Hipsters are Not a Crime

it's not the clothes, or what great things you to in society, i think it's the way people relate to each other that is the most difficult for me to deal with. Mostly when dealing with Hipsters in the city i feel they are kind of a-holes and proud of it. And although most people's cliques are designed for this reason it just seems that the prescribed lifestyle the these types lead is much more than they make it out to be. "Most hipsters, most of my friends, are actually quite poor, politically active, artists/musicians, vegans, bike riding, spontaneous young people. We are not the sneaker-obsesses, coke snorting, skate-wiggers I believe the article is referring too." Mostly I think these things are relevant because they are all true. There is some random virtue given to the things that most people do in their lifestyle, and i find the kids in the Vancouver Hipster crowd (and i mean the real ones, not the posers) to be fairly stoked on themselves a lot and quite testy and extremely judgmental and narrow minded. But i don't blame them, I blame .....geography.

maybe it's from a lack of sleep, but can "hipsters" be a crime? wouldn't it be "being a hipster is not a crime"?

rs:

maybe it's from a lack of sleep, but can "hipsters" be a crime? wouldn't it be "being a hipster is not a crime"?

Who cares? Vancouverites need to stop caring about how other people live their lives.

I always found this comparison amusing.
http://www.raincitystudios.com/blogs-and-pods/corinn-wyatt/blog-ster-vs-art-ster

I guess I'm in the minority, but I thought Haddow's article was terrific.

Edging on hyperbole? For sure. Necessary? Absolutely...

I echo my comment from the AdBuster's site:

"Incredibly well stated...

Too much mindless hipster hate floating around and no attempt to actually take a look at how disturbing the whole thing really is. I imagine crises of various sorts will render the hipster obsolete, or at least irrelevant, a while before the end of western civilization. I say we pull our heads outta' the sand sooner rather than later, though...

Bravo."

I suppose Haddow's article was at least successful by creating some discourse. This is the first time I've heard anyone say 'Hey, has anyone seen the new Adbusters?' since 2005.

You could also say it was a desperate swipe from a long tired publication struggling to remain relevant.

This Quixotic invective didn't really bring anything to the table aside from pointing fingers at young people for being vain, over indulgent and all the other things that youth are typically known for, whether or not they are so-called hipsters. Accusing Westerners of being shallow and self-absorbed is pretty much de rigeur for Adbusters, I suppose, but rarely has it been done this artlessly.

Haddow played up the fact that the drunk girls he asked at these parties (some real journalistic brass, right there) wouldn't admit to being a hipster, then expressing his disingenuous surprise at their unwillingness to embrace the term.

I don't think anyone appreciates having an unasked-for label shoved into their face by a hostile stranger at a party.

Writing about Vancouver hipsters is like playing golf, "its a good walk wasted."

I want a shirt!

Sunday Soccer = Revenge of the Nerds

Are we over ourselves yet? Because it's getting really hot out and there still isn't a cure for cancer.

Andrew FOR THE WIN

Hipsters are every bit as shallow and judgmental as the striped collared-shirt crowd that infests Granville every weekend, just with different brands and different bands. People who have accomplished nothing with their lives attempt to create an impression or identity based on their physical appearance and personal tastes. By dressing a certain way, they supposedly imbue themselves with the experience and identity of the people who pulled that style before them. Hey Sean, how about coming up with a fresh concept instead of stealing an old skateboarding slogan. Oh wait, hipsters copy, clone and rehash all their stuff anyway. Carry on.

This is awesome.

I believe in Sean Orr.
I believe in Doug Haddow.
I believe I split my lip on a chipped hipster.

Isn't liking every kind of music ever and absorbing every subculture ever and blending it all into a fucking delicious rainbow of awesome, kind of the most radical (ha !) subculture ever ? That article is a steaming seafood triple coiler of drunk uncle-ism. Wallpaper ? Sweet fancy fuck man even the wankers at Chambar haven't looked at that mag in years.

You can't even throw a frisbee without breaking the law in Vancouver so it is important that we protect our hipster heritage while we still can. I'll buy that t-shirt.

Vancouver UnCoolness Ladder:

Dog Shit > Beyond Robson > Camel Puke > Hipsters > Skunk Balls > Sean Orr

Ok. Ok. Ok, tossing my hat into the ring.

