This reminds me of a blog post I read months ago. I can't find it, but the long and the short of it is that us making fun of subcultures (hipster, goth, nerdy or otherwise) is kind of like the popular kids making fun of everybody who isn't a popular kid in highschool.
A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
41–50 of 57 posts
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I have never quite understood this meme of mocking hipster stereotypes. It's mean-spirited and in most cases very hypocritical.
I will make an attempt at enlightening you. There are a great number of greying or almost-greying engineers and other tech types who are part of a generation preceding the current "cool" generation. This older generation of hackers and engineers got into the industry because the allure of building systems that made society a better place and benefited humanity broadly was a very powerful driver. For years and decades…
Give me a break. The older generation "dreamed of greatness" and now no young people do anymore? Isn't this the same thing that every generation says about the previous generation?
The tools and technologies that are already changing the world today, and that will change the world tomorrow, are being worked on by people who might fit the description of San Francisco hipsters. Who do you think works on Twitter? Facebook? Who do you think works on the iPhone? These are products that are already having an impact on society, and it's not just the old guys who are working on them. And as for the "current" generation, what about companies like Square, Heroku, and SimpleGeo? Is that what you call mediocrity? Get off of your high horse.
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hits too close to home, staff writer for Wired?
Actually, not in the slightest, which you'd know if you'd bothered to go any further than just my hacker news bio - say checking my Twitter feed - before dashing off an ad hominem attack. No, I thought the post was boring, poorly written and just bitter. And that makes it unworthy, in my opinion, of the front page of Hacker News. This kind of sophomoric crap belongs somewhere on Reddit, not Hacker News.
>> say checking my Twitter feed
Haha.
That would have been very well played if it had been intentional, but I somehow doubt that that's the case.
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I lived in San Francisco without a car for about 4 years. San Francisco is very small. It's possible to walk from the ballpark to Ocean Beach in about 2.5 hours. I often walked from my home in Cole Valley to my office in SoMa, even though I could just take the Muni. The public transportation is pretty good for a city in the USA but pretty bad compared to Europe and really bad compared to Japan. People who like the pu…
I have had a car here in SF for the last few years, and only use it to go shopping, or get out of town. Last month I picked up a little motorbike - it is super convenient in the city. Parking everywhere, and for the most part, motorists are fairly contentious.
I liked my motorcycle for city riding, but I didn't have the nerves to ride on any of the surrounding freeways so I got rid of it. Something like a Vespa would be amazing in SF.
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#45The constant tense changes were very distracting. And he forgot the part where he writes an almost poignant blog post making fun of hipsters while (hopefully) ironically describing how you're not a hipster unless you make fun of hipsters.
Not to say I wasn't mildly amused. But this stuff is over, isn't it? I thought it was cool to be earnest again. I thought having read David Foster Wallace meant we can all stop being so jaded and critical of everyone around us and actually try to learn to live in a modern society while having empathy those around us, even in a big, anonymous city, and genuinely enjoy the trappings of modern culture and technology in a way that mindfully acknowledges the amazing privilege of living where and when we are living.
In that vein, this was my favorite part:
I’ll look at Sutro Tower. I’ll feel lucky to be paying too much money for a very small apartment, because San Francisco is worth it in these tiny little moments.
I'm in Portland, but I love SF. It's one of my favorite cities in the world. Can't people just enjoy that?
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I have never quite understood this meme of mocking hipster stereotypes. It's mean-spirited and in most cases very hypocritical.
I will make an attempt at enlightening you. There are a great number of greying or almost-greying engineers and other tech types who are part of a generation preceding the current "cool" generation. This older generation of hackers and engineers got into the industry because the allure of building systems that made society a better place and benefited humanity broadly was a very powerful driver. For years and decades…
[deleted]
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, not in the slightest, which you'd know if you'd bothered to go any further than just my hacker news bio - say checking my Twitter feed - before dashing off an ad hominem attack. No, I thought the post was boring, poorly written and just bitter. And that makes it unworthy, in my opinion, of the front page of Hacker News. This kind of sophomoric crap belongs somewhere on Reddit, not Hacker News.
>> say checking my Twitter feed Haha. That would have been very well played if it had been intentional, but I somehow doubt that that's the case.
No, my point is simpler than that. The linked post is a lame rehash of the "Twitter is for self-centered people talking about mundane crap" criticism, with the twist that it's targeted at hipsters.
The commenter suggested that hit too close to home. Here's a quick test. Look at the homepage of the guy who wrote the OP and look at his Twitter feed -- it looks pretty much like something you'd expect from someone like the hipster made fun of in the post.
I'm a tech writer. I use Twitter as part of my work, and rarely post personal stuff. And more to the point, I really don't care how other people use Twitter, nor do I find my self-worth in making fun of how they do use Twitter or FourSquare -- even when what I do or don't do on those services differs from them.
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#48May be I've become cynical but 90% of the email I get in my personal account is from people/startups/companies selling me stuff. 90% of the twitter stream is people pimping their wares (either blog posts or products they endorse). 90% of my facebook wall is filled with inane things. May be the only way to be successful is to constantly sell yourself and your products. I haven't viewed the world this way until I start…
For the first one (email), gmails priority inbox is amazing. In practice I tune out those sales emails unless I decide to go through the effort of actually looking for them... it's better than just sending them to spam, as I do actually want to read them sometimes.
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I will make an attempt at enlightening you. There are a great number of greying or almost-greying engineers and other tech types who are part of a generation preceding the current "cool" generation. This older generation of hackers and engineers got into the industry because the allure of building systems that made society a better place and benefited humanity broadly was a very powerful driver. For years and decades…
Give me a break. The older generation "dreamed of greatness" and now no young people do anymore? Isn't this the same thing that every generation says about the previous generation? The tools and technologies that are already changing the world today, and that will change the world tomorrow, are being worked on by people who might fit the description of San Francisco hipsters. Who do you think works on Twitter? Facebo…
i think you just made his point for him
Re: A Day in the Life of the Modern San Franciscan
#50Looking at the comments gave an even more pronounced view of this "lifestyle" - What with those agreeing and others vehemently arguing.
Just like HN, the comments were more entertaining to me than the original content.