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News & ArtsThursday, April 26, 2012
Life / Media Go Read Lindy West's Critique of Hipster Racism
Posted by Cienna Madrid on Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:17 AM
It is thoughtful, thorough, and funny:
There's been a lot of talk these last couple of weeks about "hipster racism" or "ironic racism"—or, as I like to call it, racism. It's, you know, introducing your black friend as "my black friend"—as a joke!!!—to show everybody how totally not preoccupied you are with your black friend's blackness. It's the gentler, more clueless, and more insidious cousin of a hick in a hood; the domain of educated, middle-class white people (like me—to be clear, I am one of those) who believe that not wanting to be racist makes it okay for them to be totally racist. "But I went to college — I can't be racist!" Turns out, you can.
And yes yes, we all hate the ubiquitous term "hipster," (to take the uncool and magically declare thee cool again), but it fits when discussing educated white people who re-appropriate racism to show how worldly/accepting/edgy they are.
3
That's one of the most annoying, confused pieces of writing I've ever had the misfortune of reading.
4
"And I will go ahead and give you the world's most sidewaysiest eyeball forever." "And at least sincere racism isn't running around Brooklyn wearing artisanal suspenders and masquerading as enlightenment." Tippity-top notch stuff.
Could the faded Gawker empire making a comeback? They hire Rich Juzwiak, they hire Lindy...so great.
Could the faded Gawker empire making a comeback? They hire Rich Juzwiak, they hire Lindy...so great.
6
I find it very hard to read West's writing style (all the exclamation points and irregular use of capitlization/font hurts my delicate sensibilities), but I did get through her article.
I have to say, I think there is something to be said for intent and how that informs our words. It seems that West believes that anyone saying a racially charged term or using a sterotype in a joke is automatically racist, despite actual intent. I think a member of the KKK saying "faggot" is very different from Dan Savage calling someone a "faggot." Am I now a homophobe as well because I used the word?
It seems she has no problem with a gay man saying something like "faggot," but her core argument breaks down for me if she admits that a gay man can use such words without being homophobic, as it means intent and background DO matter, even if just barely.
I also have to disagree with race being completely arbitrary. Different races are different to some degree, as they have access to different genetic stock. Now, this does not contribute to things like work ethic or criminal leanings, as THOSE distinctions are arbitrary.
Let us not forget though that we evovled at a time where someone who looked different was something to fear. They belonged to another tribe, and likely wanted to harm you. This is our sad genetic legacy, but one that can be overcome. Sorry for the rambling.
I have to say, I think there is something to be said for intent and how that informs our words. It seems that West believes that anyone saying a racially charged term or using a sterotype in a joke is automatically racist, despite actual intent. I think a member of the KKK saying "faggot" is very different from Dan Savage calling someone a "faggot." Am I now a homophobe as well because I used the word?
It seems she has no problem with a gay man saying something like "faggot," but her core argument breaks down for me if she admits that a gay man can use such words without being homophobic, as it means intent and background DO matter, even if just barely.
I also have to disagree with race being completely arbitrary. Different races are different to some degree, as they have access to different genetic stock. Now, this does not contribute to things like work ethic or criminal leanings, as THOSE distinctions are arbitrary.
Let us not forget though that we evovled at a time where someone who looked different was something to fear. They belonged to another tribe, and likely wanted to harm you. This is our sad genetic legacy, but one that can be overcome. Sorry for the rambling.
8
And then there are bitches who are preoccupied with pointing their bony fingers around and accusing everyone else of 'isms'. Oh, was that *sexist*? Cunt.
9
@8, you could've made a point there and maybe people would have forgotten/forgiven your prior repulsive remarks. And then you went ahead and reminded us all that you are indeed a hateful jackass. No one gives a shit what you think. Fuck off.
10
@8 - Are you being funny? Because -> see Lindy's article. Are you not? Then, what's with the bee in your asshole?
11
Stylistically an awful awful awful writer. As for content... Gawd how I wish people would distinguish racism from prejudice from...
12
I love white people talking about racism. The dream of the '90s indeed.
I also love the casual conflation of racism with classism that she closes her article out with.
I also love the casual conflation of racism with classism that she closes her article out with.
13
Huh. The best man at my wedding was a black guy. I didn't feel the need to point it out to anybody; it was pretty obvious.
I never even mentioned that he was a convicted murderer. Sorry I missed out on my chance to be "edgy."
