We talked about "hipster" meaning "irony" here. Now we are hearing about " hipster racism:"

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Hipster racism is, of course, modern-day prejudice that has gone undercover. It is an escape hatch for those who realize, “Sure, you can’t say racist things anymore, but you can pretend to say them. Which, it turns out, is pretty much the exact same thing.”

Have you heard the phrase before? What do you think?

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We talked about "hipster" meaning "irony"

"Hipster" means "a 'cool' person", one who is familiar with, and follows, the modern trends, rejecting conformity. It was an early term meaning essentially the same as "hippy". Since "hip" and "hippy" are themselves rather outmoded these days, the word seems rather self-unreferential, if that's possible. One might as well use "hepcat".

In both cases you mention the two writers seem to use the noun in apposition, to mean "mocking", "aimed at those in the know", and they both use "irony" as apposite nouns. I suspect neither would be much better than Alanis Morrisette at recognising irony if it jumped out and bit them.

Oh - and no. I haven't come across the phrase before.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: arnie,

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Originally posted by arnie:

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We talked about "hipster" meaning "irony"

"Hipster"... It was an early term meaning essentially the same as "hippy". Since "hip" and "hippy" are themselves rather outmoded these days, the word seems rather self-unreferential, if that's possible...

I agree, hippies were in fact the most unironic creatures imaginable ("Oh, Wo-oo-ow!") As I recall, this was in response to the unutterable irony of being cannon fodder for their daddies' war... (hence the 'generation gap')

Yet I do find today's hipster humor, as evidenced by the shows 'the Office' and 'Portlandia' so deadpann-ironic as to come very close to being humorless.

I observe today's 'hipster racism' in my son's band, which includes an inner-city black, a Mexican, a couple of white-bread NJteens & a Dane. Listening to their very poliically-incorrect patter as they bustle about here (where they rehearse), I have gleaned from it only that racism is so very yesterday's generation... perhaps they are just way ahead of us fogies...

I think it shows that they are just more comfortable with different races, which hasn't always been the case.

I also found the word "ironic" to be odd in describing "hipster."

I'm with B35 on this one. A lot of humor these days deals with race and racism in ways that can be misunderstood by folks outside the group (age, race, class, etc.). I would like to say that these misunderstandings are based on just plain old ignorance, but oftentimes I believe that they are more firmly rooted in a deliberate attempt at not understanding the complexity of the issues.

I also found the word "ironic" to be odd in describing "hipster."

I think of hipsters as being ironic or of using irony often.

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Originally posted by bethree5:
I agree, hippies were in fact the most unironic creatures imaginable ("Oh, Wo-oo-ow!") As I recall, this was in response to the unutterable irony of being cannon fodder for their daddies' war... (hence the 'generation gap')

No--it was in response to the drugs! Hippies and their hangers on were quite ironic, as I recall!

Wordmatic
(who was there, but not necessarily participating.)

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Originally posted by bethree5:


Yet I do find today's hipster humor, as evidenced by the shows 'the Office' and 'Portlandia' so deadpann-ironic as to come very close to being humorless.

Portlandia? Maine or Oregon? If Oregon, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it. If Oregon, there's plenty of irony there, which is part of why Sue convinced me to move from there to where hypocrisy and idiocy is more open.

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Listening to their very poliically-incorrect patter as they bustle about here (where they rehearse), I have gleaned from it only that racism is so very yesterday's generation... perhaps they are just way ahead of us fogies...

I've witnessed this phenomenon a bit in my son, as well. He and his friends, however, joke about "the race card" a lot and he's even been granted an "Honorary Black Card" as if it's a club. However, there are some things that he would class as racist speech that I don't notice in myself, and I'm always flummoxed and surprised.