Both progressivism and conservatism from 20 years ago were anti-civilizational in their own unique way. George W. Bush was more destructive to America than Obama by a wide margin.
Oh man, so much to chew on here. Yes, the hipsters improved cuisine and coffee and beverages for the better, and this shouldn’t be underestimated. It was HARD to find anything in the 90s and 00s. You had to go downtown or overseas to get something the least bit exotic. And yes, Whole Foods was a boutique kind of store.
And music was still shared with radio and MTV being a thing. I don’t say “better” since there’re good bands now that tend to get smothered by the algorithm. But still, The Strokes, The Killers, M83, and so many other bands were great.
I agree with Matt Walsh that movies hit a peak in 2007-2008. And yes, I went to the Angelika art house cinema frequently. Tower Records and Borders bookstores were also fun places.
Of course, this is like reminiscing over Blockbuster. I can get nostalgic now, but man, there were truly annoying things about hipsters that I could never forgive. One: they WORSHIPED Obama despite the guy being a lameass dullard. Two: the smug atheism was bad with this crowd (even when I can forgive them somewhat for what they were reacting to, which was cheesy Boomer Christianity). Three: they were pretty gay, as in effeminate, sassy, and deeply insecure—though often literally. Remember metrosexual? Pajama boy? It was bad.
I’ll have to think more on this. We’re certainly losing something with the decline of hipsters, but there’s a lot to gladly let go.
I remember eating at a Japanese restaurant regularly as a kid. That restaurant is actually still there to this day, and it’s one of my favorites, but it’s too far sadly. It has never had anything to do with hipsters. Hipster culture does create shite like “Mod Pizza” and “Crumbl” and so on, which are all things that are horrendously stupid and overrated and I would feel no sadness if they disappeared from culture. None of this juice is worth the squeeze. On the other hand, the gaming industry died because of these losers. Those stupid fucking chuds you describe as existing prior to Hipster Enlightenment are responsible for every single good videogame ever made. Though you are a stupid goy and I don’t even doubt for one second you would trade that for some shitty restaurants.
I very much enjoy this article. Thank you for writing this.
>The restaurant experience improved, though cheap labor from mass immigration is fast deteriorating these gains.
I would say that the restaurant experience peaked in this time because cheap labor was in a sense plentiful but at the same time the average immigrant came here to actually work. It sounds ironic but it's almost like the 90s era early 2000s cheap labor was Much more earnest and came in goodwill. Even now today you go to a Mexican restaurant or any ethnic restaurant and you're going to be paying just as much as you would anywhere else. I think this has reached its climax in food truck culture with ridiculous prices and absolutely absurd culinary fusionism.
I would love to see you write an article about the genealogy of Occupy Wall Street and Ron Paul and how that led to the 2016 Trump election.
Great article, really enjoyed! Would be interesting to look into what the hipsters from 2010 are up to today. Do they have kids, did they move to the burbs, ect
This essay redeems a subculture most people wrote off as a punchline. It recognizes that beneath the thick irony and self-mockery of the Hipster was a genuine attempt to recover meaning from modernity’s ruins. You’re right that they failed to build a rooted culture, but they did something few of their critics ever attempted. They tried. Their obsession with quality, locality, and taste was a confused but sincere hunger for civilization in an age of plastic.
Lived in Portland when Portlandia came out. Definitely was a hipster at the time. It was great - good food, good fun, clothes that fit instead of the ridiculously baggy of boomer wear. Good beer on the cheap. Movies in theaters with beer and pizza.
An understanding that the world was out to screw us, so we might as well enjoy it, but not the hedonism of today.
Glas that some of the good has really hung around, and became not just a youth or leftist thing, but something everyone can strive for
We owe this subculture absolutely nothing but spit and bile and mass executions. What hipsters did was turn the average person from a vulgar nihilistic thrill seeker to a preening, self-conscious “afficianado” and they are directly responsible for our current, utterly dead and boring culture of endless AI spam, remakes, and commentary. You are a real fucking swine for trying to “ohoho cheeky hot takes” them into reverance. Fuck you.
"White", when referring to people, is a proper noun and should be capitalized.
Another example of conservatives being liberals from twenty years ago.
Both progressivism and conservatism from 20 years ago were anti-civilizational in their own unique way. George W. Bush was more destructive to America than Obama by a wide margin.
I disagree. Worth an article by itself for you to present your reasoning behind that statement.
Oh that’s rich.