I never even mentioned that he was a convicted murderer. Sorry I missed out on my chance to be "edgy."
15
Go watch Gran Torino. This is how men accept one another, by attacking the most sensitive areas of a person. Its obviously not PC. We only do because we love and accept you. It's when these things aren't said that you have a problem.
16
Some good points in the article, but why all the effort to determine who is or is not a racist, instead of starting with racism and figuring out how to move beyond it? Starting with racism is just spinning the wheels.
17
I had already read this without noting the author. Found it pandering and condescending and annoying. So when you pointed out it was by Lindy West it all made sense.
18
Great piece overall, but . . .
I did not know that wide-eyed acoustic covers of hip-hop songs was racist. Somewhat annoying and played out, yes, but racist? I did not know this. I wish she would let us in on what the culturally acceptable ways to cover a hip-hop song might be. Can I do a cynical acoustic cover of a hip-hop song? What if it's a hip-hop song by a white person? (Because musical genre and race are actually two different things.) Stoner rock? Only hip-hop versions of hip-hop songs? Is hip-hop karaoke OK? Or is hip-hop only to be listened to and never covered?
I did not know that wide-eyed acoustic covers of hip-hop songs was racist. Somewhat annoying and played out, yes, but racist? I did not know this. I wish she would let us in on what the culturally acceptable ways to cover a hip-hop song might be. Can I do a cynical acoustic cover of a hip-hop song? What if it's a hip-hop song by a white person? (Because musical genre and race are actually two different things.) Stoner rock? Only hip-hop versions of hip-hop songs? Is hip-hop karaoke OK? Or is hip-hop only to be listened to and never covered?
19
I just discussed this with the boyfriend last night, actually. He and I were on a date in one of the Jewish suburbs of Chicago. I was explaining the "racial" makeup of the neighborhood to him, so as we drove past a biker he joked (windows up), "How do you get the horns under that helmet, sir?"
I laughed, and I know he didn't mean it (he's learned some spectacular racist vernacular studying Shakespeare), but I was still uncomfortable about it. We had a discussion about hipster racism, whether it's okay to make jokes you don't mean if you're in the power position, and public vs. private personas. But what we eventually agreed upon was that if we wouldn't be comfortable making the joke to the biker's face, we shouldn't be making it in private, either.
If you claim to not be racist, then the best thing hipster or ironic racism can be is blatant hypocrisy, and at worst, poorly veiled ignorance and, ya know, racism.
I laughed, and I know he didn't mean it (he's learned some spectacular racist vernacular studying Shakespeare), but I was still uncomfortable about it. We had a discussion about hipster racism, whether it's okay to make jokes you don't mean if you're in the power position, and public vs. private personas. But what we eventually agreed upon was that if we wouldn't be comfortable making the joke to the biker's face, we shouldn't be making it in private, either.
If you claim to not be racist, then the best thing hipster or ironic racism can be is blatant hypocrisy, and at worst, poorly veiled ignorance and, ya know, racism.
21
The hipster is the white equivalent of the 1970s style Superfly pimp for a black man.
Because there were no opportunities for smart black people in those days, the person who would normally be middle class had to get money in illegal ways such as pimping and drugs. This lead to an overemphasized set of status symbols like the zebra skin couch, the quadrophonic sound system, the Cadillac pimpmobile.
Likewise, the hipster is simply a disenfranchised white person. His elan and even arrogance hide a profound shame at having become the first generation in his family to have fallen down the ladder with no chance of getting up. Hence, unable to afford an SUV, he dresses up his bike "pimp style" to call attention to it. The next generation of hipsters will have fully descended into poverty as they won't have well off parents to beg money from.
This explains it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaM1PpI7C…
22
I found the article interesting. I appreciated the humor, and some of the points. I'm not sure where the disdain for "artisanal suspenders" comes from (or, truth be told, what artisanal suspenders are or whether I might have inadvertantly worn them, thinking they were just, you know, suspenders). I'm also with a number of the commenters in wondering why "thug" is considered an inherently racially charged term; a plurality of my stage roles have been what I'd call "thugs," and I'm as teutonic in countenance as the day is soggy. Indeed, the first thing I think of when I hear the word is a football hooligan; the second is a generic fascist dictator; the third is Tyler Durden; and then, maybe, I arrive at "gangsta" (no offense intended in the spelling; just differentiating between that and the archetype of "gangster," which, for better or for worse, is something else).
