hipster: the dead end of western civilization

from adbusters' cover story


"Iâ??m sipping a scummy pint of cloudy beer in the back of a trendy dive bar turned nightclub in the heart of the cityâ??s heroin district. In front of me stand a gang of hippiesh grunge-punk types, who crowd around each other and collectively scoff at the smoking laws by sneaking puffs of â??fuck-you,â? reveling in their perceived rebellion as the haggard, staggering staff look on without the slightest concern.

The â??DJâ? is keystroking a selection of MP3s off his MacBook, making a mix that sounds like he took a hatchet to a collection of yesteryear billboard hits, from DMX to Dolly Parton, but mashed up with a jittery techno backbeat.

â??Soâ?¦ this is a hipster party?â? I ask the girl sitting next to me. Sheâ??s wearing big dangling earrings, an American Apparel V-neck tee, non-prescription eyeglasses and an inappropriately warm wool coat.

â??Yeah, just look around you, 99 percent of the people here are total hipsters!â?

â??Are you a hipster?â?

â??Fuck no,â? she says, laughing back the last of her glass before she hops off to the dance floor.

Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.

But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of â??counter-cultureâ? 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 â??Hipster.â?

An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization â?? a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the â??hipsterâ? â?? a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.
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for the full article, check out the source

skaters like drugs

snowboarders like drugs

hip hoppers like drugs

hippies like drugs

hipsters like drugs

gay people like drugs

punks (not the "x" folk) like drugs

country bumpkins like drugs

rich people likes drugs

middle class america likes drugs

me i did whippets once…

uhhhh, whippets . . . don't remind me of those evil addictive things.

This article is written at least twice every decade.

read the piece earlier this week. I agree w/ econo. I remember what people said about ravers (another drug-addled global phenomenon) back in the day. white kids slumming isn't a new thing either.

the hipster era is just the disco era coming back..dumb clothes, lots of partying, white people "dancing" to bad music…it will be gone soon…i hope

I thought ravers were the disco era coming back?

i thought hipsters were cheap watered down versions of ravers.

id have to say raving didnt seem as mainstream as hipster culture has gotten. i dont remember seeing a raver walking down the street every 5 minutes in 1995. disco hit the mainstream as has hipsterdom.

Every other kid I knew in high school was wearing JNCOS. I graduated in 96.

Originally posted by manimtired:
id have to say raving didnt seem as mainstream as hipster culture has gotten. i dont remember seeing a raver walking down the street every 5 minutes in 1995. disco hit the mainstream as has hipsterdom.

so did I…my high school was not like that. we prob had 20 ravers max…school was 2000 kids.

Originally posted by manimtired:
id have to say raving didnt seem as mainstream as hipster culture has gotten. i dont remember seeing a raver walking down the street every 5 minutes in 1995. disco hit the mainstream as has hipsterdom.

must have been a quiet-ass street

go take some photographs of hipsters. you are part of the problem.

manimtired is a grumpy conservative who knows nothing about subcultures.

as for ravers…it is true that until 1996 or maybe even later raves were almost always held at illegal venues or at least venues that were not used for other normal activities (such as the Sunrise festival held at Ferry Bar Park in Baltimore). Many of these events required getting secret directions and passwords, calling info lines for directions and you basically had to be at one to get the flyers for any future parties.

Eventually "raves" came to regular clubs and concert venues and were publicized in newspapers and then the buzz tent at HFStival happened.

By that time though, most of the subculture-ness of the scene was gone and by 2000 you'd be hardpressed to find anyone at a "rave" who had actually ever been to an illegal one.

Maybe I am old, but hipsters dont seem to even be a subculture at all.

do you think disco was a subculture? no it was not…thus my original post. gtfo.

It may have been a court or a lane.

Originally posted by _Sexy Fitsum_:
must have been a quiet-ass street

Originally posted by econo:
It may have been a court or a lane.

Originally posted by _Sexy Fitsum_:
must have been a quiet-ass street

U STREET?

RAVE LIFE

in 1996…the streets of inner city dc were swarming with ravers…..lol.

U MAD.

Originally posted by manimtired:
U STREET?

Originally posted by econo:
U MAD.

Originally posted by manimtired:
U STREET?

no but im loling at you for thinking raving = street. lol.