Is Hating Hipsters Now Cooler Than Being a Hipster?

Is hating hipsters now cooler than being a hipster? I CAN’T KEEP UP. A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed that only 16% of Americans have a favorable view of hipsters. Forty-two percent of respondents view the group unfavorably and 43% aren’t sure what they think.

Ten percent of voters were self-identified hipsters. Fifty percent of voters aged 18-29 called themselves hipsters, while every other age group was reportedly less than five percent hipster.

Twelve percent of Democrats and 27% of Independents said they’d be more likely to vote for a hipster for a political office. Ninety-eight percent of Republicans said they would be less likely to vote for a hipster.

Twenty-seven percent of voters think hipsters should be subjected to a special tax for being so annoying, while 73% don’t think so. This is confusing because being pro-taxes is pretty hipster, and thinking other people are annoying is pretty hipster — so maybe this does mean the hipster movement is ending.

About a fifth of voters said PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) the only beer hipsters are allowed to drink is a good beer. According to this guy Chris on LoveGoodBeer.com PBR was so uncool in the 90s that it became cool, which is the epitome of hipster things. Not surprisingly Independents were the least likely to say they liked the beer, and Democrats were six percent more likely to like it than republicans.

The most colorful of the questions was,“Do hipsters make a positive cultural contribution to society of do they just soullessly appropriate cultural tropes from the past for their own ironic amusement?” Forty-six percent said soulless cultural appropriation, 23% said they contributed culturally and 31% of voters probably didn’t understand "soullessly appropriate cultural tropes."

So should I still buy a set of mason jars to use as drinking glasses for my apartment or what? According to the PPP survey the jury is still out for most Americans.

But the anti-hipster movement is gaining momentum. Gawker broke news that the hipster app of choice, Instagram, was recently responsible for locating identity thieves after the couple Instagrammed their steak and macaroni and cheese from Morton’s Steakhouse with the caption “Morton’s.” Whether this will be good or bad for the hipster movement is unclear. Will they as a group be labeled tech savvy (or not-savvy) thieves? Or will they be celebrated for popularizing technology that made the capture of these thieves as easy as hide and seek with a toddler? Only time will tell.

A more obvious stab at the group came from hipster-haven Brooklyn. A Brooklyn yeshiva banned Woody Allen style glasses that are “entirely black outside and inside (with the false justification that this makes them stronger.)” The letter to students and parents says “this type of glasses gives a child a completely vulgar appearance.”

At least the New York Times is still into hipsters. A recent essay, “How I Became a Hipster” praised the group. “Their food is terrific, and they find even the most insignificant things ‘awesome.’ I admire their adventuresome quality vis-à-vis fixed-gear bike-riding and their non-prudishness in the face of nudity. Yes their attention to detail on the fronts of locavorism and beard care can verge on the precious, but I'd much rather have a young Abe Lincoln serve me his roof-grown mâche than I would have an F. Scott Fitzgerald vomit all over by straw boater. Today’s twentysomethings are self-respecting, obvi.”

So if I'm self-respecting, do I buy the Mason jars?