What I find interesting is that the roots of hipster culture (so far as we can really define the term) seems to arise from (ostensibly) forward-thinking white youth attempting to imitate black culture--listening to jazz (and then funk, and then hip-hop) and taking on the trappings of the "other." Given that the one reason not touched upon in the article why hipsters (whoever they are) feel "entitled" to engage in casual racism is a tacit assumption that they, being outsiders, actually belong, if only by default, to the group they are mocking.
What I find interesting is that the roots of hipster culture (so far as we can really define the term) seems to arise from (ostensibly) forward-thinking white youth attempting to imitate black culture--listening to jazz (and then funk, and then hip-hop) and taking on the trappings of the "other." Given that the one reason not touched upon in the article why hipsters (whoever they are) feel "entitled" to engage in casual racism is a tacit assumption that they, being outsiders, actually belong, if only by default, to the group they are mocking.
23
I was hoping for more commentary on the possibility that the aspects of hipsterism that adopt old-timey things (clothes, cocktails, crafts) is inherently hearkening back to the good old days when whites were well in the majority and didn't have to worry about all those other folk
24
Oh please, the worst anti-Asian racists I ever meet are black people. Hands down the dumbest, most ig'nant, openly racist things I've ever heard we from the mouths of black Americans.
25
I have never been a fan of Lindy's film reviews, or of the army of "isn't she great" syncophants who glommed onto her because she had the courage to point out that Sex in The City 3 was a shitty film with a shitty message. Having said that - I really, really, liked this piece.
26
Considering that 93% of income gains in the "recovery" year of 2010 went to the top 1%, @21, your third paragraph makes a valid point.
27
God, I'm glad Lindy's gone. Let me be clear, racism is a problem in this country. Lindy, a white hipster women, is mining a very complicated subject to give herself a momentary feeling of riotousness and superiority (plus a commission!). She writes with "humor", but what she is doing is condemning anyone who approaches (this very serious) topic with any light-heartedness or humor of their own. Zooey Deschanel making a "thug life" joke that doesn't even mention race simply isn't worth getting wound up over, unless you are attempting to make a career of it, I suppose. For an author known for her "comedy" writing, I find Lindy to be so sour and humorless. Her "fat" fight with Dan Savage, and this piece fit perfectly the mold.
She seems like one of those awful people that make lots and lots of jokes, some edgy, but is easily offended and gets righteous and huffy at the drop of a hat.
She seems like one of those awful people that make lots and lots of jokes, some edgy, but is easily offended and gets righteous and huffy at the drop of a hat.
28
Her inability to write was bad enough when she had a few column inches to fill. Now that she's writing "thoughtful" and "thorough" analysis... eyes+fork.
29
Well first of all I would like to pat our society on the back for advancing from slavery, lynching, segregation, anti-mysogeny laws, etc, to insensitive semantics. This is progress. However...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-s…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-s…
30
Boom! I love Lindy West when she's not writing about some obscure pop-cultural thing I'll never see or hear. She's probably good on those too, I'll just never know.
32
I hate Lindy West's writing style only slightly more than whatever non-event she's writing about any particular day.
33
Usually I love Lindsey but this strident absolutist self-righteousness has got to stop. Does her world now exist entirely without context?
So, list out all the words nobody can say so nobody might be offended? What are we at now? A quater of the nouns in the OED?
For fuck sake. Seriously? This is the sum-total liberal racial awareness now?
"Look I'm ending racism by NOT dong stuff like saying the wrong words. And, hey, I'm bitching when other people do! My complete orthodox inaction makes me AWESOME!"
We get it. You hate racism. you feel guilty. Ok. We all do. You don't need to signal to us at every opportunity. Just fucking treat people decently and work to change institutions to be fair. But this idiotic word-offense shit has got to stop.
Also I guess the tide has turned for poor Zooey Deschanel since apparently she is the font and source of all hipster hate. Particularly by other hipsters. Like Lindsey.
So, list out all the words nobody can say so nobody might be offended? What are we at now? A quater of the nouns in the OED?
For fuck sake. Seriously? This is the sum-total liberal racial awareness now?
"Look I'm ending racism by NOT dong stuff like saying the wrong words. And, hey, I'm bitching when other people do! My complete orthodox inaction makes me AWESOME!"
