Hipster Culture Part 3

When the Overman listens to George Michael

Having accounted for solution 1 and 2, I will now dive into the third and last option for the trendsetting hipster in his quest to be alternative. In part 1 I called it to “Distance yourself from the new hipsters by diving right back into the mainstream”. This is actually a bit wrong, since this last stage describes settling wherever you want, no matter how many others are already in that spot. But does this not mean giving up on the entire hipster-dream? Let me explain...

Søren Kierkegaard's final character in his theory of stages is the religious 'Knight of Faith'. This character represents the individual, who has gone beyond the average 'culturally religious' person. Earlier characters in the religious stage are part of the religious congregation, and find their personality as a part of that group (the mainstream). The religious character of the Knight of Faith is impossible to see. He acts, talks and lives as any other man, and it is impossible to see, that this individual has taken the leap of faith and made himself independent of the recognition of others. To Kierkegaard, the character at the end of the religious stage is indistinguishable from all others.

How does this tie in with the hipster? Or should I say meta hipster, for this is when he steps into the picture. The meta Hipster has abandoned his search for alternativity on the outside and may as such look in any way possible. He has internalized his alternativity and hipsterness, and become a one-man culture – a meta hipster (meta = greek for 'after', ie meta hipster = that which comes after the hipster). Like the Knight of Faith, the meta hipster no longer needs the recognition of others to sustain his alternativity. He can now satisfy his alternatomania simply through the knowledge, that he is a unique individual, who has chosen his own way.

Having seen the meaninglessness in the eternal struggle for alternativity, the meta hipster makes his own cultural meaning. To be able to make the meta hipsters 'leap of faith', one must first realize the nihilism that is as much hipster-culture as it is the mainstream, and through that knowledge create his own cultural values. Exactly this character, that rises above nihilism, is by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) called “Der Übermensch” or “the overman”, and in his writings this means seeing through the system that is Christian morals, and making your own values. In our context it could mean listening to George Michael, well knowing that it is some of the least cool tunes imaginable (at least in my social circles), simply because one chooses to.

The meta hipster is indistinguishable from everyone else. He may look mainstream or goth. He may seem nerdy in the hip way, or nerdy in the real way. Only he himself knows, that he has in fact made the leap of faith from the meaninglessness of fashion and trends, into a world that is his own construction, where individuality and alternativity has been internalized to a silent wisdom: “I am who I am – And I'm the only one.”

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