More Dude Values: Authenticity

AUTHENTICITY (revised from first edition, below - please note omission of Hipsters from "Dude Types", relocated in part here)

This issue affects both the productive and non-productive dude equally; this is a particular problem with musicians, as decades of dude-friendly music have centered around the aura of authenticity, at times played for the only factor when considering quality. Our research has shown an obsession with authenticity only acts as a barrier to the path of awesomeness, and is more likely a tool for jerks/vocal opinionists that, in the end, actually has no real value, other than spawning a lot of negative feeling in the Dude Community.

It is here we must address the phenomenon of Hipsterism. [Please see the detailed description of Hip As A Failed Value in Ian Downey’s forthcoming work.] We use the term “Hipster” as follows: The Hipster is consumer par excellence, devoting much personal resource to the study and/or acquisition of unique cultural goods. Given this loose definition, we can see how most dudes are Hipsters. If you yourself are a Dude of the 21st Century, you understand the difficulty of this position. The perplexing social convention of HHH, or Hipsters Hating Hipsters, is addressed below.

In examining the hipster’s relationship to Authenticity (and again - we are referring to the hip impulse that is present in most dudes) we can identify the sub-types and spiritual pairs of Hated Hipster and Hater Hipster. The Hater Hipster defines the immediate relationship, by focusing on an individual or group of Hipsters that poses some irritation, and the usual excuse for the hateration has everything to do with Authenticity.

For example, one type of Hater Hipster, the Curmudgeon, might feel himself to be the descendant of America’s original Hipsters: beat poets, jazz musicians and feisty roustabouts not yet sullied by irony or the illusion of human powerlessness. The hunted acquisitions of the Curmudgeon might come from these times or earlier, and his senses have been refined to detect the relative “authenticity” of the commodities he pursues. This dude’s Hated Hipster, Skinny Pants, has an acquisitive focus that is merely style itself, outrageous in self-presentation and vacuous at its core.

Interestingly enough, locally influential enclaves of Hated Hipsters and national dissemination of Hated Hipster fashion have inspired a wholly new kind of Hipster Hater (as opposed to Hater Hipsters). These more folkish types come to equate the entire concept of Hipsterism with the reputation for vacuuity, and reject any variety of apparently hedonistic and somewhat underground Dude Endeavors (of which they are not directly involved) with a decidedly derisive tone. “Oh, is that what the Hipsters are doing these days?” They can often pick out a Hipster from a distance, but they have a blind spot for seeing the Hipsterism in their acquaintances, friends, or own selves. Little do they know, that by engaging in the popular pasttime of HHH, they have in some way taken up the torch of authenticity and engaged their own latent Hipsterism.

The Dick Resistance Front has a similar content of Authenticity Based Hate, spurning the consumers who eat up the products of mass capitalism. In this version of the story, the Authenticity lies in mindful sourcing and productive, DIY aesthetic. The main target of this hate is the Hated Hipster who adopts a hypocritical pose of outsiderism, but ultimately is not much more than a generic consumer, rigorous about source purity only as much as it contributes to her image. This Hated Hipster has failed to authentically embody savvy cultural participation. This pushes into Holier-Than-Thou territory, obviously, but again implies a latent hipsterism in the Hater. This tone is more dismissive: “Oh, he’s just a Hipster.”