We get it. You hate racism. you feel guilty. Ok. We all do. You don't need to signal to us at every opportunity. Just fucking treat people decently and work to change institutions to be fair. But this idiotic word-offense shit has got to stop.
Also I guess the tide has turned for poor Zooey Deschanel since apparently she is the font and source of all hipster hate. Particularly by other hipsters. Like Lindsey.
34
"Okay. That's probably the most racist thing you've said all day, imaginary amalgam of all the careless hipsters in the world."
This sentence made the whole article. By being so wonderfully self aware, she seals her right to make her argument. Lindy's writing style is informal, conversational, and silly, and I can see why that rubs some people the wrong way. Indeed, I wouldn't tolerate it if not for the fact that she manages to be so honest. But not everything should have to be serious and formal, even when talking about serious subjects. Comic writers contribute a lot, by making hard messages go down easier and extending conversation about serious topics to audiences who don't like serious writing. It took me a while to "get" Lindy West, but I'm glad I did.
This sentence made the whole article. By being so wonderfully self aware, she seals her right to make her argument. Lindy's writing style is informal, conversational, and silly, and I can see why that rubs some people the wrong way. Indeed, I wouldn't tolerate it if not for the fact that she manages to be so honest. But not everything should have to be serious and formal, even when talking about serious subjects. Comic writers contribute a lot, by making hard messages go down easier and extending conversation about serious topics to audiences who don't like serious writing. It took me a while to "get" Lindy West, but I'm glad I did.
35
@31
People's definitions of hipsters vary widely. My favorite was hearing a group of "wife-beater and black jeans" hipsters sniggering at a group of "flannel, beards, glasses" hipsters. My guess is that 90% of people who read this blog (including you, including me) meet someone's definition of a hipster. The 10% are probably the openly racist trolls who seem to love hanging around slog. They are rednecks.
p.s.
http://www.worldcompass.org/users/lindy-…
Come on. Hipster.
People's definitions of hipsters vary widely. My favorite was hearing a group of "wife-beater and black jeans" hipsters sniggering at a group of "flannel, beards, glasses" hipsters. My guess is that 90% of people who read this blog (including you, including me) meet someone's definition of a hipster. The 10% are probably the openly racist trolls who seem to love hanging around slog. They are rednecks.
p.s.
http://www.worldcompass.org/users/lindy-…
Come on. Hipster.
36
@33, you said what I was trying to say, but better.
Also, where do my black-hipster friends and acquaintances fit into Lindy's world? I have to say, my black friends joke more about race (both whites and blacks as the butt of the jokes), than the white people I know.
Also, where do my black-hipster friends and acquaintances fit into Lindy's world? I have to say, my black friends joke more about race (both whites and blacks as the butt of the jokes), than the white people I know.
38
I think Lindy is being pretty racist by thinking "thug" means "black person." There are thugs in every color of the human rainbow.
40
When encountering a Lindy West article the first thing any intelligent person should do is hit the back button.
41
Congratulations Lindy- this easily sums up racism in a nutshell. It's too bad it came at the end of the post, after most of the asshats had already shut off their brains.
If you claim that you are not a racist person (or, at least, that you're committed to working your ass off not to be one—which is really the best that any of us can promise), then you must believe that people are fundamentally born equal. So if that's true, then in a vacuum, factors like skin color should have no effect on anyone's success. Right? And therefore, if you really believe that all people are created equal, then when you see that drastic racial inequalities exist in the real world, the only thing that you could possibly conclude is that some external force is holding certain people back. Like...racism. Right? So congratulations! You believe in racism! Unless you don't actually think that people are born equal. And if you don't believe that people are born equal, then you're a fucking racist.
Congratulations Lindy- this easily sums up racism in a nutshell. It's too bad it came at the end of the post, after most of the asshats had already shut off their brains.
43
"Another homerun by Lindy"
Not until the unlikely chance that she gets her fat ass around the bases.
Not until the unlikely chance that she gets her fat ass around the bases.
44
", the only thing that you could possibly conclude is that some external force is holding certain people back. "
Or, more likely, it's their fucked up culture and values.
Or, more likely, it's their fucked up culture and values.
45
@4: "Could the faded Gawker empire making a comeback? They hire Rich Juzwiak, they hire Lindy...so great."
