IAmA Hipster. Ask me anything. Also, answer the question "Why do you hate hipsters?". Don't hate.

rhllor · 1 year

General phoniness and cooler-than-thou attitude

IDriveAVan · 1 year

Can fat people become hipsters?

diskfurnace · 1 year

Just out of curiosity, what's your favorite band?

edit: Also, I wanted to point out that I thought it was funny that you claimed to live in Montreal before it was cool

dylansfc · 1 year

How do you feel about Reddit hating hipsters while at the same time being willing to remove 1-3 testicles for so much as a wink and/or smile from Zooey Deschanel?

soitgoes159 · 1 year

Redditors are the hipsters of the internet.

laugh_riot · 1 year

Why the tight pants? That can't be comfortable

hCORE22 · 1 year

Despite your pseudo-bohemian appearance and vaguely leftist doctrine of beliefs, you know nothing ABOUT art or sex that you couldn't read in any trendy new york underground fashion magazine...Proto-typical non-conformist. You are a vacuous soldier of the thrift store gestapo. You adhere to a set of standards and tastes that appear to be determined by an unseen panel of hipster judges-BULLSHIT-giving your thumbs up and thumbs down to incoming and outgoing trends and styles of music and art. "Go analog baby", "you're so post-modern". You're diving face forward into an antiquated past, it's disgusting! It's offensive! Don't stick your nose up at me!

You spend your time sitting in circles with your friends, pontificating to each other, forever competing for that one moment of self aggrandizing glory in which you hog the intellectual spotlight, holding dominion over the entire SHALLOW....POINTLESS...conversation. Oh we're not worthy.

When you walk by a group of "normal" people you chuckle to yourself, patting yourself on the back as you scoff. It's the same superiority complex shared by the high school jocks who made your life a living hell, makes you a slave to the competitive capitalist dogma you spend every moment of your waking life BITCHING about.

DaGreatPenguini · 1 year

Maybe it's my advanced age, but I'm not threatened or frustrated by hipsters. I see them as going through a stage of young adulthood where they're trying to establish their own identities and through that, a sense of community with like minded people.

Every generation does this and every generation looks like fools as they try to 'create' culture. Welcome to life, hipsters - we've been waiting for you.

pleasure_principle · 1 year

What do you smoke?

desmo · 1 year

Only a pretend hipster calls themselves a hipster. If you were a real hipster you would never call yourself such.

pefyeah · 1 year

How much more than you does your girlfriend weigh?

llieaay · 1 year

It's ironic hate. Most of reddit is Hipster.

DavidBowie89 · 1 year

The other day I was ranting about hipsters, and my little brother called me out. Said I was one of them. I realized....he was right.

Ever since then, I'm trying to keep on guard to not be a pretentious asshole, especially about music. I'm not that bad though. I'll generally give mainstream music a fair listen, and find about 25% to like. Also, I've never stopped listening to an artist because they achieved recognition. Actually, it makes me happy to know they're recognized :) . I think there's hope for me yet.

karnoculars · 1 year

Can we see a pic? It would help your hipster cred.

Do you think people hate hipsters because they seem to embrace the associated image that hipsters supposedly represent? In other words, do people hate hipsters because they like being called hipsters? Calling yourself a hipster means that you understand the stigma attached to the term, and you are ok with it, even proud of it. That, in itself, might make people dislike you. I don't think I'm making my point very clear, so I'll just stop...

Renovatio_ · 1 year

Do you ride a fixed geared bicycle?

merrythoughts · 1 year

As a gal teetering on the edges of hipsterism, I've got some questions: edit: For clarification, I'm involved in quite a few projects with people who identify as hipsters, and I at times associate with them socially (and usually have a great time!)

1) In your view, is being a hipster more about interests and hobbies or about fashion/how one represents oneself? Does it have to be the combination of the two? Judging from how you dove into your musical tastes, I would assume that's an important aspect as well.

2) How much of a hipster do your potential dates/love interests have to be? And is it important that your love interests are stick thin?

3) how skinny and how tall are you?

4) Do you drink heavily?

