One of my favorite paradox of contemporary times is that of the hipsters as explained in this article: http://www.louisvillecardinal.com/2011/11/hipster-paradox-underground-mainstream/. I have no intention of picking on anyone here or especially judging any individual. I just can't help but to make some general observations. I'm only using this one paradox as an example of human nature in general. For an explanation of what a hipster is see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture). (You know you're on the Autism spectrum when you use Wikipedia or even Urban Dictionary to understand the contemporary world.)
In American culture, every generation seems to rebel against the last and there is a vicious cycle of snobbery vs. reverse snobbery, and of conformity vs. non-conformity. We had the "roaring twenties", then the Great Depression, then the suburban 50's, then the hippies. Many of the hippies turned into yuppies in the early 1980's. Then came the 90's with "alternative", grunge, and gangster rap. After that we had the metrosexual(If you're not familiar with any of these terms, look it up.) I know the term "metrosexual" seems very 2003 but I think it was mainly a regurgitation of the early 1980's yuppie. After that there was "emo" and "hipsters". I'm in my 30's now so I'm not as familiar with the past couple of years as younger people may be. I never really fit into any of these trends myself. I do have a few things in common with hipsters however. As seen on some of my chosen blog topics I do have a strong curiosity for anything obscure. I too get tired of the superficiality of pop-culture. I also appreciate creativity and love healthy food. On the other hand I'm not into aviator sunglasses and I dress rather plain. I don't go around pretending that I'm the first of my generation to have discovered Jimi Hendrix or psychedelic rock. My musical taste is undefined but I do like some pop music and I'm not afraid to admit it.
I can remember the show "Frasier" which was big around the metrosexual period. It good-naturedly poked fun at upper-middle-class snobbery and juxtaposed it against a down-to-earth father. I also was reading a blog post (which I'd rather not link to as the tone was a little...harsh) where somewhere compared hipsters to hillbillies. They pointed out the similarities in the lifestyles which at first appear opposite. The article then observed how a hipster may look down on people who eat meat, while the hillbilly frowns on vegetarians. I mean they're just fun generalizations but there is a point here.
My intent with this post is to make a fun example of how the human ego works. We may observe something wrong with the world, rebel against it, then become smug, and finally we end up becoming like the people we are judging. It all goes back and forth becoming a vicious cycle. Also, once non-conformists become "cool" and gain respect then they become the conformists and begin rejecting people the same way they once feel that they were rejected. I learned this the hard way. I was in many ways a non-conformist and figured I'd maybe fit in better with the "alternative", grunge, "Pearl Jammer", Gothic, raver... crowd which I had little in common with but I didn't think I had to. I only realized that they could be just as selective, judgmental, unapproachable and sometimes arrogant as the so called "popular crowd" (jocks, preps...). Only advantage is that the "coffee house" alternative crowd seemed lees inclined toward bullying. There is also internal snobbery in non-conformist subcultures. People end up pointing fingers regarding who is authentic and who is a wanna-be. Once the rebellion becomes imitated and more mainstream then people have to try to convince the world that "they" were the first to sport ugly vintage sunglasses before it became cool and that everyone else including celebrities somehow copied off of them. It's just funny how people can go from hating the "bourgeoisie" to developing some of the same shallow characteristics that they perceived as being "bourgeoisie".
Oh and another thing...this I observed before the whole hipster thing but the "Salvation Army chic" look confuses me. I mean I love thrift shops. I have found some nice clothes there and I love frugality. I also admire creative people who will use old clothes from the thrift shop and create a new look with it. Of course some people can pull off just about anything. I cannot, therefore I tend to be more cautious. Where things start to get ridiculous is when very expensive designer brands that market to the "snob community" and up selling new clothes that are made to look like the clothes of a homeless person with deliberate fading and ripped in several places but then sell them at obscenely high prices. That on the other hand is neither frugal nor creative. I mean maybe there's more to it that I just don't get, but if I were a homeless person I wouldn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted. I mean people spending huge amounts of money to look like the people whom they would never associate with to save their lives seems like a huge contradiction to me.
Overall I still see individuality and creativity as a good thing, but it is necessary to keep the ego in check as when exercising any virtue. I think it's at the moment that we become smug when we become more like the people we judge and the Devil has a good laugh.
