I have to agree with some of it, but who cares, really? This guy is put off because people who like to wear ironic t-shirts can afford to move into some of the funky, cooler, parts of New York? Meh!
At least according to Time Out - New York, they should. Obviously the piece is aimed at New Yorkers, but a quick glance down whatever the trendy and youth-oriented street of your city happens to be will reveal much the same bunch of ne'er-do-wells (Main St. in the case of Vancouver.) Should they die? Something will inevitably take their place that's just as irritating, and as a 30something reformed nerd I'm not sure I'm qualified to judge.
I have to agree with some of it, but who cares, really? This guy is put off because people who like to wear ironic t-shirts can afford to move into some of the funky, cooler, parts of New York? Meh!
Yeah, same here. Like I said above, something else odd and not-cool-when-I-was-in-my-20s will come along and irritate the older folk, who are likely the ones writing this stuff. People usually forget that and take such articles as gospel, at least until the next stupid trend comes along.
This also explains the almost celebratory nature of "The Return of.." articles, when some faded celbrity or trend from the youth of the target demographic comes roaring back to life.
I love this quote: “Everyone can, and should, be ignored. We were warned about this situation we find ourselves in by philosophers, and well before it happened. It’s just too bad we weren’t warned by celebrities, or we would have listened to them.”
I think the article hits on a common complaint about New York. Since the clean up in the 90's, its become a Disneyland for those seeking to be cool and hip. The "real" hipsters (young, "poor" and ironic white 20-somethings) are co-opted so fast they are being crowded from their dive bars and their PBR is all gone when they come in late.
The truth of the matter is that hipsters haven't really contributed anything interesting to pop culture since the early 90's when Gen-Xers finally gave up and decided they would be "young slackers" forever. These folk commodified the hipster lifestyle, made retro cool and then marketed it to the masses.
Now it's difficult to fly under the radar because someone is always out there looking for the next cool thing. In the end, the older hipsters will yearn for a new underground movement, but cool can't hide now thanks to the Internet, a zillion TV channels and a ton of 20 to 45 year olds who don't want to grow up.
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