Also Mobutu Sese Seko. I just wish the comments section of Gawker/Jezebel didn't make me hate humanity so much. After the redesign the leftovers were just the dumbest, most pitiful creatures.
Also Mobutu Sese Seko. I just wish the comments section of Gawker/Jezebel didn't make me hate humanity so much. After the redesign the leftovers were just the dumbest, most pitiful creatures.
47
The Pacific Northwest is weird. All accounts I know of the Northwest show a deformed, myopic mentality. I knew a guy who grew up in the Wedgewood area of Seattle. Awful outlook he had on everything. Then there are books like "This Boy's Life" by Tobias Wolff. Where I live, nobody cares about anything at all. We don't care about New York or respect New Yorkers. If I see a Newyorker walking around, I immediately know it. They have a smug self-assured attitude and often where a jacket that rides above their hips. I am ready to secede from the USA to join Canada.
48
@41 What? No it doesn't sum up racism. It's as simplistic as it is reliant on idiotic platitudes.
People are born equal? What? People are NOT born equal. What stupid thing to say. It's provably wrong.
People are born different sizes, different strengths, different abilities. The only thing right about it is the only factors we can effect are the external factors. Social class. That's the entire point of working to promote social justice.
What's important is that people be TREATED as equal under the law and rules of society. It is not how they were born, but LAWS and social constructs that govern them that matter.
Tirades like Lindsey's, while well intentioned, are ultimately divisive and petty. Typical of the distraction identity politics parroted by people almost exclusively from privilege who won't do the real back-breaking work to make things better for other people.
Partially it has to with the helplessness people feel about the big problems in the world - things that require massive institutional changes - so they go after things they think they can control. And partially it has to with signaling their own desire to be included in a group of "right minded" people. But lately it's liberals just eating themselves.
Telling people what words they can and can't use, or what jokes they should tell, has fuck all to do with making anybodies life any better. Equating every edgy phrase or joke to the threatening racial epithets hurled by the KKK in civl rights days is the racial equivalent of Godwin-ing an argument. And I'm sick the threat of the accusation of racism being used as a rhetorical cudgel.
If we paid literal heed to every tirade like Lindsey's - from the rightwing religious nuts to the leftwing outrage brigade - our culture would ground down to a bland edgeless swamp of committee approved pap so ideologically filtered there would be nothing interesting left.
More...
People are born equal? What? People are NOT born equal. What stupid thing to say. It's provably wrong.
People are born different sizes, different strengths, different abilities. The only thing right about it is the only factors we can effect are the external factors. Social class. That's the entire point of working to promote social justice.
What's important is that people be TREATED as equal under the law and rules of society. It is not how they were born, but LAWS and social constructs that govern them that matter.
Tirades like Lindsey's, while well intentioned, are ultimately divisive and petty. Typical of the distraction identity politics parroted by people almost exclusively from privilege who won't do the real back-breaking work to make things better for other people.
Partially it has to with the helplessness people feel about the big problems in the world - things that require massive institutional changes - so they go after things they think they can control. And partially it has to with signaling their own desire to be included in a group of "right minded" people. But lately it's liberals just eating themselves.
Telling people what words they can and can't use, or what jokes they should tell, has fuck all to do with making anybodies life any better. Equating every edgy phrase or joke to the threatening racial epithets hurled by the KKK in civl rights days is the racial equivalent of Godwin-ing an argument. And I'm sick the threat of the accusation of racism being used as a rhetorical cudgel.
If we paid literal heed to every tirade like Lindsey's - from the rightwing religious nuts to the leftwing outrage brigade - our culture would ground down to a bland edgeless swamp of committee approved pap so ideologically filtered there would be nothing interesting left.
49
I rather liked it, too. Especially the part about 'stuff white people like'- I've always found that site a little skeevy and this helps articulate much of the reason.
50
@38
Technically speaking there are actually very few thugs of any color around these days. The damn brits did a bang-up job of wiping out the worship of Kali. It was only after the British wiped out the Thug-gees that they decided to denigrate that great religion and use the term thug on mere petty criminals instead of using it properly on just those who strangled people in the name of the great Kali. Rather hate to think of what the criminal underclass would be called if instead of Kali they had worshiped Cthulhu instead.
Technically speaking there are actually very few thugs of any color around these days. The damn brits did a bang-up job of wiping out the worship of Kali. It was only after the British wiped out the Thug-gees that they decided to denigrate that great religion and use the term thug on mere petty criminals instead of using it properly on just those who strangled people in the name of the great Kali. Rather hate to think of what the criminal underclass would be called if instead of Kali they had worshiped Cthulhu instead.