Hipsters? Hate ‘em too. Arrogant little focus-group sheep. Slummers. Well, most of them. Some of them? Whatever. The bottom line is Kids will be kids and this article makes me feel like a grumpy old man.

Which I am, BUT:

The article itself? I agree on some points(hipsters are annoying because they’re young, you’re not, and they’re having -god and Al Gore forbid- More fun than you) but otherwise, it’s just shrill moralistic punditry about those damn kids who only want to party and have fun and don’t want to [fill in blank] _______________ (smash the state/get real job/accept Jesus into their hearts/whatever agenda or partyline of yours that they don’t fall into) .

We’ve heard it numerous times…. It’s rave culture all over again. Or disco, or punk, or straight edge/political hardcore, or metal, or rock’n’roll, or Haight-Ashbury, or Mods, Rockers, Skins or greasers or whatever. Read any Dick Hebidge? Recommended.

The fact is that the 18-29 demographic kids wanna rock out and think they’re the coolest shit and act like they invented it and dress like their peers/micro-tribe to assert their individuality. It’s as natural and as cyclical as the seasons.

So for all their claims of offering rigorous and trenchant cultural analysis,there’s a reason why I haven’t picked up a copy of Adbusters since 2002. Their rigid and anhedonic stick-in-the-mud stance made me feel like I was being lectured by my Fundamentalist Christian Aunt and my recovering-Catholic Anarchist/Activist ex-girlfriend at the same time. Same shit, different pile.

QT:

Vancouver UnCoolness Ladder:

Um so, you rancid bag of amputee cum, that would mean Sean is a the bottom of the Uncoolness ladder which would then mean he is in fact the
coolest. You're like fucking a bag of McDonalds in a ditch.

Dog Shit > Beyond Robson > Camel Puke > Hipsters > Skunk Balls > Sean Orr

QT:

Vancouver UnCoolness Ladder:

Dog Shit > Beyond Robson > Camel Puke > Hipsters > Skunk Balls > Sean Orr

Beckett's superfluous vitriol amuses me.

In order to teach children the concept of “greater than/less than” with the pizza-eating alligator, draw your greater than/less than sign. Now, add teeth to the “mouth” part. The alligator always wants to eat the greatest number. When the numbers are equal, the mouth doesn’t know which way to go.

All these comments and pageviews mean that Sean may have made $3.82 so far today. Nice job.

This part of the article is really bothering me: "The half-built condos tower above us like foreboding monoliths of our yuppie futures. I take a look at one of the girls wearing a bright pink keffiyah and carrying a Polaroid camera and think, “If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we’d look like revolutionaries.” But instead we ignore the weapons that lie at our feet – oblivious to our own impending demise."

Who will throw the first rock? Who will follow? Would it not be a logical step that the bored, self-obsession would transmute into bored rage as soon as the rocks start to fly? How many of your "detached and disconnected", culturally vapid, pomo delinquents would pick up a brick in a second? Why would you want to alienate this group? Now they're going to be as jaded as ever for fear of being labeled alternatively a "hipster" or a "hippy". Thanks a lot.

Only another $76.18 for some new Cheap Mondays Sean !

beckett:

Only another $76.18 for some new Cheap Mondays Sean !

gary:

All these comments and pageviews mean that Sean may have made $3.82 so far today. Nice job.

BEST. DAY. EVAR!

jesus fuck... this again? hipsters (and most modern "counter-cultures" pretty much) are nothing but a bunch of dudes embracing a specific style/lifestyle in order to fuck an equally participatory group of chicks and vice versa... nothing more, nothing less

doesn't the vice dude sum it up succinctly enough:

“I’ve always found that word [“hipster”] is used with such disdain, like it’s always used by chubby bloggers who aren’t getting laid anymore and are bored, and they’re just so mad at these young kids for going out and getting wasted and having fun and being fashionable,” he says. “I’m dubious of these hypotheses because they always smell of an agenda.”

i can't believe this farticle traveled high enough up the adbusters totem pole to warrant publication as a cover feature... some serious behind the scenes re-organization over there seems in order. what a fuccin joke

likewise, any further community college level sociological analysis of tight pants subcultures should be punishable by death

