Ball-buster: Attack on Hipsters

Here is a totally brutal Adbusters article excoriating hipster-ism.

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning... While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the “hipster” – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.

I don't have enough time to react to the entire article. It's a scathing critique of "hipster" sub-culture, which [it claims] lacks purpose and originality unlike many youth movements preceding it (punk, hip-hop), and rather it steals from those counter-cultures, while being wholly manipulated by the mainstream. That is, hipsterdom is just fashion. It's not anti-fashion, nor is it apathetic to fashion. The look, which was probably born from creativity and frugality (think thrift stores), is now mass produced and consumable in every facet of mainstream society. The way is shallow and dumb and narcissistic.

There are a couple cheap shots about fixed-gear bicycles. My only complaint is that bicycles (of any type) should be free from association in such criticism. Granted, bikes should be accessible and free from co-optation by elitists. However, I find that by making bikes "cool," cycling might be encouraged in a society built for the automobile to revolutionize how we live, work, and travel.

The article makes good points, but makes no attempt at offering a redirection for the so-called misled youth, save the part about picking up a rock instead of holding an iPhone or something... I guess I would suppose that skinny jeans and passionate, creative, revolutionary purpose aren't mutually exclusive. Now that we got the scolding out of the way, let's be helpful.

Don't do drugs.

I originally found the article here.