5) Do you have a lot of fellow hipster friends that you have fun hipster parties with?

For everyone else. My two cents about hipsters: While I have met some snooty, pretentious hipster girls and boys, the majority of them are very nice and very fun to be with-- if you give them a chance. They often have a high degree of insecurity and social anxiety, and they kind of deal with it by acting "too cool." Often times, when you get them comfortable and at ease, they'll totally geek out in endearing ways. I bet there are way more hipsters lurking in the shadows of Reddit than we realize....cause, I think they're usually very geeky and lonely at heart. Dun dun DUUUUN!

Then again, I'm only familiar with medium-city style hipsters. Maybe big city hipsters are much bigger asshats.

rps13drifter · 1 year

I am jealous of your huge cocks.

papermountain · 1 year

i really don't understand that whole hipster fascination, whether it's love/hate/envy... i might be considered a hipster (i ride a fixed gear, i'm in a band, i collect vinyl, i sometimes drink PBR but Old Milwaukee is a better deal usually, i like flannel shirts and i sport a pretty mean beard)

but to me, hipsters are something completely different... nothing to do with the way they dress or the things they buy. the defining characteristic, to me anyway, is a general holier-than-thou attitude.

we should all (hipsters, geeks and nerds) band together and hate the source of the problem: douchebags.

LinkBalls · 1 year

Shoulda finished it off with a haters gonna hate.

MonsterMuncher · 1 year

This might seem a silly question, but I'm in the UK What's a 'hipster' ?

karrde723 · 1 year

First, irony. Doing things "ironically" is just an excuse to disavow responsibility for that action. To do everything "ironically," as the stereotypical hipster does, is to disavow all your actions, thoughts, and opinions. In essence, it removes all identity. This is made even more annoying by the hipsters' fierce individualist attitude.

Second thing is the appeal to obscurity, especially in music. The belief that real art needs to be unappreciated to be good and STOPS being good when it becomes appreciated is asinine.

That being said, hipsters are a force for good in the art world. Hipsters are always looking for new and obscure artists to love. And then they never shut up about them. This spreads awareness of the artist to the general masses where they can be appreciated. And one this happens, the hipsters hate it and move on to someone else. That's why I'm glad whenever I hear about hipsters talking about "selling out" or "used to be good" bands. It just means that the band is doing well career wise.

[deleted] · 1 year

I have some hipster advice for you. The most hipster thing to wear is a hospital bracelet. I'm not saying you should ever get sick, but if you ever go, just leave it on. Hipster +4 Bracelet of Healing.

rospaya · 1 year

By your definition, half of reddit are hipsters, myself included (without the mustache, court ordered...).

Why do you consider yourself a hipster? Do you dress like one? Hell, I listen to indie music and enjoy obscure bands, and still have the whole "rock star" dream that'll never happen, but I fail to see where is the hipster part in that.

lurchpop · 1 year

The Montreal "buzz" thing is an example of how hipsters love saying they liked something before others liked it. It's subtle, narcissistic way of saying:

A) Others like this because they saw me liking it, copied me, then ruined it

and/or

B) I am a brave leader when it comes to recognizing and exhibiting coolness (although I don't believe in hierarchies). If you follow me, I will act ambivalent. While I desire your admiration, you dilute my uniqueness.

and/or

C) Hipsters are traditionally known for liking things "ironically". I think that's sort of mean-spirited, and frankly, too "peacocky". As a Beta Male, I'm averse to confrontation so I'll like it with a little more integrity and claim it's not a joke.

JudgeHolden · 1 year

Hate is too strong a word for me. It's more that I look upon hipsterdom with great distaste and derision. Reason? It's a fake, wholly contrived scene that doesn't really have any culturally organic origins and that is obnoxious in its evident fixation on outward appearance, even while it attempts to deny said fixation. It is almost as if the hipster feels the need to play a part and is not really being honest with themselves or anyone else about who they really are. That's just my opinion though.

HipsterJesus · 1 year

I was a hipster lonnng before you. You know how much shit I have to put up with because of this username?

tresmon · 1 year

As someone who is friends with a lot of similarly self-identified hipsters, let me tell you what I hate about almost all of them.

