Word: hipsterdom
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...modern Hipster has no set definition, consistent with its legitimacy as an active cultural trend. The one near-universal symptom of Hipsterdom is the scorn with which it is treated by those most associated with it—be they the NYU-educated bakers and bike-messengers of Brooklyn (non-locals), or the documentarians of the scene itself, bloggers, journalists, musicians, and other productive agents. The refusal to self-identify is almost as crucial a feature as this: The singular societal entity that does not loath the Hipster as a manifestation of narcissistic pretention is the multi-national corporation...
...good way to establish a working definition of the contemporary Hipster is through comparison to past social movements that we now identify as counter-cultural, because that is how Hipsterdom understands itself and how it is marketed. The genealogical basis of today’s Hipster is in the Beat Generation. The Beat-Hipster’s legitimizing counter-cultural features were the unconventionality of their semi-nomadic lifestyle, the sexual openness, and commitment to expression freed from formal technique. The music, appropriated from Black Americans, was bebop. Most importantly the Beat-Hipsters were sincere...
...wrote what is the finest portrayal of the Hipster for an AdBusters article in 2008, but the title alone, “Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization,” leaves no doubts about the decided standpoint of the examiner. Too much is lost, however, by relegating Hipsterdom to bitter derision and resignation. It is also, I would argue, impossible to engage modern culture, popular and ‘counter,’ without recognizing prominent ideological and descriptive features marking the modern Hipster...
...Such cultural mishmash is ripe for parodying. In 2003, author Robert Lanham wrote The Hipster Handbook, trying to codify the rules to hipsterdom, like "You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn't won a game since the Reagan administration" and "You have one Republican friend who you always describe as being your 'one Republican friend.' " There's also Hipster Bingo and, of course, Look at This F___ing Hipster (the link obviously contains strong language). Chronicling hipsterdom's extremes, the LATFH photo blog was a viral sensation, netting its founder, Joe Mande, a book deal...
...Some of this ridicule is a bit unfair. As stores like Urban Outfitters have mass-produced hipster chic, hipsterdom has become a part of mainstream culture, overshadowing its originators' still-strong alternative art and music scene. Those people, of course, no longer identify as hipsters, but they're not the problem. The hipsters who will be the dead end of Western Civilization are the ones who add nothing new or original and simply recycle and reduce old trends into a meaningless meme. It's for that reason that when Williamsburg's hipster playland is in crisis, there aren't many...