and to support "better" philosophies than the unwashed rabble. And it's luxuriating in that sense of imagined superiority that's the main reason people obsess so much about being "cool" -- it's not actually about the music, or the food or the clothes or the philosophies at all, it's about being better than Other People.

(And it isn't just so-called hipsters who are guilty of this. Whoever does it, whatever they're wearing, is a prat.)

I can see your point crystal clear. That's why I find the word "cool" so offensive at times. I saw it in high school and college. I never seemed to be able to be " up to current standards" with that crowd. got fed up with the whole dang thing and went in my own direction. My definition of cool is a bit different. Cool to me means that in the face of a crisis, you can remain calm and rational and take care of business, not falling apart at the seams and running around like a chicken without a head. I also use the term "cool" to describe something I really like. A great song is cool, a good website is cool a good movie is cool and so on.

 

[Puzzicato]

Heavy guys in skinny jeans is never a good look!

Guys in skinny jeans is never a good look! And only on a very few girls IMO.

 

[Silver Dollar]

I always wore heavy jeans because I are a heavy guy. But not for long. I've lost 16 lbs. already and I'm headed for 54 more. I still won't wear skinny jeans or any pants where the waist band is at least 6 inches lower than my waist.

 

[Bustercat]

Is this what you guys are reacting to?
I think the link has changed, it's just the cover of Paste magazine.

 

[JimWagner]

 

[Lady Day]

No they don't. Nor do they spout the kind of rhetoric we are desperately trying to defend against.
Tilting at windmills is the best way to describe it..

Im not talking about what they say, just their style. Many I know are quite young, and learned. And when its that combination, hip or no, dont you always know everything?

LD

 

[Geesie]

No they don't. Nor do they spout the kind of rhetoric we are desperately trying to defend against.
Tilting at windmills is the best way to describe it..

I'm sorry you feel that way.

However saying so doesn't make this

I'll go out on a limb and offer my own definition: "hipness" and "cool" are simply excuses for a constructed sense of cultural superiority. To be "cool" is to insist to the world that you like "better" music, eat "better" food, wear "better" clothes, and to support "better" philosophies than the unwashed rabble. And it's luxuriating in that sense of imagined superiority that's the main reason people obsess so much about being "cool" -- it's not actually about the music, or the food or the clothes or the philosophies at all, it's about being better than Other People.

any less accurate. And if you pay attention to what the hipsters do and say and write and how they act, you'll see that this assessment

But at some point hipsters and irony changed. Irony no longer pointed to the irreconcilability of human life with mass society,; it reconciled hipsters with mass society. Suddenly, it became “hilarious” to embrace barbarian garbage, provided you made a big to do about the fact that you were being ironic.
...
what is at the heart of hipster irony; complete deindivduation, the destruction of genuine experience, the disavowal of art, meaning, community, sincerity, expression and the abdication of critical thought.

is remarkably astute.

If you think that the widespread resentment of this particular "subculture" is just due to "boy they dress funny" then you've completely missed the point.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

You keep 'quoting' the same thing, with no attribution of source. Either source it, or it ends up being non-relevant as an 'expert opinion'

Who said it?


Quote:
But at some point hipsters and irony changed. Irony no longer pointed to the irreconcilability of human life with mass society,; it reconciled hipsters with mass society. Suddenly, it became “hilarious” to embrace barbarian garbage, provided you made a big to do about the fact that you were being ironic.
...
what is at the heart of hipster irony; complete deindivduation, the destruction of genuine experience, the disavowal of art, meaning, community, sincerity, expression and the abdication of critical thought.