It's the trying to hard to be and look different but all looking the same or like you walked off the set of scooby doo. Boys really should start shaving there beards too.. sorry. that's personal and most womens preference, but i guess it makes you look different.. but alas when everyone does it, you all look the same!
I really don't care what i look like, but will i fit in then with the people that just spent way too much money at the second hand stores to find the ugliest thing ever to wear? The tattoo thing to is really kind of weird too because you are just branding yourself with 'art' that you can never take off. Like all art sometimes you like to hang a different piece or your mood changes and it's not a classic anymore in your home or on YOUR BODY>
I am not sure which article you are talking about in Adbusters. I am thinking of the similarity between cockroaches and the people that hang around american apparel. I liked this article because i feel the same way.

I am not sure which article you are talking about in Adbusters. I liked this article because i feel the same way.

Okay. You are 13. But still.

You really should tell your mom that the reason you can't get a job is that you are an enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.

enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.
enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.
enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.
enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.
enormous circus tent full of hot eastern european bum smell.

One obvious point. If the punks, or the mods or the clappers had had the internet, and mass produced clothes, they probably would have looked more similar too.

But more importantly, why is every one bemoaning a loss of individuality? What is individuality other than a giant billboard in Times Square telling people to be unique? Late modernism (and for that matter neo-liberal capitalism) are dependent on the idea of individuality, that each person has capacity and power, that they 'could' if they just 'did.' But what has this kind of thinking brought us to in Western culture? I'm not suggesting that hispters have eschewed individuality, but maybe there's no point in fighting so hard for an ideal that encourages distance from others. So the kids are not unique, and? Who is? Lets all wear different versions of the same clothes, ok, what is the problem? The boundaries between subcultures are blurred so that... you can't judge someone based on their what they are wearing?

Perhaps the real reason for the hipster hate is that they are self-important dinks who dress up in stupid outfits. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”
Jack Kerouac quote

Hey to all those who believe that hipsters are self obsessed, douchebag consumer whores who care too much about how they look; if you are hating on a group of people based on how they dress... well then maybe you ought to take a nice long look in your pocket mirror.

This whole discussion is inane, ya there are numerous annoying self-obsessed vapid consumer whore hipsters (shit I may even be one). But I've met numerous punks, ravers, hip-hop kids, frat boys, keeners etc. that fill the same bill. There are shitty people everywhere, the point is not to generalize from individuals to groups or risk waking up one day to realize that you yourself are in fact, a douche.

What is sad about all this is that the discussion on hipsters eclipses any other discussion on Beyond Robson in terms of comments then has happened for months. Maybe we ought to talk about something that you know... matters.

Ahhhh, Orr, this silly thing is too irresistible not to comment.
Ahem. Woke up one morning some years ago and found my moustache was hip...and never made a dime. A big regret. Damn, I shoulda got those hipster kids to market me, they are one savvy bunch, like human calculators. Is it too late? Yes.
As to AdBusters, it was always about a photo heavy glossy take on advertising, that was their basic marketing mandate. Currently VICE is far more substantial and I used to hate VICE and all that they wrought! Well, I still hate what they wrought (and I feel that the folks involved there now do as well). Is wrought a word? Too lazy and overwrought too look it up. I'd also rather hang with a hipster than DeQuincey- that self absorbed opium eater is too damned whiny!

gary:

All these comments and pageviews mean that Sean may have made $3.82 so far today. Nice job.

Best comment yet.

Correction: "2 years" ago, Sean, but who's counting...

Looks like the same hipster clientèle frequent your place of work. Sean's thought: "somebody's finally watching!"

Everybody reading BR and wanting to know anything about the whole hipster phenomenon should take it a few steps further and look at the course of modern identity and check out Walter Benjamin's critique of the photograph and our "aestheticizations" of our own suffering and predicaments, lives, yadda, yadda, yadda. Oh, and read some Terry Eagleton.

Just sayin'...

Here's another 2 cents.

