Strike a Juxtapose

Yeah, if you get that one, you know it’s going to be one of those entries.

For all of the blind readers out there, I’m sure you’re quite thankful for audiobooks, podcasts, and the like, but what do you do if you want to read Playboy (you know, for the articles)?  Well, if you’re familiar with the organization “Taping For The Blind,” you might try the radio.

Each week, for an hour, [Suzi] Hanks snuggles close to a microphone in a tiny soundproof closet, reading — and describing in great detail — portions of the latest Playboy issue for the blind.

“I don’t have to try to read it sexy,” laughs Hanks, one of about 200 volunteers… “I just read it, and I’m a woman, and that’s pretty much sexy.”

Then again, if you’re blind, it seems pretty unlikely that you’d be reading this site.

Also, it appears as though there is an “I” in “TEAM”?

And a pretty good sign of society’s general misapprehension of definitions in political philosophy:

And finally, some “news” that appears as though it might be categorized as irony but really isn’t, there is some scientific evidence that suggests that “hipsters” hate “hipsters” more than anyone else.

Just so we’re all on the same page here, the definition of a hipster we’re working with is: one who consumes independent products before everyone else. However, the people that practice such rituals vehemently claim that they don’t fit inside that label, because once the label is attached to someone, the mystique is lost. Are you still with us here?

The reason hipsters reject the term is because science has proven the term “hipster” is now nothing more than a marketing label, and all the Gen Y kids wearing ironic clothing and rocking fancy new iPods have been hoodwinked by some advertising executive. You are nothing more than a target market, a sexy and well-contained social category that has lots of money to spend.

Though I don’t think the article cited has a broad-ranging enough definition of a hipster, as I’ve already unabashedly said, I have no problem considering myself a hipster and don’t hate Hipsters writ large.  But I can see why people who might fall into a broader definition of Hipster still have problems with the construct.  Hipsterdom, more than anything, is defined by making oneself relationally unique as an attempt to signal or approximate one’s own depth of character and consciousness of taste.  To such a person attempting to distinguish his or her self as an individual, applying the all-encompassing and reductive label of “hipster” is the deepest cut possible.  Therefore, it is no surprise that these hipsters preemptively and defensively proclaim their hate for “hipsters” and thereby attempt to secure their position as distinct from the rest of the hipster masses.

But if you want a hipster to hate, there’s everyone’s new favorite: Hipster Hitler.