So, everyone has been using the word "Hipster"as an insult lately, including myself, but I thought I'd do me a bit of researching and see what all the fuss is really about and why it is such a bad thing. I Urban Dictionaried "Hipster" and found this. So i have changed the colour of all that fits in with me because, to be honest, I already thought that most of my friends were leaning more towards the "Hipster" side of things. Then they called Hipster bad. But it's just a stupid lable anyway. Innit.
Anything in this wonderful colour is my doing so there you go.
Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind,it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities. Consequently many hipsters tend to have jobs in the music, art, and fashion industries. It is a myth that most hipsters are unemployed and live off of their parent's trust funds.
Hipsters shun mainstream societal conventions that apply to dating preferences and traditional "rules" of physical attraction. It is part of the hipster central dogma not to be influenced by mainsream advertising and media, which tends to only promote ethnocentric ideals of beauty. The concepts of androgyny and feminism have influenced hipster culture, where hipster men are often as thin as the women they date (thinner). The muscular and athletic all-American male ideal is not seen as attractive by confident and culturally-empowered hipster women who instead view them as symbols of male oppression, sexism, and misogyny. Likewise, culturally-vapid sorority-type girls with fake blond hair, overly tanned skin, and "Britney Spears tube-tops" are not seen as attractive by cultured hipster males who instead see them as symbols of female insecurity, low self-esteem, and lack of cultural intelligence and independent thinking. Hipsters are also very racially open-minded, and the greatest number of interracial couples in any urban environment are typically found within the hipster subculture.
Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, in comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, they are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals. For example, the surge of jeans made to look old and worn (i.e. "distressed"), that have become prevalent at stores such as The Gap, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister, were originally paraded by hipsters who shopped in thrift stores years before such clothing items were mass produced and sold to the mainstream consumer. The true irony here is that many of the detractors of hipster culture are in fact unknowingly following a path that hipsters have carved out years before them. This phenomena also applies to music as well, as many bands have become successful and known to mainstream audiences only because hipsters first found and listened to them as early-adopters of new culture. Once certain concepts of fashion and music have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new and improved.
Because of the rise of various online photo-blog and social networking sites, insights into urban hipster culture is reaching sheltered suburban audiences at an exponential rate. Cultural "norms" have been deconstructed by hipster culture as a whole. Hipsterism is often dismissed as just an image thing by some, but the culture as a whole is effecting changes in society, leading to feelings of insecurity and resentment in people who are no longer a part of the cultural ruling class. For example, a lot of anti-hipster sentiment evidently comes from culturally-clueless suburban frat boy types who feel that the more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware hipster ideal threatens their insecure sense of masculinity. Anti-hipster sentiment often comes from people who simply can't keep up with social change and are envious of those who can.
Ok, so basicaly to sum it all up.
People don't like Hipsters that come under the categories of "try hards" and "arrogant pricks".
The "try hards" are the ones who are following hipsterism in it's mainstream period, and think that they are cool and different for doing so, which bugs the "arrogant pricks" because they like to be the first and only ones to do what they do and wear what they wear and listen to what they hear.
and then there are people like me. I hate both those types because I cannot stand people who do things to "be cool" and I cannot stand people who stop liking things because other people start liking them.
It's like, bloody half the people in my year liked Twilight until people started to take the piss and of course they then joined in. Because Twilight isn't cool. I have a lot more respect for Twilight fans who stuck by it than i do for the ones who went ape shit for it, then quit cos it wasn't cool no more.
(Of course I have most respect of people who never did and still don't like Twilight, so long as they dislike it because they think it's shit.)
If you like a band, then like it. If you like a certain style of clothes, then wear them. If you like to do that thing, then do it. Even if its cool, or uncool, or mainstream, or hipstery. JUST DO IT. Yeah go Nike! Fucking wankers.
I have decided that I am "Hip" because i sorta fit into the whole "Hipster" thing. But I continue to like things that are mainstream but I also value independent thinking.
The end.
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