From Flowtown, a chart of the evolution of the geek. The merchants of cool invade the Internet: Has geekdom officially jumped the shark? From Gizmodo, why do so many self-proclaimed geeks hold so much disdain for so-called hipsters? Hipster-hate blogs are multiplying, but who are these much-maligned trendies, and why do people find them so irritating? Being a hipster is an excellent and wonderful thing! Rob Horning on misguided hatred for the “hipster on food stamps”. Hasidim and Hipsters can’t be friends — but maybe they can eat together. Researchers tap the indie marketplace to learn more about hipsters, who don’t think of themselves as hipsters despite their obvious hipsterness. A review of Stuff Hipsters Hate: A Field Guide to the Passionate Opinions of the Indifferent by Brenna Ehrlich and Andrea Bartz. Substance over style: Hipster bible Vice magazine is making documentaries about war zones. A point system to get a handle on who the hippest hipster is: Who is the biggest celebrity hipster? Christian Lorentzen on the hipster that never was. What was the hipster? Mark Grief on a critical history of our era’s most controversial archetype (and more). Phoebe Connelly reviews What Was The Hipster? A Sociological Investigation. From Adbusters, Wayne Spencer on consumable youth rebellion: Teds, mods, rockers, hippies, skinheads, punks, hipsters, now what?; and the activist's dilemma: It’s time to start matching our sentiments to our actions. Avatar activism: Pop culture has now become the basis for a participatory approach to world activism — Harry Potter fans for gay rights in the US, Palestinians protesting with their traditional keffiyahs over skins painted blue after Na’vi people. Humanitarian activists' refusal of politics, combined with their willingness to identify with politics, elicits scorn from human-rights critics. Do volunteers make things worse? Volunteer programs often offer little social value — instead they're a form of poverty voyeurism.