First, the irony thing. No, you aren't cooler than someone who likes something just because you like it "ironically."
On a related note, their "anti-bro" attitude by which they use "bro" slang and some fashion to make fun of "bro" culture. (They do this with many cultures, though I've noticed this more than most.)
Almost universally the hipsters I know seem to refuse the idea that music is completely subjective, despite the fact they all like different types of music themselves. There is a core base of music that you basically need to like or at least acknowledge before being accepted.
Hipster culture is constantly struggling to be the counter-culture, and as culture expands, absorbing counter-cultural elements, the hipsters are finding it harder and harder to be the "other" (hence the whole "irony" obsession, in my opinion).

It's not that these aren't things other people do, but that they concentrate on these aspects and encourage this type of behavior in one another. Almost all of them are politically progressive but unwilling to really debate the issue. I personally think there is a specific kind of personality that lends itself to hipster culture, the key factor of which is obsession with the self and self-image, but for whatever reason they have either shunned or been shunned by genuine popular culture.

I'm not saying all hipsters are this way, though I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

Edit: As hCORE22 said so eloquently above, "vaguely leftist" beliefs, this fits my friends to a T. One of them is a self-identified "Champagne socialist." I want to punch him in the face constantly.

[deleted] · 1 year

One of my best friends from law school is marrying an artist whose friends are predominantly hipsters. My issue with this particular set of hipsters is that they have made a ton of assumptions about me because I'm a lawyer, and generally look down on me and act as if I am not worth knowing. They specifically tell my best friend that I am not invited to their parties, barbecues, etc. They talk about me as if we were still in high-school, and assume that I am part of the soulless clique of "cool kid" prom-queens and cheerleaders who are shallow and superficial, while they are the scrappy underdogs who have passion for art and food and music. It somehow seems like they, as the archetype of the underdog, are trying to get back at all of the "cool-kids" who ever put them down in high-school, by being mean to me, the archetype of the "cool-kid." They generally act as if they are more genuine or unique than I am, yet they don't know anything about me. They don't know that I was actually an art major in college (double major in creative writing and painting), that I spent more time in high-school going to punkrock shows and painting than I ever did going to school dances, that I still buy most of my clothes from thrift stores, and I grow most of my produce in my garden, and even brew my own beer. It bothers me that they somehow need me to have "cred" like this for them to consider me worthwhile in the first place, and it bothers me more that, because of my job and appearance (yes, I wear suits to work every day), they just assume that I could or would never have enough "cred" to be cool enough to know.

chrisjd1116 · 1 year

I'm interested in how you are financially supported? I think that is one of the main judgments of hipsters, which is that some hipsters are completely supported by their parents and spend all this money on "hip" items and at the same time put off this act that they are above others because they spend little, etc.

Xebeche · 1 year

In my experience, hipsters try desperately hard to be cool and are incredibly pretentious about it. Their taste for things outside the mainstream and very "weird obscure" stuff that most people have never heard of doesn't say "I'm an interesting oddball," it says, "I'm more experienced than you, and you and everyone else just don't get my complex and elite tastes." It's infuriating to be spoken down to, and the typical hipster phrase "yeah, this (mainstream thing) is pretty good, but (this thing no one's ever heard of) is better" is a prime way to speak down to someone.

Further, there is clearly an air of negativity that goes along with the hipster ethos, and I'm not confusing it with emo. People like enthusiastic people who are excited about things, not jaded people who have already seen and done everything, and did and seen it way before, when it was somehow a more "authentic" experience, untarnished by the limelight.

Really, in the average non-hipster's eyes, hipsters' actions and tastes come less from authentic interest and more in an attempt to be at the forefront of counterculture (hence their obsession with letting people know they liked things before they were cool, or were in cities before they were hotspots).

