Topic: Checkout Counter Culture
- Aug 9, 2008 02:11am by unshined_hype
these are parts of an article from adbusters, very important
Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.
But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of “counter-culture†have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the “Hipster.â€
With nothing to defend, uphold or even embrace, the idea of “hipsterdom†is left wide open for attack. And yet, it is this ironic lack of authenticity that has allowed hipsterdom to grow into a global phenomenon that is set to consume the very core of Western counterculture. Most critics make a point of attacking the hipster’s lack of individuality, but it is this stubborn obfuscation that distinguishes them from their predecessors, while allowing hipsterdom to easily blend in and mutate other social movements, sub-cultures and lifestyles.
Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture†to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.
We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.
The half-built condos tower above us like foreboding monoliths of our yuppie futures. I take a look at one of the girls wearing a bright pink keffiyah and carrying a Polaroid camera and think, “If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we’d look like revolutionaries.†But instead we ignore the weapons that lie at our feet – oblivious to our own impending demise.
[b:2b463c94b7]
YOU GOTTA RUB THEIR NOSE IN IT, OR ELSE THEY WONT LEARN. [/b:2b463c94b7]
- Aug 9, 2008 03:25am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
[quote:f58c64f8fa="unshined_hype"]these are parts of an article from adbusters, very important
Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.
But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of “counter-culture†have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the “Hipster.â€
With nothing to defend, uphold or even embrace, the idea of “hipsterdom†is left wide open for attack. And yet, it is this ironic lack of authenticity that has allowed hipsterdom to grow into a global phenomenon that is set to consume the very core of Western counterculture. Most critics make a point of attacking the hipster’s lack of individuality, but it is this stubborn obfuscation that distinguishes them from their predecessors, while allowing hipsterdom to easily blend in and mutate other social movements, sub-cultures and lifestyles.
Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture†to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.
We are a lost generation, desperately clinging to anything that feels real, but too afraid to become it ourselves. We are a defeated generation, resigned to the hypocrisy of those before us, who once sang songs of rebellion and now sell them back to us. We are the last generation, a culmination of all previous things, destroyed by the vapidity that surrounds us. The hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture so detached and disconnected that it has stopped giving birth to anything new.
The half-built condos tower above us like foreboding monoliths of our yuppie futures. I take a look at one of the girls wearing a bright pink keffiyah and carrying a Polaroid camera and think, “If only we carried rocks instead of cameras, we’d look like revolutionaries.†But instead we ignore the weapons that lie at our feet – oblivious to our own impending demise.
[b:f58c64f8fa]
YOU GOTTA RUB THEIR NOSE IN IT, OR ELSE THEY WONT LEARN. [/b:f58c64f8fa][/quote:f58c64f8fa]
Adbusters is the best. I got a scrib. of it for my birthday now I gotta keep my friends from trying to steal them.
- Aug 9, 2008 04:34am by unshined_hype
[quote:27e2ddcdb8="AceFadal"]
Adbusters is the best. I got a scrib. of it for my birthday now I gotta keep my friends from trying to steal them.[/quote:27e2ddcdb8]
No doubt, adbusters is rightous.......but about this whole hipster thing, we gotta do something before we're covered in saltwater!
(i suggest trying to help them become positive influences or smashing their nose into their brain)
- Aug 9, 2008 06:05am by sixer
Hipsters are better than hypocrites. Wait, hipsters are hypocrites! Wait, everybody is a fucking hypocrite!!
I fucking love people who yell so loud about consumerism and capitalism and the right-wing and how people are so sheep-like when every one of their beliefs are straight-in-line with every other liberal agenda.
Too many people do no thinking for themselves anymore. Or ever did.
