I ROFL'd when I read this. And again when I was catching up on Behind the News podcasts and heard Silver Jews!
I don't know about hipsters in Austin, but I think Philly hipsters are drinking either $3 pints of Yards [a Kensington brewery] or Lion's Head lager [Scranton represent!]
Lastly, and most importantly, why do people find this amorphous class of individuals we're calling hipsters so detestable? I can't help but think that too many people on this list are pulling a 'what's with the kids these days?' knee-jerk.
Is it really only about finding prevailing cultural values stupid? If so, what's wrong with that? I'd think that this would be fertile ground for cultivating a movement of young people who want something more, who aren't wedded to gloom and doom apocalyptic leftism. There's just nothing left to join. Giving my twenty bucks for Labor Party membership feels just as pointless as sending checks to any organization.
Maybe it's just an outcome of suburban atomization returning to urban centers, but hipsters are still folks who want to belong to something. I think the success of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are testament to that. It's just that they seem more likely to bond with friends apolitically [even tho they may share values] than in any outward political sense. But again, since I moved back to Philadelphia from NYC, there've been precious few opportunities for public outcry locally, so there's no real outlet to demonstrate 'nonconformity.'
Having said all this, I'm curious to see how relatively new voters, folks who maybe voted first in 2000, turn out in '08. How else can you respond to corruption and twittery when you feel completely powerless? -- j t. r