Selling Out

[RoyGBiv]

Having a dissenting opinion on movies, music or clothes, or owning clever or obscure possessions is the way middle-class people fight each other for status. They can’t out-consume each other because they can’t afford it, but they can out-taste each other.

Since everything is mass-produced, and often for a mass audience, finding and consuming things which appeal to your desire for authenticity is what moves these items and artists and services up from the bottom to the top – where it can be mass consumed.

Hipsters, then, are the direct result of this cycle of indie, authentic, obscure, ironic, clever consumerism.

Which is ironic – but not like a trucker hat or Pabst Blue Ribbon. It is ironic in the sense the very act of trying to run counter to the culture is what creates the next wave of culture people will in turn attempt to counter.

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/04/12/selling-out/

[Sherman A1]

1. So if I don't like a movie

(Inglorious Bastards) that others (my friends, wife & daughter) seem to like, find a brand of jeans the seems to fit well (and buy them repeatedly) or wear different shoes (velcro tennis shoes from K-Mart) because I do like them, use the same lawnmower (Snapper) for 31 years, then I am a sell out?

?????????:shrug:

[RoyGBiv]

2. That's not the point at all ...

I'm not real clear how the article could lead you to that conclusion, given the following premise: "That’s the strange paradox – everything is part of the system. There is no such thing as selling out, because there is no one to sell out to."

[LARED]

3. That's all part of the marketing strategy

Mundane stuff is marketed to tap into people desire to "stand out from the crowd." Buy this and you are part of this group or this created theme. You will be different, you are not like everyone else. And as the article points out no you are just like everyone else, it just took a little time to figure out, and then you seek out the next meme to make you feel authentic. Of course spending money to do so.

Bottom line is people need to start thinking.