It seems like a transparent attempt to be elite. They wear old fashioned or vintage clothes to give the impression "I can wear something so out of style that my confident wearing of it makes it cool." They live in edgy more dangerous neighborhoods so they can tell people "you're just too suburban and scared to live where I do." They listen to music no one's ever heard of to tell people "my musical tastes are too complex for the mainstream." They hate sellouts and make sure to jump on trends early because they want to feel like they're ahead of or smarter than the mainstream. They are derisive of mainstream stuff and mainstream mentality to feel more elite, and use their knowledge or experience of obscure counterculture as a measure of hipness, in the way star-bellied sneetches use their stars to separate themselves from the other sneetches.

Philosopher_King · 1 year

I'm not going to read anything you wrote or any comment in this thread.

"hipster" is this generation's slang insult for you're trying too hard and it's annoying, so stop it.

arguswon · 1 year

What other trends have you followed?

QueenVictoriaVII · 1 year

This is the most uninteresting AMA I have ever seen.

moneyfingers · 1 year

Hipster is just another means of categorizing a human being, which I don't necessarily care for. But I have to tell you that there are a lot of pretentious douchebags in the world, and a good percentage seem to live in San Francisco and wear skinny jeans. And I'm talking Levi's 510's here, not even the 511's.

chewymilkybar · 1 year

Basically, 90% of hipsters I have met (I go to an art uni, I meet a lot) are not only insanely smug, but will refuse to enjoy things (most of the time music) simply based on its popularity.

No-one should deny something they enjoy simply because of its popularity or unpopularity. In hipsters cases it tends to be the former.

lendrick · 1 year

How many Apple devices (computers included) do you own?

chase47 · 1 year

The word "hipster" has entirely lost its meaning. It has become too general. I ride a bicycle and buy my clothes second-hand, and people label me as a hipster, which I find quite annoying. For me, a true hipster must have the pretentious attitude.

davesss · 1 year

how many flannel shirts are in your closet?

timesnewboston · 1 year

Today's hipsters are yesterday's emo kids.

A-punk · 1 year

I knew this would happen. Topic became popular and now he's not answering any questions.

RMFTerry · 1 year

I think this covers it pretty well:

http://www.latfh.com/

sydney69 · 1 year

I just hate the word "hipster". It reminds me of low-rise jeans.

whatthedude · 1 year

Wait, you didn't move to Brooklyn from somewhere in the Midwest? Fucking poser.

killersaurus · 1 year

I think my fundamental problem with "hipsters" is that they are people who refuse to genuinely enjoy things, even when those things are things they like.

They cannot bring themselves to listen to Arcade Fire in public out of fear that others will out-hip them (by saying, for example, "Their underground stuff was better."), so they limit their enjoyment of Arcade Fire to hiding-in-their-bathroom when no one is home.

And that is stupid.

Wackyd01 · 1 year

Hipsters In Spaaaace!

Darkh0rse82 · 1 year

Also, a lot of hipsters are being supported by their parent's money. So while you are out playing dress up and listening to obscure shitty bands, earning zero dollars because you think it worth your while to make it as a musician, artist, photographer, writer, etc. your parents are paying that 1800 dollar rent so you can live in "Look at me!" Williamsburg (safe haven neighborhood for hipsters in the NYC area).

deusnefum · 1 year

How I (and probably others) perceive hipsters:

Style over substance.
Making your self into what others like rather than what you truly like.
Pretending there is more depth to any given thing
Dismissive of things deemed to be non-hip.

What else am I missing?

It's not so much I don't like hipsters as I wouldn't want to be mistaken for one. :)

EDIT: I sound like a racist old white person describing black people. <_<

[deleted] · 1 year

My main problem with hipster-ism is that people dress and act that way merely to look cool, not because it is a reflection of genuine interests they have. Same goes for musical taste. Liking a band is not cool if it is only obscure. It only is if you truly enjoy the music, and not the feeling of uniqueness it bestows upon you because of the fact that only 10 other people have heard that song. Having listened to some of the shit hipster friends claim to have "discovered", I am really glad I don't have to listen to it on a regular basis for the appearance of being of a music listening pioneer. Most of the time bands are undiscovered because they fucking suck.