51
Man I love watching white people awkwardly dodge discussions of racism by nitpicking exactly what kind of prejudice something is, I mean GAWD it's CLASSISM you guys YOU USED THE WRONG ISM SO I AM NOT RACIST.
Dipshits.
Also, seriously, Lindy West is to misogynist fuckheads what BET is to racists. They just froth at the mouth and can't resist posting in any concerned threads about how horribly terribly bad she is. HA HA U MAD SEXISTS.
Dipshits.
Also, seriously, Lindy West is to misogynist fuckheads what BET is to racists. They just froth at the mouth and can't resist posting in any concerned threads about how horribly terribly bad she is. HA HA U MAD SEXISTS.
52
Yeah, this article is super racist.
"Not our best, white people. Not our best." (racist)
"real thugs are black people who do crime!" (mad racist)
Implying that going to IHOP is racist: racist.
Implying that you have to excavate something that is "navajo" is racist.
I mean... it's not racist by my definition because I don't think it is done with malice and I don't think it's going to hurt anyone, but by the author's own definition, her article is pretty racist.
"Not our best, white people. Not our best." (racist)
"real thugs are black people who do crime!" (mad racist)
Implying that going to IHOP is racist: racist.
Implying that you have to excavate something that is "navajo" is racist.
I mean... it's not racist by my definition because I don't think it is done with malice and I don't think it's going to hurt anyone, but by the author's own definition, her article is pretty racist.
53
This article on racism might be cool except it is in fact close to a perpetuation of what it complains. It is almost as if the writer takes issue with the commodification of blackness by white people because it's cliche and not because it's racist. Â ...using the expression of calling something ghetto as one of your bullet points of racism mixes up class and race and is an example of the problem of painting the ghetto one color from the outside. Trade marking that statement by the way. Her article fails to unpack the statements she attributes to imaginary people as what they say about class as well as race. Discussions of racism need to move away from assumptions about whiteness as much as blackness. I wish the writer could have used this platform to use her skill to explore how these mythical one dimensional "hipsters" she has observed are perhaps extorting that they themselves are slumming it, or intersecting with the culture of the ghetto out of choice and not because they aren't actually poor. Is pbr cool or is pbr just effing cheap. love Lindy west but I have to call this one as a swing and a miss; At least she causes the discussion.
54
@50- I figured we were all talking about modern usage. I still here people use "thug" to describe petty and violent people in all sorts of situations. The first person I ever saw with a "Thug Life" tattoo was a white.
It was, if I may digress, and really fantastic tattoo. He was working the door at a hardcore show in Alston Massachusetts, and the tattoo was on his forearm. The background was a marijuana leaf about six inches in height, with a skull superimposed on it. Under the skull and still superimposed on the leaf was a banner and on the banner the words in an Old English looking font.
It was, if I may digress, and really fantastic tattoo. He was working the door at a hardcore show in Alston Massachusetts, and the tattoo was on his forearm. The background was a marijuana leaf about six inches in height, with a skull superimposed on it. Under the skull and still superimposed on the leaf was a banner and on the banner the words in an Old English looking font.
55
There's a variant Lindy missed, the one where not-especially-racist people adopt full-throated foaming racist personae to amuse themselves. This happens anonymously on the internet, mostly. It's racist, of course. The people doing it know perfectly well that it's racist, and also meta-racist, and reverse double racist, and then back down to plain ugly racist again. That's sort of the point of the whole weird exercise, as far as I can make out. And telling them to knock it off because it might hurt people probably isn't going to work.
@54: "thug life" can't be spelled correctly using any other kind of font.
@54: "thug life" can't be spelled correctly using any other kind of font.
56
@51: BET is a racist's wet dream. Have you ever seen anything on BET? It seemingly exists solely to perpetuate the sterotypes that keep the black community down.
If anything it is just trying to make black people stupid and complacent.
If anything it is just trying to make black people stupid and complacent.
