Last week, the annual event known as SXSW descended on the city of Austin. I don’t have anything to say about that, but, being interested in language, I was pondering how many times the word ‘hipster’ was spoken/tweeted/IMed/etc. over the course of the week. And while I’m not going to explore it now, how often was ‘fucking hipster’ said?
Full disclosure- I have used the term ‘hipster’ in a derogatory manner more times than I can count. I make fun of the boys wearing tight pants, the girls wearing spandex unitards (I’m probably a few years late to the party on this one) and everybody who wears neon framed sunglasses they got at a sponsored party the day before.
Ask me to define a hipster? I have no idea. If I was out at a bar with friends, and someone pointed me out, asking “Is that a hipster?” I am certain the answer would be in the affirmative. I don’t wear tight pants (normally in overalls), I like to listen to country music, and I am a bit of a rural hick from Nova Scotia. But, by virtue of being a 29 year old in a bar, drinking a Lone Star, I could easily be pegged as a hipster.
The best definition of hipster that I’ve encountered is this: anyone who uses the word hipster, whether the use is positive or negative (how many times have you heard hipster used positively?) is in fact a hipster.
Simple and effective.
Onto word number two.
I recently finished a book entitled Just Food written by James McWilliams. It’s a good book that explores the straightforward (well, it should probably be straightforward) reality that feeding a potential 10 billion people in 2050 is a huge challenge. More specifically, he questions the locavore movement’s argument that small scale, organic agriculture is the only path we should be pursuing as we try to re-orient our culture to a truly sustainable approach to feeding ourselves, and everyone in the world.
In the context of a discussion on local vs. big Ag, it is common for the word ‘elitist’ to be introduced at some point or another. Taken beyond the food discussion, elitist appears in just about any conversation or debate between those who might be considered liberals (elitism is a common term applied to this ‘side’) and conservatives.
Full disclosure- I studied Philosophy and Anthropology in University, and I was hugely critical of any and all of the work I studied that was created from an Ivory Tower. Basically, I thought very poorly of ‘elitists’. And my reasons were partially sound. I once made the case that no philosophical view/theory/perspective/etc. would survive a weekend with some of the people I grew up with and a couple of two-fours of Moosehead. It was my ineloquent way of stating that the vast majority of people who have influenced the history of philosophy were well-off, and never worked hard a day in their life. I had a hard time expressing it, but I felt that any theory of knowledge was incomplete if the person led a privileged life.
The irony of this, of course, is that I was critical of elitism at the same time I was attending university, pursuing a degree in Philosophy and Anthropology. True, with the way the system of higher education exists today, it’s debatable just how elite a person may be who attends. However, the fact remains I was studying Philosophy, and paying a pretty penny for it, which has at least some element of elitism.
While the term hipster is generally always used negatively, there are, I’m sure, at least some people who would not be offended if they were called elitist. I imagine they are in the minority. It’s most common use carries with it some type of negative connotation, often in the form of “what would you know about the real world?” And just like hipster, I’ve never found a definition of the word that seems to match up with its use.
So, here we are, with two words that are both applied to a large group of people who, in general, would harshly disagree with the term being applied to them. And from my own observation and experience, this very same group of people are likely to use the term to apply to others.
I find this interesting.
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