What’s so awful about being a hipster? Noah Brand looks into the issue.
“Yeah, I used to be into that, but now I really like something obscure you probably haven’t heard of.” Insert laughter.
Say hi to the only hipster joke, repeated ad infinitum, with occasional variants involving facial hair and skinny jeans. And it’s such utter bullshit that I just can’t take it any more.
The structure of mass media is this: certain things get really popular, usually because they’re well-marketed and have mass appeal. Even people who are only casually aware of an artform or genre will know about these things, and that’s cool. There will also always be many, many things that never become widely popular, but are truly excellent. Sometimes they’re ill-marketed, sometimes they’re highly specialized, other times they’re just not the sort of work that appeals to a massive audience. You only find out about these things when you care a lot about the subject.
Thus, almost all of us are hipsters. Sports aficionados speak highly of underrated players who don’t get marketed as stars, arguing strenuously for Joel Przybilla or Jemile Weeks. Casual music listeners (like myself) don’t know who Brian Eno is, but musicians tend to adore him. People who aren’t really into comic books have heard of Batman and the Hulk, but are unaware that the Hernandez brothers are gods. Serious book lovers will blow right past authors you’ve heard of and start going off on Georgette Heyer and why Patricia Highsmith’s short fiction is better than her novels. There are even political nerds, cracking Harold Stassen jokes to each other and trying to explain how it’s really all about the House Ways and Means Committee.
Right now, a lot of readers are wondering why I used such obvious references in the previous paragraph, instead of the really interesting stuff that’s off the radar. Congratulations, you’re a hipster.
So if hipsters are just people who care about something enough to dig down below the surface, whence cometh the endless hate and derision for them? Most folks will say it’s about the hipster attitude, the notion that knowing about obscure bands and artists makes them better than you. And that’s a fair criticism. That attitude does exist, and it arises in any fan community, because in fan communities, caring is currency. Caring more about something, as made manifest in knowing more about it, is how fans determine status. And that form of currency is, in itself, a reaction to social forces in an interesting way.
We live in a society that tends to devalue knowing things and caring about stuff. Our perception of “cool”, especially for men, is based on being too aloof and jaded to ever care about anything, and proudly ignorant of any number of important issues. This arises partly from a strain of anti-intellectualism in American society that runs back centuries and periodically produces disasters like George W. Bush, but just as important is the notion of vulnerability. To care about something is to make oneself vulnerable. It’s safer to be sardonically withdrawn from emotional engagement, never showing passion for anything lest it be mocked.
Thus hipsters of all stripes, including you, gentle reader, are engaged in a redefinition of cool. Cool, according to the new definition, is not defined by disengagement or emotional detachment. It is defined by passion, by the willingness to risk looking foolish in pursuit of something you really like. You are cooler than someone else not by caring less, but by caring more, by knowing more, by engaging more. That is, I’m just going to say it, a better definition.
So yes, there is value in being a hipster. There is honor in caring about art and culture, in studying the subject of one’s passion. I’ll wear the label proudly if only because everyone else seeks to dodge it. I am the thing nobody wants to admit to being, the Untrue Scotsman. Because you know what? Claiming not to be a hipster is so mainstream.
Photo— chrishusein/Flickr
I hate on hipsters. It’s not because of the fashion, the oblique references to obscure bands/artists, movies, political figures…none of that bothers me. It’s not the bears, and it’s not the fixed gear bike.
It’s the IRONY, The fact that this subculture has taken cynicism to such a place that they are either incapable or uninterested in having a genuine experience.
That bothers me. A lot.
1) hipsters think they are BETTER/ABOVE others because they care about obscure crap
2) Extreme effort to look like a hipster and pretend they are poor
3) unwarranted self importance
4) wont dance and sing at a music show they go to- seriously??? I went to mumford and sons in hollywood and was having a blast, these fools look like they were too cool to enjoy the music- dooshes.
I listen to bands that are obscure and likely to remain so – trance remixes of Gregorian chants are a bit of a niche interest. But if I meet someone who has heard of one of these obscure bands and even likes them, I respond with enthusiasm and happiness. A hipster would respond the way Saraha’s coworker did: with shock, condescension and a struggle to salvage something about the situation to still let them feel superior to the other person.
This article describes nerds. Not hipsters.
As someone in my 50s, I think of hipsters as primarily young people who dress fashionably. I notice you didn’t mention either one of those things.
As lots of nerds can tell you, having all the right interests and knowledge doesn’t help you if you don’t properly look the part and/or comport yourself in the way the other hipsters have decided you should.
