I really hate Hipsters, however I write like one.

You can’t deny their presence in a local dive bar, knocking back Stella Artois and other imported Belgium beers. Unique in everything they do, they listen to the most exclusive and obscure music that you have probably never heard of. They are trend setters in the sense that they love organic food and only shop at boutiques or thrift stores to find one-of-a-kind items that would never be in any regular department store. They are the kind of people known as Hipsters.

The problem is these people are the local celebrities that are looked up to by the less fortunate. They look fabulous and I can’t deny that I’ve wanted the expensive clothes on their body, but I simply couldn’t afford it. They have an undeniable style and they always get a lot of attention for being that uniquely complicated individual that values independent thought and cheap wine. But then I think to myself: is the person actually hip or is it just about jumping on different trends to stay above the “normal” population?

I think their contributions to the mainstream population should be applauded. No, I really mean it! They often find those bands that are popularized at outdoor music festivals, where they get discovered by music journalists at Vice, Pitchfork Media and Alternative Press, which then get discovered by national music magazines like Rolling Stone and Spin many months later.

They contribute to the economy by working at low-paying jobs and coffeehouses that may not succeed without their ever-constant presence by both hipster employees and the hipsters who hang out in their favorite Chintz chair, blogging incessantly about their daily rumblings and grumblings on the free Wi-Fi network. They love coffee, which keeps generating cash for the foreign coffee trade business (which does not truly support the farmers who actually produce and roast the coffee beans. But the corporate businesses are certainly flourishing, thus stimulating the “currently” dismal worldwide economic outlook.

They are the art students at Columbia College, disguised in tight, black jeans and a messy, yet perfectly styled haircut that we secretly wish we want when we head out to the bars, just because it looks like an effortless creation. They are purveyors of poetry readings, open mikes and art and fashion shows and they always know where to get the best food and which bars to go (dance at) once the sun goes down.

So why are hipsters hated by the general mainstream population? They have a pretentious and condescending attitude, and they can be driven by the things they own. One can say that in the effort of trying to be cool, they’ve lost sense of the individual they once were before they began to care about staying “hip” or “cool” in order to look good.

Luckily, the definition of hipster is pretty much in the realm of hilarious public opinion. Check out the definition of Hipster on Urban Dictionary or the blog Stuff White People Like as well as the blog Stuff Hipsters Don't Like to get an up-to-date list on some Hipster favorites.