Last night I went to grab a few drinks and watch the game at a new watering hole. The bar was in a cool area of town, had good prices and food, and had the game on....a win in my book.
One thing I noticed was the amount of hipsters in the bar. I wasn't surprised since, as I mentioned, the bar was located in a cool area of town and everyone knows that's where hipsters congregate. I'm sure it could be argued the hipsters made the area of town cool...and I would typically agree.
Up until last night I always thought of Hipsters as people who were totally different and always doing their own thing. Then I looked around and realized all of these people had the same definition of "doing their own thing". Sure, this thing may be a little different than societies norms, but the subculture all seems to adhere to the same set of norms...therefore making it all mainstream.
(Don't get me wrong I am in no way passing judgment or making a statement about this group. After all, on paper it looks like I could very well be a hipster...I wear clothes from thrift shops, have facial hair, ride my bike, have a vinyl collection, listen to bands no one has heard of, appreciate the arts, work in a creativity industry, think outside of the box, etc. Point being, a lot of people have hipster qualities but aren't necessary hipsters)
This realization made me think back to another popular counter-culture--the hippies of the 60s. They were protesting against "The Man" and "traditional society" and dressed in a way that was different to set them apart. But, if you look at most hippies they all dressed similar to each other. I guess its important, on some super deep human level, to be able to look at a group and quickly tell, "Yup, these are my people" or "Nope, I better keep walking". Maybe that's what has kept humans relatively safe for all these years.
This realization makes me feel better about listening to popular bands, wearing clothes from traditional stores, and sometimes going along with the mainstream.
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