There has recently been quite a stir over at Salon.com regarding an article about “hipsters” — the new “hip” generation, the self-proclaimed “creative class” without either the creativity or the class — are finding refuge in food stamps.
For the uninitiated, hipsters are best described as the new face of the “arts class” in America — stereotypically clad in too-skinny jeans and flannel shirts, you find hipster-type people frequently today in arts programs and other “creative” outlets, particularly in the music world and the fashion world. As the name implies, hipsters are all about what is “hip” in their own small world, particularly in the popularity of being “ironic” — it’s not uncommon to see hipsters obsess over vinyl records, expensive organic foods, androgynous clothing, and vintage clothing, obsessing over aesthetics to the detriment of anything even resembling reality. Admittedly, “hipsters” is somewhat of a pejorative, as is what they were once called — arrogant trust fund babies in arts programs.
The reason for the gnashing of teeth regarding the aforementioned article is fairly simple: Hipsters are typically arrogant and picky, and in this case embody everything wrong with welfare. Close examination of the article reveals why these “hipsters” are on food stamps: careers listed in the article range from “installing museum exhibits” to “part-time blogging” and “AmeriCorps volunteer”. It doesn’t take long to understand why the aforementioned jobs fell through the cracks when the economy worsened: with perhaps the exception of the first, the jobs weren’t jobs, they were attempts at not doing jobs, or at least jobs in the very loosest sense. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with volunteering or blogging, or even being “creative” — all are valuable in their own right — but one must ground himself/herself in an actual job with a living wage before one does either. The ability to find a job that is fulfilling and allows you to be “creative” is wonderful, but not a divine right — and the ability to temporarily live off occupations like “blogging” is just that: temporary.
The anger is compounded because these hipsters still try to maintain their picky lifestyles while they maintain food stamps. As noted in the article, stores these hipsters shop at range from Trader Joe’s to Whole Foods — stores I personally cannot afford whatsoever. These hipsters do shop at farmer’s markets, which is just fine and frugal, but their choice to go to extremely expensive stores to buy “organic” food on the Government dollar has many, many people angry. There’s nothing wrong with eating healthy: but specialty foods from these stores push the limit, especially when they can cost up to two times as much, valuing the presentation of the food and the display over lowering the price to the point where Forbes insinuated the store dealt in “Food Porn”.
I’m not attempting to bash the arts community, nor am I trying to bash specialty food stores. I am trying to show that it’s not entirely the economy’s fault these “educated, unemployed, 20- to 30-somethings who ‘work’ in creative industries” [quotes mine] are on welfare now, and there’s a legitimate reason to be angry at their use of food stamps. If the economy was strong enough, I’m sure there would be plenty of “blogging”-like jobs available — heck, I’m sure there would be jobs where people did nothing but sit around and be hip for a living. The problem is, these jobs are very much reliant upon the economy to be powerful — and when the economy tanks, these people need real, tangible skills to fall back on. In a sense, “hipsters” need patronage, just as much as artists and writers did of old: and if they can’t get it, they need to find alternative employment, not curl into the fetal position. Put another way, the ability to be “creative” is nice, but creativity oftentimes takes a back seat to practicality, and you can’t whine about not having a job when all you want to/can do is post on blogs or take pictures of yourself wearing “hip” clothing. It’s arrogant to expect the government to pay you until you can find a job you want. And when the government is paying, you don’t get to shop at a store with $4/lb chicken, $19.99/lb cheese, and $390 wine.
Are there jobs hipsters can have and avoid food stamps? Absolutely — not that they would ever take them. Those “educated, unemployed, 20- to 30-somethings” could find steady employment in the military — and if they are indeed college educated, they could even be officers. Even as bad as the economy is today, fast food joints sometimes have job offerings, as do places like Wal Mart. With the right know-how and enough energy, these “hipsters” could start small businesses that do practical and local things, like landscaping or maid services or anything similar, and likely not only make themselves a job, but other jobs in the process. I’m not saying it will be easy to find a job by any means, but if these hipsters are as useful and as educated as they would like to pretend to be, they could undoubtedly find something. Of course, what they would find would likely not give them the opportunity for being “creative” like they want, and none of them would be quite as sexy as being an “artist” or a “designer”, but they are jobs, real and meaningful. And they would leave welfare money to go to people who legitimate need it, not those who just want it.
