There is an article in the New York Times today about how “Hipsters are Ruining Paris.” The author’s evidence for this are that there are now more bistros and fewer whorehouses, and that people are buying more vegetables and fewer cigarettes.
My official response is: “OH MY GOD SHUT UP. JUST SHUT UP ALREADY WITH THIS NONSENSE, JUST SHUT. UP.”
I’m sure that when they put up the goddamn Eiffel Tower, people complained. The world changes, people. That’s what it does. It’s about time we got used to that.
There is no external ‘hipster’ to vilify. This is us. Humans. Trying the best we know how, all of us pursuing our individual interests and doing what we like, and supporting what we want to support.
So there are a few less whorehouses now? Cry me a river.
It appears to me that although many people use the word “hipster”, no one seems to have any certainty as to what it should mean.
Whoever is using the word, it basically seems to mean: “People who are into culture but don’t dress like I do.”
Most people who call other people hipsters would almost definitely be called hipsters by someone else. So with that in mind, I feel it’s time to retire the word already. It’s useless. It has no function.
Hipster acts essentially as a non-vulgar way of calling someone “asshole”, “jerk”, “pompous” or “douche”. We already have those words, and we are much more clear on what they mean.
The word “hipster” communicates less — not more — than these alternatives. And that’s why I don’t use it anymore. Ever.