That's another thing. I can't fucking stand when someone, hipster or not (though most often this is a hipster), stops liking a band when they get famous. I know a girl who did this with Death Cab for Cutie in High School. She mentioned once that she doesn't listen to them because she hates how much they are played on the radio. I couldn't handle it, and went on a little rant about how sometimes, bands gather more fans because they are good. One major example is the Beatles. they put out mainly pop-sounding stuff in their early years, but I contend that their best work is when they had reached mega-stardom, and had to be a studio-only band because they couldn't hear themselves sing when they would play shows because of the screaming.

Oh yeah, and I feel like hipsters stole retro gaming from me. As a socially stunted elementary schooler, the N64 was my best friend. Now whenever I want to visit my old pal, I am branded a hipster because some too-cool-for-school hive mind decided that this was a cool thing to do.

TimeforPie · 1 year

I feel annoyed by people who do silly or illogical things for the sake of looking cool. I recognize that everyone does this, but things like riding a fixed-gear bike in Pennsylvania (lots o' hills), wearing clothes that don't fit you (they didn't have anything above a size small at the thrift store?) and wearing scarves when it's 90 degrees out just seem really stupid to me. I don't hate hipsters, I just don't see the appeal in being one. Also there is a level of snobbery is being one of the cool people, I guess that annoys me too.

The bottom line is, if you seem like a cool person I have no problem with you. I'll hang out with anyone. If you act like the sun shines out of your own leggings-wearing ass then I'm not going to bother with you. It's more of an individual thing.

epithe · 1 year

I don't like hipsters because of the judgmental looks they give me for daring to show up at indie rock concerts without being one of them.

Lycurgus · 1 year

They fucking smell. I had a friend who slowly devolved into a full blown hipster and he took pride in never showering.

only2thumbs · 1 year

I love how people drool while biting at the bit to call every single person into anything "hip" a "hipster."

But most of this thread is trying to discredit this guys hipsterdom.

Shit folks, he's tossed you a slow pitch. Quick! Grab a bat!

thelandes · 1 year

Hipsters are always the first to support some obscure, indie band just because it's obscure and indie, and are always the first to denounce the same obscure, indie band if it hits big or when it gains publicity. They denounce it because they want to feel better than everyone else by rejecting what everyone else likes.

TriangleMen · 1 year

people are simply judging others because of the way they dress, and the music they listen to

I don't deny that. It's a superficial hate (more of a dislike) for a superficial culture.

Sally2Dicks · 1 year

I dont hate hipsters. I do hate how one can be classified to easy for not liking the norms.

ChristheGreek · 1 year

Why do you love PBR so much?

terrapin4 · 1 year

this is about right

1 year

[deleted]

andrewhy · 1 year

I'm not social enough to really care about hipsters, but I hate what they did to indie rock. It used to be underground and cool. Now you hear it in television commercials.

It used to be that a band had to release an album first before people started buzzing about them. And if they were good, they could sustain a following for some time.

Now you have these bands who have been together for 6 months, have done a few live shows or put out an EP, and the buzz is massive even before the album comes out. Then they fizzle out as fast as they came.

You know the kind of bands I'm talking about. Nobody will care about Sleigh Bells a year or two from now.

shady8x · 1 year

I fucking HATE damned hippi...oh, sorry, wrong thread.

[deleted] · 1 year

I moved from a small town to become an artist and musician here several years ago, right before Montreal became a big "buzz" city for music.

Haha! Can't you hear yourself talk. The problem is your ears are too used to the pretentious prattling on of all the other hipsters you hang around with to hear what an utter douche you come off as when you say things like that.

The primary problem with hipsters is similar to that of hippies, but taken a little (and in many cases a lot) further. Hipster culture embraces the bizarre and surreal under the guise of supporting all forms of expression. In reality, however, many many legitimate forms of expression and artistic endeavor and poo-pooed by the hivemind of hipsterdom, which brings me to my next, corollary point:

The hipster hivemind. Hipsters all do, say and think the same shit because everyone wants to be accepted into the hive. It has a homogenizing effect on your culture and it's really pretty boring at the end of the day. Since, hipsters, like hippies, are always right (or at least better), it's just tiresome to the rest of us.

