Hipster Wars: My Rant

The fact that someone took the time to write this article is funny to me: http://www.nypost.com/seven/09092007/entertainment/a_river_runs_through_them.htm?page=0

Because I live in the Lower East Side, have certain tastes in music, and have a closet full of skinny jeans, some people classify me as a hipster, so I think I have the right to put my two cents into this hipster war.

First of all, somethings in this article are just not true. This quotation in particular makes me angry: "Brooklyn hipsters are about the whole lifestyle," says Baum. They have their own parties and events. Anyone who can afford to live in Manhattan these days and has the audacity to act poor and troubled is doing it for show."

Hold on there, Mr. Baum. Anyone who lives in Williamsburg and has the audacity to act like A: They are not paying a Manhattan price rent and B: that they are just as pretentious (if not more so) than the hipsters in the LES angers me.

My feelings can best be summed up by writing on the wall in the bathroom of Bliss restaurant in Williamsburg. Some one wrote "Kill yuppy scum!" on the wall and then someone else came along with their black sharpie and wrote "Dude, you live in Williamsburg- You ARE the rich yuppy scum!" . I just love reading that every time I go to Bliss.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Williamsburg.... a lot,but I just get so mad when articles like this depict the Williamsburg kids as the true starving artists of the world.

Furthermore, I don't know if I am entirely ok with the term "hipster" in general. I think this term came about as a result of society's need to label people. I think that there are certain twenty-somethings who like certain music and reflect that lifestyle in their clothing choices and hair cuts. Naturally these types of people would want to be together, so places started catering to their needs. All of a sudden there was this HIPSTER EXPLOSION and people were labeled and then the hipster poseur was born. The kid who thought, "Wow, that's so cool! I want to be a part of a group too! I think I will go to American Apparel and Urban Outfitters and try to be a part of this!" This kid is everywhere, from the streets of NY to the malls of NC.

And while we are on the topic of URBAN OUTFITTERS, the generic, "I want to be a hipster store", let me just say this: UO is seriously cashing in on the Average American kid's desire to be a hipster- and at the same time, they are ripping off the TRUE artists (let's just label them hipsters). Johnny Cupcakes a tshirt designer actually sued UO for blatantly ripping his design off and selling it in mass across America. After hearing this last year, I boycotted UO. Yes, I still go in and look around, and yes, sometimes I am tempted to buy a scarf or hat- but I have refused for over a year now and I am proud of that.

Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now. I'm not sure if this entry makes any sense, but I felt compelled to write it.