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What do the hipsters of Allston have against Urban Outfitters?
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They weren't vandalizing -
They weren't vandalizing - they were simply redecorating. Seriously, it's tough to sympathize with a store that deliberately breaks its own windows in select urban areas in order to play off of suburban fantasies of gritty inner cities and enhance its 'credibility.' We know too well that broken windows project an atmosphere of urban decline and decay, and of permissiveness for destructive behavior; it's not coincidence that after it opened, Urban Outfitters developed a bigger shoplifting problem than any other store in Cambridge.
So if they're reaping what they've sewn, perhaps they'll learn their lesson, and respect the neighborhoods into which they move.
hipsters think
hipsters think they are more original than a retail store.
I guess I would be upset too
I guess I would be upset too if I was coming to the realization that my "counterculture" was in fact highly mainstream. I was over in Allston the other day, and damn if every under-23 person there wasn't wearing plaid and their girlfriend's skinny jeans while sipping a PBR ironically.
My sartorial rebellion
Resuming the wearing of a jacket and tie on a daily basis -- for the first time in 20 years or so.
I hate young people as much
I hate young people as much as the next guy, but-
"and damn if every under-23 person there wasn't wearing plaid and their girlfriend's skinny jeans while sipping a PBR ironically."
What the hell does that mean? Specifically the PBR part. Ironically? Drinking beer ironically? Huzaha whaaa?
Ahhh... the decline and decay
Ahhh... the decline and decay of Harvard Square! I blame those naughty windows that have broken themselves over the years - they've surely caused decline and decay in urban neighborhoods whenever they've self-destructed. Thank God we have hipsters to step up and teach Urban Outfitters a lesson. Through their shoplifting performance art, they expose the rot at the heart of Amerika.
As they have sewn, so they shall knit.
Touche. Well done, sir. I
Touche. Well done, sir.
I take the point, and didn't mean to excuse vandalism or theft. I'll stand by my belief, though, that a chain that tries to take clever, post-ironic advantage of urban grit is walking a very fine line. Sometimes, the irony comes back and bites you.
What do hipsters have against Urban Outfitters?
Probably the fact that Urban Outfitter's owner Richard Hayne has donated thousands of dollars to right-wing homophobes like former-Senator Rick Santorum and his "Political Action Committee". Urban Outfitters caters to the liberal-minded youth, then takes the cash and funnels it into the GOP. There's nothing illegal about it, but many hipsters in the Allston area are aware of this hypocrisy, thus the vandalism at the Urban Outfitters store.
Any said hipsters interested
Any said hipsters interested in going on the record about their Urban Outfitters animosity can get in touch with me, Adam Ragusea at WBUR, aragusea (squigly thing) wbur.org
It's called a tilde.
It's called a tilde.
Nah
He meant the "at sign" ( @ ) for his e-mail address.
It might be a case
It might be a case of:
!!111!!!BIKE KULTURE NOT $ SALE!!!!111
Because fixed gear bicycles haven't existed since the late 1800s in their limited understanding of history. Anyone hoping on the fad since 2005 needs to keep their street cred against the newcomers.
Bricks Are Heavy
It was only a half brick, because hipsters have weak arms. It's science.