Wow, I'm really impressed at how much discussion this whole thing has stirred up. I'm also amazed at some peoples ability to null and void a whole group of people under one banner without any knowledge of who they are, or where they come from, I'm Colin, I grew up on welfare with a dual diagnosis mother in the South East most neighbourhood of Vancouver (Champlain Heights) I've worked as an alcohol and drug counsellour, youth worker and advocate, and peer worker with young at risk people. I like to think I'm pretty open minded, and socially concious, I hang out at all those parties and bars, as I have, for the last 6 or 7 years. Many of the people you describe are friends of mine, and do similar work, they aren't the vapid shallow people, you overly hostile people seem so eager to beat on. I guess every generation needs someone to play "nigger" for them to beat up on, otherwise, they'd have to concern themselves with real issues, like you know, NIMBYism, homelesness, mining on Native land, politics... but fuck it, our parties are stupid and we like bikes, because bikes suck right? WTF? What are you real mad at people?

"The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the "state of emergency" in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realize that it is out task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against Fascism"
Walter B - Theses on the Philosophy of History.

Whatever it is that people are arguing about here it is a symptom of a bigger issue that keeps Vancouver as jaded as it is in most areas... replace "Fascism" with this unamed opponent and all of a sudden hipsters, jock or "striped collared-shirt crowd" or whoever you describe yourself as that have enough interest to participate in understanding each other, even in a discussion like this, are suddenly on the same side...

This is not a stupid discussion...

Older people need to start going to more shows.

In the last three years there has been a real disparity with show and club goers in terms of age, not totally sure how it happened but the median age is alot (ALOT!) younger than it used to be. When 22 year old girls are feeling catty or even just plain weird about feeling old in a club then we know there's a problem. Older folks generally hate going out to places where they feel like they are the oldest ones there. Maybe it has to do with the current VICE consumer hipster culture fallout where it involves strong narcissism and people pining for that possible appearance on someone's party pic website: this all seems very popular with the younger peeps, the new Me generation (yes, I am totally generalizing cuz I know lots of folks in that bracket who aren't like that at all, they usually get dragged out by their friends). When peeps go see bands as opposed to DJs they are usually bland and hyped as flavour of the month on Pitchfork, who have really helped to take the fun and excitement out of music but can really move units. And some older peeps just aren't into that (not the moving units part, I'd love to move some units myself, I have 3 big boxes of them here), it got tired fast for them, they've already seen lots of good shows. That, or they have mortgages or kids or divorces to go through.
I may be generalizing. There have been some great shows and bands that I have missed and I go out more than lots of folks my age (sometimes once every two weeks!) but sometimes I'm just tired. I missed Tunnel Canary because I had to work so early the next day and also knew the ciggy smoke'd get to me and my allergies. Not drinking and being in a relationship and having seen lots of wild shows in my life already makes me coccoon more. I try to support the awesome shit that happens as much as I can but do understand why it's harder for the older folk moreso now than it ever was before. I'm told that it isn't so bad like this in other cities.
Also there is no good weekly, etcetera, in this town and it'd be very difficult to get one going (believe me, i've tried). One really has to dig to find out what's going on that's good. And we live in a city where culture isn't valued. There's lots of incredibly good culture here but folks just want mountains and oceans. Hence the lack of infrastructure.
I would love to hear some very objective replies to this but as I see it, I see no solutions. I'd love to be proven wrong as that'd make things more hopeful.

I found myself in an after hours type basement show last night. I was 3rd oldest. It was fun. Secret Mommy played, they were pretty interesting. I think hipster girls like my salt-n-pepper hair, but when I tell them it's natural and not highlights they lose interest?! oh well...