There does seem to be a parallel between "hipster" culture and "Autistic/Aspergers" culture. There is non-conformity in both except that Aspergers is not a chosen lifestyle (though some people seem to perceive it that way). Sometimes I even get on occasional of reverse snobbery in the "ASD community". This of course doesn't make those with ASD better or worse than neurotypical people, just equal.
In American culture, every generation seems to rebel against the last and there is a vicious cycle of snobbery vs. reverse snobbery, and of conformity vs. non-conformity. We had the "roaring twenties", then the Great Depression, then the suburban 50's, then the hippies. Many of the hippies turned into yuppies in the early 1980's. Then came the 90's with "alternative", grunge, and gangster rap. After that we had the metrosexual(If you're not familiar with any of these terms, look it up.) I know the term "metrosexual" seems very 2003 but I think it was mainly a regurgitation of the early 1980's yuppie. After that there was "emo" and "hipsters". I'm in my 30's now so I'm not as familiar with the past couple of years as younger people may be. I never really fit into any of these trends myself. I do have a few things in common with hipsters however. As seen on some of my chosen blog topics I do have a strong curiosity for anything obscure. I too get tired of the superficiality of pop-culture. I also appreciate creativity and love healthy food. On the other hand I'm not into aviator sunglasses and I dress rather plain. I don't go around pretending that I'm the first of my generation to have discovered Jimi Hendrix or psychedelic rock. My musical taste is undefined but I do like some pop music and I'm not afraid to admit it.
I can remember the show "Frasier" which was big around the metrosexual period. It good-naturedly poked fun at upper-middle-class snobbery and juxtaposed it against a down-to-earth father. I also was reading a blog post (which I'd rather not link to as the tone was a little...harsh) where somewhere compared hipsters to hillbillies. They pointed out the similarities in the lifestyles which at first appear opposite. The article then observed how a hipster may look down on people who eat meat, while the hillbilly frowns on vegetarians. I mean they're just fun generalizations but there is a point here.
My intent with this post is to make a fun example of how the human ego works. We may observe something wrong with the world, rebel against it, then become smug, and finally we end up becoming like the people we are judging. It all goes back and forth becoming a vicious cycle. Also, once non-conformists become "cool" and gain respect then they become the conformists and begin rejecting people the same way they once feel that they were rejected. I learned this the hard way. I was in many ways a non-conformist and figured I'd maybe fit in better with the "alternative", grunge, "Pearl Jammer", Gothic, raver... crowd which I had little in common with but I didn't think I had to. I only realized that they could be just as selective, judgmental, unapproachable and sometimes arrogant as the so called "popular crowd" (jocks, preps...). Only advantage is that the "coffee house" alternative crowd seemed lees inclined toward bullying. There is also internal snobbery in non-conformist subcultures. People end up pointing fingers regarding who is authentic and who is a wanna-be. Once the rebellion becomes imitated and more mainstream then people have to try to convince the world that "they" were the first to sport ugly vintage sunglasses before it became cool and that everyone else including celebrities somehow copied off of them. It's just funny how people can go from hating the "bourgeoisie" to developing some of the same shallow characteristics that they perceived as being "bourgeoisie".
Oh and another thing...this I observed before the whole hipster thing but the "Salvation Army chic" look confuses me. I mean I love thrift shops. I have found some nice clothes there and I love frugality. I also admire creative people who will use old clothes from the thrift shop and create a new look with it. Of course some people can pull off just about anything. I cannot, therefore I tend to be more cautious. Where things start to get ridiculous is when very expensive designer brands that market to the "snob community" and up selling new clothes that are made to look like the clothes of a homeless person with deliberate fading and ripped in several places but then sell them at obscenely high prices. That on the other hand is neither frugal nor creative. I mean maybe there's more to it that I just don't get, but if I were a homeless person I wouldn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted. I mean people spending huge amounts of money to look like the people whom they would never associate with to save their lives seems like a huge contradiction to me.
Overall I still see individuality and creativity as a good thing, but it is necessary to keep the ego in check as when exercising any virtue. I think it's at the moment that we become smug when we become more like the people we judge and the Devil has a good laugh.
There does seem to be a parallel between "hipster" culture and "Autistic/Aspergers" culture. There is non-conformity in both except that Aspergers is not a chosen lifestyle (though some people seem to perceive it that way). Sometimes I even get on occasional of reverse snobbery in the "ASD community". This of course doesn't make those with ASD better or worse than neurotypical people, just equal.
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