Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization, Douglas Haddow , 29 Jul 2008 accessed 30/3/2011
“"So... this is a hipster party?" I ask the girl sitting next to me. She's wearing big dangling earrings, an American Apparel V-neck tee, non-prescription eyeglasses and an inappropriately warm wool coat.”
“"Yeah, just look around you, 99 percent of the people here are total hipsters!"
"Are you a hipster?"
"Fuck no," she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor.”
“But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of "counter-culture" have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the "Hipster."”
“A culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning.”
“"Hipster" – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.”
“Such things have become shameless clichés of a class of individuals that seek to escape their own wealth and privilege by immersing themselves in the aesthetic of the working class.”
“With nothing to defend, uphold or even embrace, the idea of "hipsterdom" is left wide open for attack.”
“It is this ironic lack of authenticity that has allowed hipsterdom to grow into a global phenomenon”
“It is rare, if not impossible, to find an individual who will proclaim themself a proud hipster.”
“Hipsters are sold what they think they invent and are spoon-fed their pre-packaged cultural livelihood.”
“Hipsterdom is the first "counterculture" to be born under the advertising industry's microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations.”
“Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion.”
“Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.”
“The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.”
This Adbusters article has a very strong opinion about hipsters from the outset and follows the writer’s observations of a hipster night out. It seems a little loathing from a slanted perspective however he makes some valid points.
by Toby
by Toby