Oh man, so much to chew on here. Yes, the hipsters improved cuisine and coffee and beverages for the better, and this shouldn’t be underestimated. It was HARD to find anything in the 90s and 00s. You had to go downtown or overseas to get something the least bit exotic. And yes, Whole Foods was a boutique kind of store.
And music was still shared with radio and MTV being a thing. I don’t say “better” since there’re good bands now that tend to get smothered by the algorithm. But still, The Strokes, The Killers, M83, and so many other bands were great.
I agree with Matt Walsh that movies hit a peak in 2007-2008. And yes, I went to the Angelika art house cinema frequently. Tower Records and Borders bookstores were also fun places.
Of course, this is like reminiscing over Blockbuster. I can get nostalgic now, but man, there were truly annoying things about hipsters that I could never forgive. One: they WORSHIPED Obama despite the guy being a lameass dullard. Two: the smug atheism was bad with this crowd (even when I can forgive them somewhat for what they were reacting to, which was cheesy Boomer Christianity). Three: they were pretty gay, as in effeminate, sassy, and deeply insecure—though often literally. Remember metrosexual? Pajama boy? It was bad.
I’ll have to think more on this. We’re certainly losing something with the decline of hipsters, but there’s a lot to gladly let go.
I remember eating at a Japanese restaurant regularly as a kid. That restaurant is actually still there to this day, and it’s one of my favorites, but it’s too far sadly. It has never had anything to do with hipsters. Hipster culture does create shite like “Mod Pizza” and “Crumbl” and so on, which are all things that are horrendously stupid and overrated and I would feel no sadness if they disappeared from culture. None of this juice is worth the squeeze. On the other hand, the gaming industry died because of these losers. Those stupid fucking chuds you describe as existing prior to Hipster Enlightenment are responsible for every single good videogame ever made. Though you are a stupid goy and I don’t even doubt for one second you would trade that for some shitty restaurants.
I very much enjoy this article. Thank you for writing this.
>The restaurant experience improved, though cheap labor from mass immigration is fast deteriorating these gains.
I would say that the restaurant experience peaked in this time because cheap labor was in a sense plentiful but at the same time the average immigrant came here to actually work. It sounds ironic but it's almost like the 90s era early 2000s cheap labor was Much more earnest and came in goodwill. Even now today you go to a Mexican restaurant or any ethnic restaurant and you're going to be paying just as much as you would anywhere else. I think this has reached its climax in food truck culture with ridiculous prices and absolutely absurd culinary fusionism.
I would love to see you write an article about the genealogy of Occupy Wall Street and Ron Paul and how that led to the 2016 Trump election.
Great article, really enjoyed! Would be interesting to look into what the hipsters from 2010 are up to today. Do they have kids, did they move to the burbs, ect
They all either moved to Canada or are dead.
Great article. There were many hipsters in London at this time too.
This essay redeems a subculture most people wrote off as a punchline. It recognizes that beneath the thick irony and self-mockery of the Hipster was a genuine attempt to recover meaning from modernity’s ruins. You’re right that they failed to build a rooted culture, but they did something few of their critics ever attempted. They tried. Their obsession with quality, locality, and taste was a confused but sincere hunger for civilization in an age of plastic.
Lived in Portland when Portlandia came out. Definitely was a hipster at the time. It was great - good food, good fun, clothes that fit instead of the ridiculously baggy of boomer wear. Good beer on the cheap. Movies in theaters with beer and pizza.
An understanding that the world was out to screw us, so we might as well enjoy it, but not the hedonism of today.
Glas that some of the good has really hung around, and became not just a youth or leftist thing, but something everyone can strive for
We owe this subculture absolutely nothing but spit and bile and mass executions. What hipsters did was turn the average person from a vulgar nihilistic thrill seeker to a preening, self-conscious “afficianado” and they are directly responsible for our current, utterly dead and boring culture of endless AI spam, remakes, and commentary. You are a real fucking swine for trying to “ohoho cheeky hot takes” them into reverance. Fuck you.
Surely it’s a crucial fact to mention that the author of the book is Jewish and thus demonises Whites?
This is really great; also, the movie Renaissance is here, you just have to know where to look :)
Hipster don't deserve credit for any of these. They just made a cult out of already existing trends.
They coagulated around any positive-counter-culture, but they never led or created. I doubt they even shifted any tide.
It's why they morphed into literally anything else when counter culture dissolved online. Lizard folk.