Don, I just spent 15 minutes posting a nice reply to you but then this site ate it up and spat it away cuz i forgot a piece of data....
Brevity here then (pfffff).
I was never into ageism, even played music with seniors but this thing has been tuff to ignore when even 22 year old gals are complaining that they feel old!
And, heh, Secret Mommy's a tad older themselves (don't tell them I told you).
I've noticed a change from playing shows in the last 3 years myself that there's been a transition from packed gigs to sparser crowds. The scene has changed. Maybe it's due to lack off a solid reliable live venue that peeps'll go to nite after nite (tho MJ and Malice have made some valid real good recent attempts), maybe it's cuz the older folks stay home and the younger folks would rather be a participant in a see and be seen nite of iPod battle mash ups (besides, it's easier to get laid when yer out dancing to a DJ than watching a band) or they're watching an indie rock band that is influenced by an indie rock band that is influenced by Paul Simon's Graceland album (ick)....I dunno.
As long as there's good quality juice in me i'll keep entertaining even tho as an entertainer I kinda require an audience. I do it cuz I HAVE TO. But, to quote, Diamond Dave, "It ain't rocket surgery!"
There's some awesome glimmers tho: the whole Fake Jazz/ Emergency room/Sweat shop scene is full of people expressing themselves genuinely on DIY terms because they were sick of getting turned off in crap pubs with a makeshift stage. And these folks aren't ageist.
They are also far less pretentious and more open minded than the 90s noise scene ever was.
Speaking of 90s I remember in the dreaded early-mids getting turned off by sound men playing on bills that had watered down grunge acts (who'da thunk Nickleback would get so huge???)...
In other words, all things must pass gas.
Now I find it hard to go out cuz I hate Translink so much (my fixie has a flat).
I'm following my pals (and GF of course) and moving to Toronto as a cure for bitterness, been here too long pushing against the cement wall, I hear there are less age barriers, let's hope so for my sake and that it is easier on the ole allergies as well. Gesundheit.

Some Goof Hipster was reading damn Derrida in the park today.

For the LOVE of God make it stop!!!!!

Digg This!

Colin Black:

I guess every generation needs someone to play "nigger" for them to beat up on, otherwise, they'd have to concern themselves with real issues, like you know, NIMBYism, homelesness, mining on Native land, politics...

Only Vanvouverites could be so insensitive as to throw around racial slur while hyping their own political consciousness. Oh it's in quotation marks? That's cool.

Mme. Ophir:

Colin Black:

I guess every generation needs someone to play "nigger" for them to beat up on, otherwise, they'd have to concern themselves with real issues, like you know, NIMBYism, homelesness, mining on Native land, politics...

Only Vanvouverites could be so insensitive as to throw around racial slur while hyping their own political consciousness. Oh it's in quotation marks? That's cool.

Um...He's black...

I like to come back to posts like these from Sean every so often, they help ease my 'BR rage' *Digg*

R T:

Some Goof Hipster was reading damn Derrida in the park today.

For the LOVE of God make it stop!!!!!

Are you saying the hipster is not worthy of reading high brow non-fiction? Is this not the sort of ignorance and fascism that you hate them for?

perhaps it's actually you who is the hipster and the hipster in question is actually an intelligent human reading in the park on a nice sunny day...

snogggggg.....
"the inside is the outside, the centre cannot hold"

"are we are we are we ourselves, or do we ever really know"

I just read your old article. I think what you were saying is quite different from the adbusters' piece. Not sure if I agree with your take on McInnes' "New Conservatism." I don't think it was all a marketing ploy--although that certainly was a part of it.

Yeah, its almost a rebuttal to this article. Its not an anti-hipster piece at all, your right. Its just that everyone was hating on Vice magazine, and I just thought dude was pretty run-of-the-mill.

durrrr increasingly irrelevant Gen-X publication tries to tell twentysomethings that irony was only good when WE did it, also get the hell off my damn lawn.

mj: writing about vancouver hipsters is like playing golf, 'its a good walk wasted"...best fucking comment on the page.

Sean's going to be able to buy a whole sixer of Pabst after all of these comments.

criticism is dead, long live HYPE.

emotions are dead, long live FUN.

class consciousness is dead, long live URBAN OUTFITTERS.

" "The difference between parody and pastiche is that the former is humorous; the latter is a meaningless imitation." This is what my reply was to someone at a party trying to intellectualize what it is to be a 'hipster' or 'scenester' in our present time as being a master of parody - a parody of popular culture - who is at all times conscious of their efforts to poke fun at society. Of course I replied stating that he was wrong, instead, I said, "the hipster is a master of pastiche as the hipster has no meaning in life." His only reply was "what is this pastiche?" And so I gave him the answer. He laughed, but he was reluctant to agree with my critique of hipsters, and so we parted ways.
The party was great fun; however, perhaps a quote from Kierkegaard's journal can best describe the situation I found myself in:

"I have just returned from a party of which I was the life and soul; wit poured from my lips, everyone laughed and admired me - but I went away - and the dash should be as long as the earth's orbit-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and wanted to shoot myself." "