I have an alternative hypothesis on hipsters, and why they’re hipsters: they want to be interesting or have interesting things to say. That’s why they cultivate not just one but many obscure interests, and need to have an opinion on everything. That’s why they’re only interested in “obscure” stuff that’s in areas that come up in conversation (music, books, media, hobbies, etc). All because they’re aware, deep down, just how dull they really are, beneath all the affectations. There’s few things funnier than watching a hipster desperately try to steer a conversation back towards obscure bands while everyone else wants… Read more »
What’s lamest to me is retroactive hipsterism. (Not retro as a style, but retroactive as in changing the past after the fact.) Like, claiming to have liked something before everyone else did, even if the claim is absurd and of course unproveable. I have actually heard someone from the Seattle area say that he knew Nirvana and “liked them when they still sucked.” He liked them even before they were good, that’s how hip he was. Hipsters can quite easily transform into old-schoolers at the blink of an eye. They can become instant conservatives in a way: “back in my… Read more »
Actually its just called being old. Some people don’t realize things have not always been exactly the way they are now, and sometimes, you just have to tell them that.
Really.
I think something else has been overlooked. I usually discern between someone who is, what I call, “a genuine enthusiast” or “an on-purpose hipster.” And the difference is huge. There’s nothing wrong with people having interests in cultures or art or even if they want to take some superiority attitude because they’re into obscure things, good for them. As long as they are GENUINELY into what they prattle on about. Because in my experience a “hipster” is not someone who gives a shit about arts, culture, or whatever they specialize in dorking out over. A hipster is someone who has… Read more »
Its being affected that causes the backlash I think. You you can say its digging deeper, but building an identity around superficial things even if they are just beneath the radar, is superficial in itself. I think that everyone that that buys into buying and displaying for cool points, comes to cringe at their younger self later on.
Oh, no Noah. No no no no… you must be taunting me, you’ve gotta be kidding, and you’re definitely trying to rile me! In defense of Hipsters! Really? For real?? For really??? Now I must comment… Hipsters do not actually care about anything. From bands to books they seek to elevate themselves above everyone with ironic obscure fandom about things they don’t actually like but consume in order to appear “cool”. Hipsters have no loyalty. They’ll drop a band/whatever as soon as they become “too mainstream”, as if a thing’s worth only extends to as far as they can peacock… Read more »
Well isn’t this just full of generalizations and insults.
Indeed! I can’t think of one nice thing to say about Hipsters, honestly.
Feel free to disagree =)
The only nice thing I can even think of would be the chance that a hipster might introduce something to someone who has a real interest in that something beyond a desire to look cool for knwoing obscure things. For example let’s take a hipter and a person that collects vintage clothing. The hipster might inform said vintage clothing collector of a store that they previously didn’t know about that sold such things. Difference being the vintage clothing collector is going to shop at that store because they have an active intrest in that stuff while the hipster is only… Read more »
I think that this is a deeper anger issue that’s being offloaded on hipsters.
Curious Eoghan.
And what deeper anger issue are you perceiving based on your limited, cursory knowledge of me? =)
I’m basing it on the passive aggression and going from zero to inappropriately scathing with very little provocation.
Well, since you were calling me a liar and a charlatan in addition to other personal attacks in another thread, I’ll just assume this random psycho-babble regarding my “passive aggression … going from zero to inappropriately scathing with very little provocation” is merely more projection on your part =) Because I don’t feel passive aggressive OR inappropriately scathing OR that provocation has anything to do with my comment. Especially since it’s hard to be aggressive to an amorphous group of people who aren’t present in the conversation… while online. Or to be inappropriately scathing in light of Hipster hating websites… Read more »
P.S. Darn this html tags!
fixed
Or not, stupid comment system. Maybe this will work [/i]
Hahahah I agree with pretty much all of this.
Thanks for mentioning her. I hate biting my tongue whenever anyone brings her up in conversation. (Only avid fans seem to)
How anyone who professes to think thoroughly or care deeply about anything could give two shits about her baffles me.
I always say “the former Alisa Rosenbaum” on my blog, because if you use her name in a critical way, the whole fan-crew will descend on you. (Beware Zek!)
Are they googling her constantly or what? Must be.
Well Said. I believe most of us like the feeling of superiority no matter how trivial it is to the other party. Whether that winning at mario kart or listening to music you have (probably) never heard of. I have to agree with some aspects of hipsterism– if you’d like. Take Kid Cudi as a wild example; his early work, especially the mixtapes, was phenomenal. His subsequent album after Day N’ Night was utter shit. Maybe it is alright, but it’s incomparable to his previous work in terms of quality. Hipsters might be a bit prejudicial and presumptuous for thinking… Read more »
Good points, but I think it’s a stretch to contrast between “hipsters, who care” and “mainstream cool, which is aloof.” Even within some hipster subcommunities, the “caring” that you do is supposed to be aloof as well. Overt enthusiasm is often very uncool, and as soon as enthusiasm seems to take hold, one must immediately drop it in favor of something else. I am personally familiar with many sub-genres of hipsterity in which two hip fans of a very obscure subject will have a 4-hour conversation in which neither one says anything positive about anything, just different degrees of negative.… Read more »
First, a superiority complex is annoying no matter what, even if they are somehow superior. So a hipster with that attitude is giving hipster’s a bad name. Secondly not everyone cares about the same thing, so is Person A cares deeply about Thing 1 and Person B doesn’t care at all, Person B will likely get annoyed whenever Person A goes on and on about Thing 1, and again if they feel Person A is judging Person B when B thinks Thing 1 doesn’t matter anyway! Person B will get furious at anyone who even looks like Person A. Then… Read more »
I agree with Danny (who stole my thunder by posting quicker than I could). There aren’t any “sports hipsters” or “math hipsters;” if you want to describe people with niche interests, “nerd” seems to be the agreed-upon term. Hipsters do have specialized, relatively unique interests. However, they do not place value on the thing itself, but on the obscure nature of the thing. The only part of this piece that Noah identified correctly is the redefinition of cool. Hipsters have developed a new idea of “cool,” and work tireless to conform to that image. An individual who plays World of… Read more »
I’m sorry but you managed to say that much better than I.