A few others called hipsters phony (or something like that). While the hipsters only support a very small and homogeneous set of personal expressions, the real phoniness comes in when hipsters do this under the guise of supporting all forms of free expression (no hipster hiveminds I've ever run into do anything close).

It's okay that you don't like jocks, but seriously at 27, keep it to yourself, the rest of us got over it at 15.

EDIT: I have hipster friends, but they don't know how stupid I think half the shit they say is and do you know why? Because I have manners (IRL at least).

Darkh0rse82 · 1 year

I can only speak from the NYC side. Hipsters are not NY'ers, you are all transplants. This over the top attitude that you have to be different and unique which reeks of desperation. The thought that you can dress in some vintage clothing and all of a sudden you are "cool". This obsession with indie bands that are completely forgettable.

I think I've said my peace.

Get out of NYC.

muhfuhkuh · 1 year

Seriously, how do you really feel about Pabst blue ribbon?

Saddle shoes: Has that ship, like, sailed away already?

Soaking men's jeans or wearing girl jeans?

In your opinion, can Neutral Milk Hotel and Guided by Voices occupy the same space without the universe imploding in derivative, shitty bands all over metro Montreal?

tallwill514 · 1 year

I moved from a small town to become an artist and musician here several years ago.

I hate you because you're confirming my hipster theory. See I'm from Montreal too, as most of my friends are. But as I go to University here, I also know people that are from out of town and live here now, moved in their late teens or early twenties. That is the source of all hipsterdom. Those fucking smalltown kids who come here hoping it's NYC and trying to be "artists" and "free thinkers" and all that shit. They don't know how to drink or act in public, they hang out in cliques and have no idea how to dress (It's not a matter of fashion or anti-fashion or whatever. YOU think it looks good. You're wrong, it's tasteless, tacky and teenagery.) If you're 27 and own a pair of Converse, skinny jeans 2 sizes too tight for you, one or many plaid shirts and a fedora you bought at UO, then fuck you.

So I have no question for you, but here's my answer to your "Why do you hate hipsters": you're all tasteless frauds. You're fake. It's all a show. I know a huge amount of hipsters, some of them are friends even, but that hipster attitude makes me gag. I live in an area overflowing with hipsters, and every time I go out I feel like tackling one off his fixie. I've always loved music, but I can't have a decent conversation about it with a hipster. I love books and literature, but I can't have a discussion about it with a hipster. You think you're a free thinker but you're the exact opposite, fitting in that ironic, independent mold.

I don't know you, but if I did I'd probably loathe you.

edit: grammar

devilsadvocado · 1 year

"We all overact our favorite parts in fiction," wrote Aldous Huxley.

Some people more than others. No one more than hipsters. Take off your costume and be a real person.

dd4y · 1 year

I don't hate hipsters, or anyone else for that matter. One thing that jumped out from your posting was:

I live in Montreal, I moved from a small town to become an artist and musician here several years ago, right before Montreal became a big "buzz" city for music.

I think Montreal was a big "buzz" city for music long before you were born. For example, the Montreal Jazz Festival started in 1980 and the music scene was vibrant long long before that time.

People have said that 'hipsters' are shallow and self absorbed.. maybe you just showed a little of that. Just saying..

takutakutaku · 1 year

Yuppies... Emos... Hipsters... Who's next?

Zulban · 1 year

Are you a hipster doofus?

pervycreeper · 1 year

Ok. Lowdown on the hipster sex scene, please. Particularly, what do hipster chicks dig?

Japface · 1 year

it isnt necessarily about hating on hipsters. I think people dislike hipsters because they come across as posers.

regardless of whether or not a "hipster" is a poser or not, the fact that the group of people dress the same, and listen to the same music makes them come across as though the music is an article of fashion, the same way the clothing is. So when i say poser, i mean someone who pretends to have a real interest in music, instead of merely fitting into the culture.

thats my perception of why people dislike hipsters, or whatever crowd you want to name.

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