It's hard to know what to talk about with hipster douchebags. On one hand, one has to contend with their affected distaste for things lowbrow and commonplace (a friend of mine this weekend warned me: "It's considered uncool in Austin to talk about T.V. shows"), and, on the other, their disdain for sincerity, which they find corny and embarrassing. The best thing to do, I suppose, is nod and smile knowingly while listening to their stories about this or that exclusive friend who is socially deviant in a humorous way and/or hooked on heroin.Hipster douchebags are always accusing other people of being hipster douchebags, because the hipster believes that only s/he is a truly free spirit, while everyone else is merely trendy. This is probably rooted in the mistaken notion that trends are chiefly driven by conformity (the "hipster's kryptonite") rather than the desire for distinction and genuine originality--a desire that the average hipster is incapable of attributing to anyone other than him or herself (Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter's book The Rebel Sell is about this, among other things).
The worst thing about hipster douchebags is that sometimes they'll invite you to a goat barbeque in Austin, and then when you get there, they won't talk to you or introduce you to anyone, and you'll stand around trying to make small talk with 30 apathetically hostile hipster strangers like a fucking knob. At times like this, it's important to remember that hipsters are dismissive of everything you say because they realize it would only take 5 minutes of earnest conversation for you to figure out how boring and shallow they actually are.
RATING: 5%
(Image from www.theokomyanefamily.us.)
Posts
8 comments:
Yeah, Austin would be great if it wasn't for all the Austinites (the Texan word for "hipster").
Where are you right now? Are you in New York? No wonder NYers love Austin in theory. I am so over the self-concious, too-good-to-talk-anyone thing. When someone is "too good" to make small talk, chances are they have nothing to say anyway.
You've been to Austin. You speak with the kind of pain only one who has been to Austin would know.
I hate that whole "lack of intro" dilemma. Good thing we don't have hipsters in Canada. I wish that last statement were true.
Love the tapered jeans and shoes in this picture.
Lookie we were linked. Who's Andrew Potter? He must be awesome.
http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/09/01/hipster-non-appreciation/
Andrew Potter is one of the co-authors of the book Rebel Sell. It uses ideas from game theory and economics to show that counter cultural values are perfectly compatible with capitalist values, and it's quite critical of both Adbusters and No Logo. It's a pretty sweet book.
That does sound like an awesome book.
Post a Comment