Are we all pushing to be NormCore, or can Pakistan actually embrace hipster-ism?
Gavin McIness, co-founder of Vice, was once the King of Hipsters. He’s a true legend ... and a pure idiot. You have to love him and hate him at the same time. It’s how most people react to hipsters today, even how proto-hipsters or hipsters react to being called hipsters.
Independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics – that's the hipster mantra, or at least what, ironically, you should believe it is.
Honestly though, what does it take to be a hipster in Pakistan? We can’t just copy-paste the Hackney or Williamsburg culture to cities or towns in our fair country. Some are trying, but then they are failing miserably, because this isn’t America or England.
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That doesn’t mean we can’t be inspired by the subculture of another culture, or that we shouldn't try to create our own sub-culture — it’s the least we could do for our culture before deciding to abandon it.
Pakistan, as a country, is limitless while being oppressive; it’s beautiful yet scary. Here begins the thought experiment of what a Pakistani Hipster is.
There are some core ingredients to being a hipster, not least their hatred for the notion that their is a ‘recipe’ to being a hipster. So let's make one, for the fun of it.
Here's the original Hipster Handbook:
Music
No one has ever heard of anything you listen to. And if anyone so much as gets a hint, burn the playlist with fire.
Food
No one has ever heard of any of the places you frequent to eat, nor could they ever find the streets they're on. Even in places you share with people, you have your own secret menu.
People
If they are from your area, you can’t be seen with them. Everyone has been brainwashed to conform to the society around him or her.
Fashion
What is this?
Friends
They exist so you can enlighten them as to why their lives are terrible — wake up people.
Transport
It’s overrated; you find exclusive and unusual ways to get around the city. You are basically the Batman of transport.
Movies/TV
The Internet is your TV and if you can buy a movie in DVD form, it’s obviously trash.
Internet
Your sub-reddits have only 20 members and the blogs you visit are so exclusive that you are sent links that go '404' after too much web traffic.
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The Pakistani society makes most of that very hard to follow. We are a culture that loves to do as others do, so much so that we often ignore all the wonderful and unique aspects of our own country.
Now let's look at that Hipster Handbook from a Pakistani point of view.
Music
If you don’t share the same music tastes as your friends, well, then you suck and you obviously are just some weirdo.
Food
Yaar, we all love eating at the same places. How can you NOT? Eating is 98 per cent of what we do. To tell someone their favourite food is just 'OK' is a sin here.
People
The area around you is King, that is what the people around you love. And if they hate it, then they all love only one other area. You have no choice in this matter.
Fashion
BUY MORE LAWN. Also, how have you not already bought more LAWN?
Friends
When growing up, you must submit or become “one of those”. This might be controversial, but they exist to love you and hate you. They are your pillars of strength and also the wrecking ball of your lives.
Transport
Get your own, somehow, some way.
Movies/TV
Whatever the DVD-shop-wala has on the rack is obviously the best, master print only please.
Internet
Facebook and Facebook links.
So, back to the question of questioning the ability of Pakistan to embrace hipster-ism — I see us all actually subconsciously embracing NormCore.
NormCore has been described as “fashion for those who realise they are one in seven billion”, where you embrace sameness deliberately. Urban Dictionary defines NormCore as “a subculture based on conscious, artificial adoption of things that are in widespread use, proven to be acceptable, or otherwise inoffensive. Ultra-conformists.”
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Pakistan loves it’s trends, from food to fashion to Twitter.
We live for it, it is like nasha. We are subconscious normcorists. We love wearing what other people wear. We share all the hidden gems we discover.
You can’t share as a hipster, but in Pakistani culture, sharing plays a huge role. From sharing our food to our clothes, we absolutely go nuts over it. Normcore almost asks us to push the reset button, and go back to focusing on what is important rather than who first thought the important was important.
“Normcore moves away from a coolness that relies on difference to a post-authenticity that opts into sameness.”
Let's not fight over the definition of 'hipsters' and how they have morphed from 1940s jazz enthusiasts to 2010s secret music enthusiasts. Many might baulk at the very idea of this article, but lets not squabble about that.
Instead of hating or loving, lets focus on “What is next?”
Lets all reduce our obnoxious footprint, and listen to the words of Earl SweatShirt:
"You’re just not passionate about half the s&*# you’re into."
It’s time to just get passionate, and forget trying to define your passion.