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I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

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Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#151

Post by roc »

potatolicious wrote: post #7

Hipster-hate strikes me as just another thinly veiled form of bullying, and it's interesting to see how readily internet nerds - the people who are disproportionately to have been bullied in the past - engage in it. Look! He's different! Let's make assumptions about his motivations and get him! It's also interesting to see how many times Reddit (and other communities) fly into a rage-fest because of lack of context,…

Given the most core of the criticisms of hipsterism are its judgementalism and superiority complex, your argument seems to be tantamount to decrying the bullying of bullies, or the lack of tolerance for the intolerant.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#152

Post by pnathan »

D9u wrote: post #93

I, myself, would have started, and stopped, with the last sentence: I prefer to let these little cesspools of cyberspace fester and then stagnate, forgotten as they should be, secure in the knowledge that I am doing something that matters to me. As reddit is nothing other than a festering cesspool of cyberspace.

Some of the subreddits are actually very decent places. My town's subreddit is very nice, for instance.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#153

Post by sequoia »

Torgo wrote: post #66
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of it, geek culture is a hipster culture. Oh you listen to obscure geeky bands and wear comic/anime t-shirts all the time? You purposely disengage from mainstream society? You're overly critical of the status quo and only socialize with people exactly like you? Gee, that sounds like the guy you're criticizing.

I can't help but feel that a large portion of the current "geek culture" is a collection of appropriations from a different group, selected for "authenticity", similar to criticisms of the wider hipster culture. I wore thick-rim glasses because 1. I didn't/couldn't care about fashion 2. my parents didn't have the money for nicer frames and 3. I actually could not see without glasses. So yeah, when I see thick rim gla…

> Because I got treated like dog shit by the exact same class of person who now dresses in a parody of my life

What suggests to you that these are the same people? Like, if I wore lensless glasses for kicks, would that put me into the "high school bully" class?

You're doing what TFA complains about: making assumptions about people & speaking ill of them because of how they dress. Why make assumptions? Why get mad because some guy wears a V-neck?

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#154

Post by sequoia »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #145
EvanKelly wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very presumptuous of you to assume that "hipsters" don't actually enjoy the things they do.

If they actually enjoy what they're doing, and not the feeling of being 'counterculture', then they're not being "hipsters". It's pretty simple.

Do you think they're doing it (playing Go, listening to vinyl, whatever) despite not enjoying it? That seems a weird, self-sacrificing thing to do.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#155

Post by smsm42 »

agentultra wrote: post #94
potatolicious wrote: post #7

Hipster-hate strikes me as just another thinly veiled form of bullying, and it's interesting to see how readily internet nerds - the people who are disproportionately to have been bullied in the past - engage in it. Look! He's different! Let's make assumptions about his motivations and get him! It's also interesting to see how many times Reddit (and other communities) fly into a rage-fest because of lack of context,…

This is going to sound inflammatory but I basically consider anyone younger than around 25 to be functionally insane . They're in a period in their life where they seriously believe that they cannot spend the rest of their lives with someone who doesn't have the same taste in music as they do. You're busy cultivating a sense of identity, I get it. But more often than not you grow up and find yourself in love with som…

Unfortunately, biological age and mental age don't always go hand in hand.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#156

Post by adt2bt »

keammo1 wrote: post #129
bryanlarsen wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Nobody says Mozart's first few works were brilliant. It wasn't until he practiced for years that he became a virtuoso." Are you trying to be ironic? Mozart's first work was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andante_in_C_for_Keyboard_%28Mo... , written when he was 5 years old. Mozart's the canonical example of somebody who didn't have to practice for years. Obviously he did spend thousands of hours practising as he grew u…

"Mozart's the canonical example of somebody who didn't have to practice for years." I'm assuming the parent was referring to information presented in the book Outliers, which provides a counter-argument to this

You are correct. In fact, I just drove x-country and Outliers was one of the books I listened to on the way. I haven't had the time to cross-check much of the information, as I just took most of what Gladwell wrote as fact (even if this was just an opinion).

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#157

Post by Dylan16807 »

homosaur wrote: post #44

It seems like the hipster-as-a-pejorative thing started around the total collapse of the music industry in the mid-2000's and unfortunately was driven by indie scenesters who resented the influx of popularity when say, Modest Mouse had a song appear on say, One Tree Hill. The primary aesthetic religion of the indie scene from punk onward, no matter what the genre or style, was D.I.Y. so suburbanites who went to Hot T…

>Do I even need to mention the "geek girl" bullshit?

The thing is, the 'geek girl' stereotype is something that almost never happens, but as far as I understand it the stereotypical hipster is not uncommon.

It is possible to 'like' something the wrong way: namely where you do not actually like it. Hipster hate isn't about being different, it's about a perception of dishonest attention-seeking.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#158

Post by techtalsky »

Kind of recently, a close friend of mine took a picture of him and his wife explaining something to their dog: http://i.imgur.com/bfpOGYK.jpg

They're the sweetest, coolest, most open-minded people and I adore them. They're not trying to act like they're better or more stylish than anyone else, but the level of "hipster hate" they got in the thread was just intense.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#159

Post by aninhumer »

jonnathanson wrote: post #138
potatolicious wrote: post #7

Hipster-hate strikes me as just another thinly veiled form of bullying, and it's interesting to see how readily internet nerds - the people who are disproportionately to have been bullied in the past - engage in it. Look! He's different! Let's make assumptions about his motivations and get him! It's also interesting to see how many times Reddit (and other communities) fly into a rage-fest because of lack of context,…

"Above all other things, internet communities is what makes me cynical about humanity." The internet is like alcohol: it doesn't put ideas into people's heads. It just lowers their inhibitions. If people are being dicks on the internet, it's because they are dicks , and the internet gives them a relatively consequence-free forum for expressing their dickitude. If we're "cynical about humanity" because of "internet co…

>it doesn't put ideas into people's heads.

I'm going to assume this statement was meant as a rhetorical device, because on its own it's clearly ridiculous. Of course the internet puts ideas into people's heads.

More generally, while I understand the point you're making, I think you're underestimating the influence of a community on the behaviour of its members. I would say that by far the most significant factor causing people to be dicks on the internet are communities that normalise that kind of behaviour. People see others criticising "hipsters" and they are taught that this behaviour is accepted and even encouraged. Many of these people would be offended by the same behaviour in real life, and not even notice the hypocrisy.

Re: I Am An Object Of Internet Ridicule, Ask Me Anything

#160

Post by Dylan16807 »

sequoia wrote: post #154
Dylan16807 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they actually enjoy what they're doing, and not the feeling of being 'counterculture', then they're not being "hipsters". It's pretty simple.

Do you think they're doing it (playing Go, listening to vinyl, whatever) despite not enjoying it? That seems a weird, self-sacrificing thing to do.

It's not like vinyl is a huge sacrifice in quality. I think you underestimate the value of feeling special/cool, especially in somebody 15-25.
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