"Unhappy Hipsters" Blog

[Edward]

I was spanked ferociously thruout childhood, and there were plenty of times when I deserved it. But I probably couldn't spank a kid myself. I can't even spank my cat.

I had to one of mine this morning... Marlene is totally the alpha, and if not watch will steal her sister's treat. Greta has learned to slap back, but not always quick enough to stop Marlene stealing her num. Then I sat and fed, if full view of M, a whole other treat to Greta. Big, sad eyes watching me... talk about guilt-inducing! I'm not sure if I can really reason with her like that or not, but I'm hoping she got the message....

 

[Undertow]

I'll never understand why anyone would wear fake glasses for the sake of just wearing glasses. What's next, "ironic" hearing aids?

Huh? What'd you say? Just kidding, I was trying out my new fake hearing aids. How do I look?

(You know Lizzie, although you probably couldn't live with yourself, you should go into marketing and make a bundle on these ideas of yours...just sayin'. Pure Capitalism. You could retire, live large, kick all those fuddy duddies below you on the ladder... )

 

[Smithy]

I was spanked ferociously thruout childhood, and there were plenty of times when I deserved it. But I probably couldn't spank a kid myself. I can't even spank my cat.

It's funny, I was belted like hell at school growing up - we had the strap and the cane (the words "Smith outside" before six of the best are still well imprinted in my mind) but now I wouldn't dream of raising my hand with my daughter now I'm a Dad.

On a slightly questionable note, my dear old Dad held the record for canings at his school - 86 canings in a 3 year period!

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother once broke a soup ladle over my backside, but her usual weapon of choice was a Sherwin-Williams paint stirrer with "PUNISHMENT PADDLE" written on it in ball-point pen. Not heavy enough to cause any long-term damage, but what it lacked in force it made up in sting.

I guess the thing that bothers me is that too many times I was spanked just for the sake of getting put in my place, rather than being specifically punished for a particular thing that I'd done. I don't philosophically oppose giving a kid a licking when it's deserved, but I couldn't do it myself. When I used to babysit, all I'd have to do is glare over the tops of my glasses and growl "THAT'S ENOUGH" and they'd settle down. Fortunately, they never tried to press beyond that point to see what would happen.

 

[LizzieMaine]

(You know Lizzie, although you probably couldn't live with yourself, you should go into marketing and make a bundle on these ideas of yours...just sayin'. Pure Capitalism. You could retire, live large, kick all those fuddy duddies below you on the ladder... )

If I truly had larceny in my heart, nobody would be safe. Damn Methodist upbringing.

 

[Flicka]

You know, I'm all for making fun of things but that blog isn't funny, it's just angry and bitter. Makes me kinda sad. [huh]

But "spank the cat" totally sounds like something naughty if you ask me.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think most of that blog is the sort of working-class hyperbole I was talking about earlier -- I don't think he actually roams Williamsburg looking to beat "whey-faced Q-tip-limbed beardos into the asphalt." But when you read between the lines, the real reason for the resentment becomes clear -- it goes back to what I said earlier about the erasure of the local culture: the locals are being pushed out of neighborhoods they've lived in for generations, priced out of their homes, and culturally marginalized. It's happening here, too, on a smaller scale, and it makes me mad. Not as mad as this guy, but I can understand and sympathize with the source of his anger.

Rather than acclimatizing themselves to the neighborhoods and the traditional culture of those neighborhoods, the newcomers are determined to remake the neighborhoods in their own image -- instead of "diversity" what they really want is their own kind of homogenity, where the only kind of quirkiness that's welcome is their own. It's the worst kind of class privilege and class colonialism in action: "before we came, there was like no culture here, and look what we've created."

 

[Flicka]

Oh, I got the hyperbole part (I'm partial to hyperbole of the violent kind myself), and I can understand the anger. But IMO, it isn't expressed in a way that makes it good reading. To me it reads like ranty and preachy but not nearly as clever as it thinks. So 2/10 tops for execution.

Of course, this could be because I'm hipster enough to like my humour ironic -- self-depreciating preferably.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There's a fine art to good ranting -- you really have to get the bile perking to the optimal pressure before you let it out, and making a daily blog of it becomes less about sincere venting of gut-felt rage than it is about just performing to fill your expected quota. This is another way in which the blogosphere has lowered our standards. Very sad.

 

[Flicka]

There's a fine art to good ranting -- you really have to get the bile perking to the optimal pressure before you let it out, and making a daily blog of it becomes less about sincere venting of gut-felt rage than it is about just performing to fill your expected quota. This is another way in which the blogosphere has lowered our standards. Very sad.

True. A good rant is a spectacular thing.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

My mother once broke a soup ladle over my backside, but her usual weapon of choice was a Sherwin-Williams paint stirrer with "PUNISHMENT PADDLE" written on it in ball-point pen. Not heavy enough to cause any long-term damage, but what it lacked in force it made up in sting.

"I'm not a man who enjoys violence. In fact I get much better results when I use patience and this, Mr. Dunn, is Patience."
...Brother Constance, Heaven Help Us (1985)

 

[jamespowers]

"I'm not a man who enjoys violence. In fact I get much better results when I use patience and this, Mr. Dunn, is Patience."
...Brother Constance, Heaven Help Us (1985)

Patience always works for me.

 

[jamespowers]

it goes back to what I said earlier about the erasure of the local culture: the locals are being pushed out of neighborhoods they've lived in for generations, priced out of their homes, and culturally marginalized. It's happening here, too, on a smaller scale, and it makes me mad. Not as mad as this guy, but I can understand and sympathize with the source of his anger.

Now that is the nearly the exact same reason I hate hippies out here. They have done the same thing but worse. They make house prices go down and the cost of living go up. :eusa_doh:

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

 

[jamespowers]

Give him long hair and a will work for food sign and you have a hippie.

 

[Edward]

But "spank the cat" totally sounds like something naughty if you ask me.

I believe, my dear, you are thinking of "monkey".

 

[Flicka]

I believe, my dear, you are thinking of "monkey".

The thing is, you can use pretty much any animal -- or inanimate object -- in that sentence and it comes across same-same but different in ways only limited by the listener's imagination. And if the listener is me, there pretty much is no limit. As the girl said.

 

[MissMittens]

The old saying is that losing builds character, and that's absolutely true. The only way one can truly develop empathy is to experience failure and defeat and frustration themselves. There is nothing that taught me more about the reality of life than surviving thru 1967, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1986 as a Red Sox fan.

It's not easy being a Cowboys fan either

 

[MissMittens]

The thing is, you can use pretty much any animal -- or inanimate object -- in that sentence and it comes across same-same but different in ways only limited by the listener's imagination. And if the listener is me, there pretty much is no limit. As the girl said.

:faint2: lol!

But Flicka, always remember your safeword, dear

 

[MissMittens]

Now, I have to say that after reading the hipster-hate, lol, hipsters aren't *entirely* bad....

Reason #1:
The resurgence of vinyl as a viable musical medium.

Reason #2:
Various fashion revivals, including 20's and 40's.

Reason #3:
Old Style and/or Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Reason #4:
Underrated bands getting much deserved attention.