A Solution (RE: A Problem)

[Doktor Howl]

Not in my mind.  Your manner seems to hearken back to an uncomplicated definition of 'cool'.  Instead of sweating the depths of ironic/sincere recursivity, you're just doing a thing that feels right, and making it yours.  That's where cool normally comes from.  As Wikipedia says, "uncool redirects here".   That's the point.

I know someone who truly believes "cool" is a function of popularity.  They're one of my best friends despite this.

I have met people who think cool is authenticity, as your garden variety hipsters do.  They fetishize it to an absurd degree.  It's unreal.

I don't know what coolness is, but I have my doubts that it has a static value.

I think that the dialogue of defining "cool" and defining "authentic" is a core part of wannabeism.

Wait.

Just talking about it makes you a wannabe?

[Juana]

I like style. Style is not necessarily dependent on the current fads, I will wear what I think is stylish, and I will tell whoever feels that it isn't cool to fuck off.

just to interject a tangent:

my problem with gap/old navy/banana republic is their history unethical labor practices in third world countries. Their operations in the Honduras were only a smidgen different than slave labor. Only difference is that they made the slaves sign contracts.

/tangent

^ This. I need to sit down and do some research on the places I shop at, because I'm not ok with that.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

just to interject a tangent:

my problem with gap/old navy/banana republic is their history unethical labor practices in third world countries. Their operations in the Honduras were only a smidgen different than slave labor. Only difference is that they made the slaves sign contracts.

/tangent

Just about every clothing manufacturer uses what is essentially slave labor.  Some are worse than others (Nike, etc), but even Levis and Wranglers (American made until a few years ago) are made in sweatshops now.

This is one of two prime reasons many "hipsters" only buy used/vintage clothes... the other being that they're too poor to buy new, fashionable clothes.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Not in my mind.  Your manner seems to hearken back to an uncomplicated definition of 'cool'.  Instead of sweating the depths of ironic/sincere recursivity, you're just doing a thing that feels right, and making it yours.  That's where cool normally comes from.  As Wikipedia says, "uncool redirects here".   That's the point.

I know someone who truly believes "cool" is a function of popularity.  They're one of my best friends despite this.

I have met people who think cool is authenticity, as your garden variety hipsters do.  They fetishize it to an absurd degree.  It's unreal.

I don't know what coolness is, but I have my doubts that it has a static value.

I think that the dialogue of defining "cool" and defining "authentic" is a core part of wannabeism.

Wait.

Just talking about it makes you a wannabe?

It depends on the kind of talking. If what you're doing is laying out all of the reasons why you/your friends are "cool" and "authentic" vs. the reasons other people (who you look down on) are NOT "cool" and "authentic", then yeah, you're wanting to be, i.e. a wannabe.

ie. a hipster.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Think about it. Who sits around formulating opinions about what's "cool" and "authentic", besides people who think they are, and wish to be perceived as, cool and/or authentic? It's just another version of strutting and pissing. The modern, hip version of strutting and pissing.

[Kai]

Here's a question for you: What person with a healthy sense of self respect /doesn't/ want to be respected as cool and authentic, whatever that might mean for that person and their particular subculture?

[Nast]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

[Adios]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

[Nast]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

[Adios]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

Not really. I have been mocked and imitated depending on what was in style. And I still don't give a fuck.

[Don Coyote]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

Not really. I have been mocked and imitated depending on what was in style. And I still don't give a fuck.

DAMNIT. YOU ARE COOL. ACCEPT THAT.

[Adios]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

Not really. I have been mocked and imitated depending on what was in style. And I still don't give a fuck.

DAMNIT. YOU ARE COOL. ACCEPT THAT.

Only if you accept that I don't give a fuck.

[Don Coyote]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

Not really. I have been mocked and imitated depending on what was in style. And I still don't give a fuck.

DAMNIT. YOU ARE COOL. ACCEPT THAT.

Only if you accept that I don't give a fuck.

But of course my good man.

[Adios]

As much as people would like to say that they don't care what others think, I believe the desire for acceptance and approval from your peer group is perfectly normal. It's how you act out based on that that's important.

I have dressed and acted the same way my entire life without regard. What do you have to say to that?

Well that's cool too.

Not really. I have been mocked and imitated depending on what was in style. And I still don't give a fuck.

DAMNIT. YOU ARE COOL. ACCEPT THAT.

Only if you accept that I don't give a fuck.

But of course my good man.

I bought a Brooks and Dunn designer western shirt, and then I cut the sleeves out of it.
Hawk,
has his own agenda.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's a question for you: What person with a healthy sense of self respect /doesn't/ want to be respected as cool and authentic, whatever that might mean for that person and their particular subculture?

I suspect virtually no one, which is why, as a member of the urban progressive (relative) youth culture, I am not about to deny being a hipster. I think you get it.