--as quoted from a self indulgent journal entry Jan. 21, 2008

I thought the article by Douglas was quite dry. When I first heard of it, by some people complaining about it, I thought it was going to be a scathing essay or some other form of stellar critique; instead, it was a piece of lackluster journalism. Although, admittedly people need to be called out on their shit. So, the article and author have done a good job on drawing attention to this ambiguous group through hearsay, empirical data, and polemic.
Although I agree with his critique I think that this problem exists in several "cultures" or "subcultures" and it is a systemic problem found within societies hell-bent on securing the democratic state as the founding idea of "civilization" or "civil" conduct. Yes, it bores me too ...

ive found that hipster threads on any forum/blog always tend to garner the most posts

I just want to know what happened to the idea of "cool" being subversive or anti-mainstream? Cool is now drooling over and buying Apple products, ironically hip high-end designer products, $300 jeans, materialistic hip-hop, corporate sponsored parties, high end vodka etc.

In the 90's, which was my experience in the current cool movement, the ethos was the exact opposite. I remember reading articles about the co-opting of cool and how every subculture could be bought and marketed. I thought, "no way man! You're never going to use noise music, anti-fashion and the spirit of indie for your evil corporate goals!"

I was wrong. They did it. I blame the internet.

I blame life.

As for the connections that Adbusters makes between 'hipsters' and gentrification, I think it is important to keep in mind that gentrification is a process that is speculator driven and which affects much more than the neighbourhoods that 'hipsters' choose to live in. Financial deregulation, the government reneging from public housing commitments, and speculation has led to a region-wide increase in land values, and it is this structural problem and not some consequence of 'image-obsessed' youth. The evils of gentrification are not simply that land values increase in marginal areas but that the overall increase limits the possibility of fair housing for everyone and also increase the possibility of financial crisis. Certainly, there is a culture to speculation, that tries to make a higher profit through branding neighbourhoods, often by branding the culture created by youth and 'creative classes' (vomit), but to blame the problem on the creatives or on 'hipsters' themselves tantamount to saying something like gentrification is created by youth, or tight jeans, and not actual real-estate interests and socio-economic processes that are more telling of our regional economy as a whole.

that's not quite true in case of Brooklyn, which has been directly gentrified through hipster migration from the midwest/canada/any where that sucks.

Let's get this straight. Although hipsters might have started to 'colonize' Brooklyn, providing a source of demand by making that neighbourhood a cool place to live. It was not hipsters who rolled back welfare, cut out rent control, or created 'securitized' low interest mortgages that allow people to speculate. My argument above was that urban displacement, or displacement of low income housing, is an aggregate, region-wide phenomenon that squeezes people out everywhere, so it is perhaps bad to focus just on the hipster (who, no doubt may be more visible because of their tight jeans and penchant for older neighbourhoods), but to think that the problem is confined to those neighbourhoods and not to the wider economy is misplaced. As for the Adbusters article, railing against shallow consumption is their thing, but it seems that with this article they are getting old and grumpy and are just railing at youth or 'style' out of their own boredom.

Heard the author of the adbusters piece on the CBC this afternoon. Possibly the most and boring thing I've heard on there for a while. Whole interview consisted of the host and Douglas snickering about the fashions of youth. I thought the author gave himself away when he:
A) accused hipsters of doing such things as "hanging out in dark clubs"
B)stated that he couldn't fit into skinny jeans
and
C)mentioned how he still hadn't gotten over early 90's hip hop.
All these things seem to reinforce the fact that he's found himself stuck comparing his youth the youth of today.
As a fellow old guy I guess I'd suggest he just get over it.

How old is old now, officially?

I also listened to the cbc podcast and thought the guy was funny and obvi-is-fucking-leeee making fun of himself, something that flew over scott's big head.

SRLSY. "The Dead End Of Western Civilization"???? Can no one recognize SLICING parody anymore???

