i think the hipster trend is kind of silly
but there are a few good points
the counter culture idea
the hatred of curropt systems
I can not really articulate it now, but even the idea of how Jesus redefined the jewish idea of a Messiah and stuff like that could be seen as having similarities to hipster culture
This counter culture of theirs - to put it mildly - sucks!
They are just as materialistic as us: they are concerned for the environment but they are one of the first to get online when a new Apple product or new video game console releases.
Their art...sucks: a guy in dirty clothes wearing a plastic bull mask while being shackled to a lamp post, women being bare-chested and lifting rocks, up and down as some weird workout craze, having to pay 5 grand just to listen to some transplant talk about the foibles and short comings of the mid-West.
They act like kids: I'm not saying a grown man and woman can't do some childish things or they're supposed to act their age 24/7, but water balloon fights, cardboard duels, kickball tournaments, camping in Brooklyn...no, grow-up, you kidult!
Their entrepreneurship skills - to put it mildly again - sucks: growing produce on the rooftops on NYC may have produced fresh results; too bad they aren't healthy with all the stuff that floats around NYC, nor is it genius to bring livestock into NYC and try to milk them, slaughter them in abandoned warehouses, nor is it a bright idea to get honey from bees...you know, which genius told them it's a good idea to bring in the rural life into an urban setting? WHO?!
Charging people $5 for a bottle of water that they cleaned out of the Gowanus, having a cockamamie idea and charging people a ridiculous sum for it (A small Twix bar with an Italian cold cut, served on top of a shot glass = $5, and you just get 1), charging a ridiculous sum of money for chocolates, soaps, perfumes, what have you, that is inferior than lower brands, opening restaurants that serve rat, thrift stores, etc., etc, etc.
They are leeches but feel they deserve everything: I can't say some of these guys are without jobs (The big one that they compromise is some faux art school or business that employs them) but a lot of these people still suck their parents' incomes dry, and this isn't your typical "hey mom, I'm in a jam, can you send $500 my way," but more along the lines of "hey dad, I'm an independent human being...and you need to support me, I'll be needing $10,000 this month."
I've got two apartments in this building that have these hipsters in them. One guy that lives above me always leaves in the morning. My pops kept telling me that he must be working, until we have spotted him numerous times around the neighborhood either in front of a cafe, restaurant, or bar either typing away on his Macbook, reading a book, or just drinking coffee. Safe to assume that he's unemployed, so where does the money come from?
Don't get me started when they whine and mope that the city doesn't want to give them food stamps, rent stabilization/control, lower priced health care when they shell out an exuberant amount of money to pay monthly rent or live in these supposed "condominiums" (Which, in reality, are small boxed apartments with a small balcony) which they could have easily spent over 500,000 thousand on.
They are driving away the poor and middle class away from neighborhoods: what happens when you have communities that are hugely compromised with the blue collar working class, who pay an average rent of $450 a month, yet, on the outskirts, you have individuals paying that same amount to live in a dilapidated bathroom, in a run down building for the same amount?
Let me put it to you this way: what happens if a jeweler holds out $3,000 worth of gold but tells you it's worth $5,000?
You'd probably balk at him. Okay, but what happens when there are other individuals next you who are willing to pay that amount?
Things are heard through the grapevine, jewelers realize they can get more for their gold than it's really worth, and slowly but surely, more and more jewelers are asking for even more than what the gold is really worth.
That's exactly what has and is happening in large sections of NYC. More and more building owners were realizing that there were people paying the same amount of money for a small room as a family living in an apartment. In the meantime, these building owners began charging more and more, and before you know it, that small room in an abandoned toilet factory has a higher rent price than your typical subway apartment.
Also, who also gets a wind of this?
Politicians!
So, how do you get building owners in that whole neighborhood to get what they want whilst getting some piece of the pie?
You rezone neighborhoods and you cave in to building owners demands of increasing rent prices throughout the neighborhood.
More buildings are put up. If they are vacant or not is irrelevant; they are being put up. Families who have lived here for generations are hightailing it out of here. NYC has always been pricey, but with property taxes and rents going-up, sad to say, some people just aren't cutting the mustard. For those families who have remained, you get this:
Report: Child poverty highest in Williamsburg, Greenpoint
So, Rhamiel, I have to ask...why should I applaud hipsters?