The Hipster in the Mirror

Finally, someone’s seriously taking a look at what makes a hipster a hipster. Insights such as:

All hipsters play at being the inventors or first adopters of novelties: pride comes from knowing, and deciding, what’s cool in advance of the rest of the world. Yet the habits of hatred and accusation are endemic to hipsters because they feel the weakness of everyone’s position — including their own. Proving that someone is trying desperately to boost himself instantly undoes him as an opponent. He’s a fake, while you are a natural aristocrat of taste. That’s why “He’s not for real, he’s just a hipster” is a potent insult among all the people identifiable as hipsters themselves.

Silver Lake and Brooklyn, pay attention!

>> Link: The Sociology of the Hipster – Essay – NYTimes.com