Sean i enjoyed your response to Haddow’s Adbuster article , and apparently so did Jian Ghomeshi from CBC’s the Q. Congratulations on your 30 seconds of fame. I imagine however, that Jian’s interest in your response to the decay of counterculture would stop short of agreeing with your argument. Why? Because your criticisms miss the point of Doug’s deconstruction of the hipster. In fact, your response actually endorses some of his main characterizations of Hipsterdom.
First and foremost, you admit to attending hipster parties but carry reservations about identifying yourself with the community or brand of Hipster. Am i to assume you partake in their fashion, music, art, and general lifestyle that are characterized as Hipster, but reject the label? How very counterculture-like of you. Much like the mid century existentialists who talked about despair, death and subjective human experience but chocked at the thought of being part of a greater existential community. Like them, you two must be no more than an independent tourist partaking in the rituals of the local tribe but never crossing over the line into the collective. I suppose we have reached the postmodern point of the hipsters that Doug touches on in his critique...the collective exists, but never addresses its collective existence. A Hipster’s identity is a fluid one, that never touches down in space beyond one’s self...always sliding past labels, and cheap generalizations, but all the time embracing the hegemony of the pack.
More to your conscious points Sean, as they deserve being addressed. Granted Doug does focus on the superficial elements of hipsterdom. He does not spend much time digging at the core, but that may have something to do with the very vacant core that fuels hipsterdom. You argue that hipsterdom is carrying the flag for a long tradition of a counterculture fetish with the aesthetics. Past incarnations of the counterculture have all shared in this postmodern syndrome of self-indulgence. This point holds water in many respects, but ultimately Doug hits the nail on the head when he speaks of Hipsterdom as being the end point of counterculture’s nihilistic streak. As i mentioned above, the existenitals shared a disdain for labels, so did the beats, and hippie was always derogatory, but these groups didnt embrace near the level of apathy that hipsters have embodied. The punks were premised on a grounded anarchy that sought revolution and the aesthetic was a mere expression of these greater communal yearnings. The hippies marched for an end to a war, sought a participatory, loving society and aided in breaking down decades of square, traditional values. Beats laid the bohemian groundwork for the hippies values and aesthetic. The existentials revived a culture of résistance and carried this ethos through the Nazi occupation participating in direct actions of resistance. These counterculture movements all showed commitments to a society, a community if you will, that was greater than themselves. What will the Hipster’s contribution to the counterculture be? We came, we drank, we dug art, snapped lots of photos, steered the commercial cool machine for a decade and then passed out. The tyrant of our generation can be agreed upon by many to not be square values or fascist governments but a malaise of inaction in the face of overconsumption and the degradation of our natural planet. You tell me how the hipsters are not only not resisting feeding this tyranny, but are in fact encouraging its power?
That alone is the power of doug’s deconstruction efforts. He gets that the stakes are high and the counterculture has been co-opted by a commercial agenda that seeks only profit, while the foot soldiers are too fucking stupid to understand they are wearing the uniform factory produced by “The Man” himself. Death to Hipsters! May the counterculture find rebirth from its ashes!

Well so far this is the most eloquent rebuttal on the subject. If Haddow had written the article with a little more grace and self-awareness, and focused more on the post-modern aspect (history is boring), then I wouldn't have rushed to dismiss it. That being said, I never rejected the label of hipster, I'm totally aware of how I look; but my point was where do I fit in? Like I said, I own a stack of Adbusters, I used to volunteer for them, they used to give me free shoes, I actively deconstruct mainstream corporate media on a daily basis, I'm an advocate for the environment and social justice. I ran for the Green Party in 2005. I don't drink. I don't own a fixed gear. So where do I fit in? What good has Haddow's article achieved? Why would Adbusters alienate their core audience? Who will be the ones to pick up the bricks if not the young, the bored, the doomed?

Dear Sean.
You don't fit in... into the whole hipster scene, that is. A funny hat and a moustache do not a hipster make. As said above, you actually do things, advocacy being one of them. Hipsters do not advocate. In fact, they try to stay as far away from advocacy as possible. It sets them apart and puts them at risk of exposure to the greatest danger of all...... scrutiny. (something which you don't seem to mind, but don't necessarily go out of your way to get) And we all know the hipster hates to be under the proverbial microscope. I would be so bold as to say hipsters are the neo-conservatives of the future. (based on their need to keep certain issues a on the DL, like the rampant spread of STI's among the 20 something demographic... but I digress)

As for adbusters alienating their core audience, well, when you're a "counterculture" glossy in danger of losing your core demographic to greasy spoon breakfast joints, increasingly expensive Belmonts (Go Players Light!) and shitty bars / music venues, you'd be damn smart to dedicate an issue to said demographic. (That slack jawed fucker on the cover pushed a whole lotta issues for Kalle Lasn... more than usual, that's for sure.)So to answer your question about Haddow's article; it sold a lot of copies.

