2008-07-14 - 12:14 p.m. This blog post on hipsters is the closest approximation of how I feel when I�m in Williamsburg, and I like that it doesn�t just lapse into easy demographic bigotry. It really bugs me when people hurl invective about �hipsters,� �yuppies,� and other epithets of inverse snobbery, without trying to get at why these people bother them. It is well-timed, too, because I was thinking about all of this yesterday, as I walked through Wmsbrg, killing time before meeting a friend for lunch. I noticed that within minutes of stepping off the L train, I became agitated. I tried to articulate my angst, and what I came up with is that being in any homogeneous group of people feels dehumanizing to me. It makes me feel like a pigeon in a huge, impersonal flock, where individuals seem replaceable and ordinary. It may or may not be the demographic itself that's objectionable--I often feel that way, for instance, walking amongst Park Slope's stroller-derby milieu. It's just the relentless sameness that feels unnatural and primordially unsettling. As soon as I was back in Manhattan, I could breathe freely again, amongst the family of man. Diversity, aside from being a nice social ideal, seems to be the natural order of things, at least in terms of psychological health. Maybe it hearkens to The Tribe, and knowing one�s place therein. Friday night was fun. There was confetti... ...there were women in beards... ....a decent turnout... ....good rockin�... ...and at a post-show diner, the found wisdom of a lost Post-It note...
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