Monday, September 16, 2013

Why Hipsters (and all other subcultures) are a Joke



The radio is a success story of ruining songs after repeated use: “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke being the prime example. My eardrums have been trained to repel the unfortunately catchy tune, making it painful when I hear the first strains wafting from my car stereo for the 700th time.

Overplayed songs make me seriously consider taking the hipster-y “radio no-go” approach to music. According to my own observation as well as commonly held stereotypical beliefs, someone who labels themself as a “hipster” carries a vintage safety pin in the pocket of their plaid, flannel shirt to “pop” culture, letting the media buried under the Billboard charts and box office rankings ooze awesomeness into their earthenware mugs of black coffee.

Maybe that’s why they seem so chill, I thought. Not listening to the radio eliminates the rise in blood pressure from grossly overplayed songs. 

Subcultures (such as that of hipsterdom) are pervasive in the American macro-culture. The human consciousness is attracted to building walls and drawing lines, assigning people and things to categories based on similarities. Hipsters are just one example of a subculture having its own uniform, language, and thought patterns.

Despite subcultures like indie rockers, athletes, rednecks, swaggers, techies, youth pastors, dead beats, preps, and emergent professionals holding their own unspoken constitutions and pre-conceived notions by onlookers, no culture is sterilized and boxed existing only in conjunction amongst others like eggs in a carton.  

Every person, within every subculture, beautifully bleeds across lines drawn in our minds into a messy, amazing conglomeration of being. I’m sure I could find a hipster that secretly jams out to Chris Brown, or a redneck that reads Tennyson, or a football player that collects vintage photographs. People limit themselves to cultural lines based on an idea of “normal” that only exists because those it constrains have never thought to fight it.

While Robin Thicke’s obnoxiously overplayed song is about lines in a different context, I think every line dividing people is “blurred.” Every person on this planet is “an exception to the rule;” a blend of character and interests and attitudes that create a striking jumble of interesting imperfectness, unable to be clearly defined or categorized. And this is why, not only hipsters, but every subculture, is a joke. Because every dividing line between people with perceived differences is blurred; common experience and shared perceptions blending together to create uniqueness within every person.

1 comment:

  1. this seems true... but also false, or at least simplified. It seems more complicated that this.
    of course there are overlaps and blurrings between the lines of subcultures
    of course any particular person in a subculture might have some variance from the stereotype he or she inhabits. But even the redneck who reads Tennyson would probably want to hang out with other rednecks 75% of the time (not a scientific figure). Subcultures are not generally forced upon people. We tend to group ourselves together based on shared interests, etc. ...and I don't think that's a bad thing. it just turns bad when the redneck is not welcomed into the reading group he wants to attend every Thursday night in the city, OR not welcomed back to the tractor-pull when he returns the next day.
    So how can we respect and acknowledge our differences (subcultures), while not allowing them to become traps or prisons?
    (i don't know the answer to that)

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