As for who will be the ones to pick up the bricks? Well, it'll be good folks like you and me, the crazy ones, who just because they believe they can change the world, will be the ones who do. (Thanks, Apple)

So, Sean, embrace the fact that; even though many of your "friends" (think of them as passing acquaintances, 'cause they'll drop you like a hot potato the moment you appear infringe on their "rights and freedoms") may be hipsters, you yourself are probably pretty damn different from those empty heads and empty hearts who permeate the cultural landscape of this city.

Stay angry, buddy.

Fuck hipsters!
Hope they all die off
Fucking assholes think they are the shit. not a shred of uniqueness, carbon-copied a million times over
bunch of free loading, lazy, who you trying to fool you fucking hippies!
pretend your poor ass fuckers, and its cool to be poor yet you spend all your allowance on your "have to be hip" wardrobe. "oh i's got's to get's me another $80 iconic t-shirt cuz it's so deck"
all you pencil legged, femine, scruff having, buddy holly glasses wearing breathing all the poor peoples air motherfuckers!
y'all looked the same so why not be judged the same? you artsy bohemian no taste having faux fashion wanting trash diving live off mommy and daddys money fags!
stop invading east vancouver cuz you think its so cool and its so especially so cool to be poor (and live off your parents money)
do something with your lives, cuz it ain't cool to be dirt poor! get a job and don't bother moving to a WORKING CLASS NEIGHBOURHOOD! til you have one, and get some responsibility too! nobody wants to hear your fucked up sounding looped whiny no talent copied music all thru the night when people have to get up in the morning to work! that means shuttin' up those dogs of your who you guys also let shit any where (this includes peoples lawns)

FUCK ALL YOU HIPSTERS GO BACK TO NEW YORK... oh wait they don't want you there anyways! WELL GO BACK TO LA, SHIT THEY DON'T WANT YOU THERE TOO, NEITHER DOES SAN FRANCISCO, CHICAGO, OR ANY OTHER PLACE YOU SCUM ARE INVADING (PLAGUE LIKE WANNA BE'S)

JUST DO US ALL A FAVOR AND DIE! or just screw that FUCKING HEAD OF YOURS STRAIGHT!

PS. Stop leaving your piles of belmonts butts all over the place, it attracts more crackheads whom like to smoke the left over tabbacco, thus the more crackheads you guys attract the more property crimes goes up. (some people worked hard to earn things to have and hate it when it gets stolen from them... someday you hipsters will understand when someone steals that "deck" touring bike of yours!

People need to lighten up. Arguing about who is more local? Is this 1930s Balkans or something? Its skinny jeans and soccer at a park for chrissake.

EastVanHatesHipsters:

PS. Stop leaving your piles of belmonts butts all over the place, it attracts more crackheads whom like to smoke the left over tabbacco, thus the more crackheads you guys attract the more property crimes goes up. (some people worked hard to earn things to have and hate it when it gets stolen from them... someday you hipsters will understand when someone steals that "deck" touring bike of yours!

I don't think I've ever heard the word "deck" at any of the impromptu coke-orgy, mash-up, AA zip hoodie gala events I've attended, but it could be that my little corner of Hipstonia is falling a bit behind the times. And as we all know, "they are a-changin'". I hardly think the crackheads of East Vancouver need empty packs of Belmonts as incentive to break your shit, hell, some times non-crackheads break shit! Besides, crackheads prefer ciggarette butts, I know I did. And finally, I bet you an I.O.U. I make far less money than you, but you'll have to wait for my Money Mart Pay Day advance loan to go through. Sean, next Sunday Soccer you're gonna have to tell me how much you've made off of this thing at this point.
E
V A N
S
T

Oh wait, someone made a photo comment telling me how "deck" I looked in the totally spontaneous fashion shoot we did last week in the 340 bathroom. I suppose I owe you a coke(soda not drugs).

I'm so glad I got out of Canada.