57
There are a number of terms which are not clear but used widely. Hipster and Yuppie both have a variety of meanings and are thrown around by who have some insecurities. Perhaps these terms are being used interchangeably? There is also some mystery surrounding at what point one is merely just a "person". If hipster means just young sort of person who is into and perhaps snobby about subculture, I can't see what the point of hating them is! One has to rise above other people's snooty negativity and perhaps one's own as well. This is obviously written by someone who is a pot calling the kettle black. It's an interesting subject though, actually, and it isn't being dealt with properly, how a community can be affected by these kind of subcultures. I would prefer to read an article written by a sociologist.
58
Since hipsters are embroiled in subculture, is the dislike of them not in fact Monoculture assaulting a subculture growing inside it? It's like someone who works at McDonald's hating someone who works at a locally owned restaurant, and calling the local restaurant owner a "hipster".
60
I think Beck was the first hipster-racist of my generation; especially with "Midnight Vultures". Hipster-racism is so played out now that those lame, populist SNL attempts don't even register with me.
61
Where I live the Hillbilly type hipsters have generally done things like getting food from local farmers and catering at the soup kitchen. And not just sometimes, but they put together a catering service using locally grown food and fed the homeless everyday. Eventually they opened a worker's collective restaurant using local food and did hillbilly stuff like serve beer in mason jars at the bar instead of glasses. Also, they regularly have Somalian immigrants in there that they work with. I work with African immigrants myself. To me it just sounds like upperclass snobbishness of the New York/Los Angeles variety, where the people are so filled with self-righteousness and negativity, that they can barely paint anything that isn't a pessimistic Kasimir Malevich square, and frown on all forms of life not in their doctor's office style remodeled condos.
62
Ack. Seattle-Hipster influences and preoccupations have obviously left their mark on Lindy's writing, character and outlook.
Lindy, some advice: Stay out of Larchmont, WeHo and Silverlake and go find some real friends who live in a ratty apartment on, say, 86th and Western. Then, when at one of their parties, when you've learned to communicate and appreciate everyone in the room and are finally feeling comfortable in your own skin, then try to write something worthwhile.
Lindy, some advice: Stay out of Larchmont, WeHo and Silverlake and go find some real friends who live in a ratty apartment on, say, 86th and Western. Then, when at one of their parties, when you've learned to communicate and appreciate everyone in the room and are finally feeling comfortable in your own skin, then try to write something worthwhile.
63
Part of the commonality between "hipster" and "racist" lies in the simple fact they are behaviors based upon the perception of elevating the beholder above the beheld. Sadly, insecurities are what engender these kinds of behavior in a chicken and the egg spiral of misery; becoming secure in oneself obviates the need to feel superior. Freeing oneself from acting the behavior removes the internal bonds of fear. At least that's how it works for me.
Peace.
Peace.
64
Addendum to #62,
In addition, removing racist fear allows one to have new acquaintances and experiences undreamed of while being locked into delusion. Fear itself, that is the true enemy.
Peace.
In addition, removing racist fear allows one to have new acquaintances and experiences undreamed of while being locked into delusion. Fear itself, that is the true enemy.
Peace.
65
It's obvious that this woman Lindy is or was a hipster and merely hates her own kind. If the stuck up westcoast or New York hipster sneers self-righteously in its pseudo-European reality, sneering back at them only makes you at least respectful toward them. Her article shows her involvement with them. I myself am not involved and don't care what they do.
66
So what!
I was racist before it was cool.
@61
Thanks for helping out with the Muslim invasion shithead, I am sure your daughter will appreciate the clitoral circumcision.
I was racist before it was cool.
@61
Thanks for helping out with the Muslim invasion shithead, I am sure your daughter will appreciate the clitoral circumcision.
67
I dont think you understand the Muslim invasion. I am reading a book about Somalia now called Links by Nerudin Farah. He states that the outbreak of the Somalian war began as the result of the United Kingdom sending Somalian money printed in the UK to the northern sector of Mogadiscio. Consequently, this started a clan war between the north and south, forcing many Somalians to become refugees in the USA and Europe. I would also point out that Somalia is rich enough in oil to attract our western oil companies. See the oil exploration timeline here:
http://www.somalitalk.com/oil/somalia_oi…
Obviously, there is a good reason to start a civil war there eh? If they are embroiled in war, we can control their oil, just like Libya. Thus, we have a responsibility to help integrate them into American society. They come to the USA and live in isolation, sometimes in bedbug ridden apartments.
http://www.somalitalk.com/oil/somalia_oi…
Obviously, there is a good reason to start a civil war there eh? If they are embroiled in war, we can control their oil, just like Libya. Thus, we have a responsibility to help integrate them into American society. They come to the USA and live in isolation, sometimes in bedbug ridden apartments.