To come in and further elaborate on a point in such a brillant way.
THAT is how one’s thunder is stolen. And you have stolen mine.
I am humbled my good sir.
Danny the Thunderless
At least we agree that hipsters are silly people. And sitting in an “obscure” part of the library so that I can finish my finals, I’m at hipster central.
But another thing struck me about this article. Who says people need to be “cool”? Personally, I’d rather be happy, fulfilled, loved. The idea of cool applies a right/wrong distinction, and attaches self-valuation to the opinions of others. I don’t need it.
But another thing struck me about this article. Who says people need to be “cool”? Personally, I’d rather be happy, fulfilled, loved. The idea of cool applies a right/wrong distinction, and attaches self-valuation to the opinions of others. I don’t need it.
True. My younger years would have been so much easier if I had learned this lesson early on.
In that respect, though, cool is more masculinity-affirming than hipsterhood, because it does have to pass muster with others.
One reason hipsterdom comes under so much fire is that it’s moving away from that cherished masculine requirement to bow to the tribe. That causes deep discomfort.
I buy pbr and drink it at home, sometimes alone. It does sometimes feel weird to order it in a bar. A very non-hipsterish friend turned me on to it one summer. I smoke because I’m an addict. I’d totally fall into one of those traps someone linked to above. Live and let live, I say. If someone cares a lot, great. If they’re a pretentious prick, so be it. People are people. It’s easy to generalize and write someone off. But I find if I’m forced to spend time around them, even the ones that really get on my… Read more »
That attitude does exist, and it arises in any fan community, because in fan communities, caring is currency. Caring more about something, as made manifest in knowing more about it, is how fans determine status. And that form of currency is, in itself, a reaction to social forces in an interesting way. The problem is that while other communities will do this within their own subject hipsters do it with everything. So if hipsters are just people who care about something enough to dig down below the surface, whence cometh the endless hate and derision for them? Because they aren’t… Read more »
“……hipsters are just people who care about something enough to dig down below the surface…”
I think you are mistaken there. Only people who care about certain things in certain places are referred to as hipsters. There are some subjects which likely never be regarded as ‘hip’, and there are some people who will never be regarded as hipsters, no matter how obscure their interests, or how sincerely passionate they are about those subjects. Hipster, as commonly used, refers pretty much exclusively to the urban, the artistic/aesthetic, and the non-“mainstream”.
I have a co-worker who could probably be called a hipster. He’s a great guy who I Iike a lot, so I’m not trying to be snarky in this anecdote. I think it’s just funny. We are friends but I know he sees me as a terribly conventional, middle class, middle aged suburbanite. We were talking about music once and I mentioned that I enjoy the genre of “alternative country” music. He was shocked that I even knew the term. When I dropped the name of a fairly obscure alt country singer whose music I enjoy, my friend blurted out,… Read more »
Since when do hipsters look below the surface of anything?
A friend of mine spoke ill of hipsters mainly for their aesthetic. He thought it was overly pretentious, a fashion of looking unique conforming to a certain hipster norm. He didn’t mention his opinion their attitudes in conversation.
Yeah, hating hipsters is so commercial these days. I hated hipsters like 3 years ago, but now everyone hates them so I’ve changed to be more underground and I like them. I actually stopped hating them a good month or so ago, way before this article was published.
Touche’.
I don’t hate hipsters, some of my best friends are Williamsburg-dwelling, fedora-donning, PBR-drinking, indie-rock listening, American Spirit smoking, fixie-riding hipsters. Who would probably fall for these.
Do you mean Williamsburg, Virginia?
HAHA. An intrinsic part of being a hipster is never EVER asking a question like that. Some things are understood to be A GIVEN… which is one of the things that really annoys me.
PS: Around here, you mean Virginia.
I thinkthe main source of hipster hate is 1. taking things unreasonably seriously, also source of nerd stigma and 2. that they sometimes seem to care more about things being obscure than what those things actuallly are.