68
Lindy was a hipster,
She sneered just like James Dean,
Oft she looked into the mirror,
And kept her body lean,
Her shirt she tucked in spritely,
Her pants were tight at waist,
And when she went out nightly,
Wore a sneer upon her face.
She sneered just like James Dean,
Oft she looked into the mirror,
And kept her body lean,
Her shirt she tucked in spritely,
Her pants were tight at waist,
And when she went out nightly,
Wore a sneer upon her face.
69
@67
Except we cant get oil from a country torn by civil war. Also African wars do not really need much outside influence to start, they are a tribal people, tribal war is what they do.
Also fuck them for spitting on the ground when I am walking my dog while drinking a beer. I am OK with them integrating, but they do not seem to like America very much.
Except we cant get oil from a country torn by civil war. Also African wars do not really need much outside influence to start, they are a tribal people, tribal war is what they do.
Also fuck them for spitting on the ground when I am walking my dog while drinking a beer. I am OK with them integrating, but they do not seem to like America very much.
70
Just face it, the Europeans and Americans with their banks influence and direct changes in all nations. We do it in every nation. Serbia is another good example.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c…
Buy a cat - they don't need walking.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c…
Buy a cat - they don't need walking.
73
Whatever. The day our military stops intervening abroad I will believe it. These interventions are suspicious. Rationalize it however you want, but to me you are just another right wing nut who looks no further than the end of his nose, only what directly effects you yourself, for example your fear of a black person spitting. It directly effects you, and that is all you care about. It's myopic.
74
West is not thinking clearly. Probably has nothing to do with her weight. She asserts you wouldn't make a joke if you thought all people were equal and you saw racism as a force that creates inequality. But the reason you lampoon the construct is because you see it as absurd because you think all people are equal. Now doing this conspicuously to aggrandize yourself as seeing the absurdity of rascism show a lack of character. But doing it because it's fucking hilarious and socially positive to the majority of all people who aren't totally tight-assed is great. Exhibit A Tracy Morgan and John Hamm on last week's 30 Rock. According to West's schematic rascist nastiness; I'd say completely the opposite (healing, positive, and fucking hilarious).
75
I was arguing about this with some friends recently. One of my white female friends thinks it's cute to declare that she has "the itis" -- otherwise known as "niggeritis" -- after she's eaten a particularly large meal and is feeling stuffed and lazy. In what world is that NOT racist? My argument is that she'd never make jokes like that around black people, so why is it acceptable doing it around white people? Some of my friends agree with me, but others have made me feel like a humorless, overly PC buzzkill for even raising the question. Am I being crazy here??
77
@72 You are one to talk about civil war and how easy it is: Do I not see a Cascadian Flag with an automatic weapon superimposed on it for your avatar? Does that not imply aggression, secession, and possibly civil war? I see no difference in your form of balkanization and that in the former Yugoslavia.
78
@77
Yes, semi-automatic, and not superimposed.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation...
But really, no one wants a civil war.
Yes, semi-automatic, and not superimposed.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation...
But really, no one wants a civil war.
79
@78 I believe in secession also, but I dont think displaying guns will help. I prefer Vermont's style of it being a voting procedure in the state. They mint their own coins as "tokens". They made a new flag. Guns will just bring the Federal Marshalls down on you, and perhaps they can shoot better!
http://vermontrepublic.org/
http://vermontrepublic.org/
80
I would have no trouble following the rules if they didn't change every five minutes and weren't so arbitrary. It doesn't help that these rule were created by guilty white people who seem to decide which word is 'bad' depending on how bad they were feeling a particular week.
Also does this actually help anyone? Does it make problems go away? Because most of the Social Justice Sally's I know just tend to alienate me instead of convincing me of their point.
Also does this actually help anyone? Does it make problems go away? Because most of the Social Justice Sally's I know just tend to alienate me instead of convincing me of their point.
81
I had a black friend, a woman, who I used to hang out with, who had a Mohawk and talked in affected white person tones. Yet I never introduced her as "my black friend". I actually thought of her as "Haitian". In fact, sometimes I wanted to just hang out with normal black people. I have only respected them, and when I see black men walking, I think of them as "Men" in the sense of a capital "M" rather than merely black.
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