Monday, July 27, 2009
Politics Ugh, More Bullshit Hipster Baiting of Crusty Punks
Posted by Jonny Diamond on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 4:16 PM
I've already written about how pissed off I was about FreeWilliamsburg equating groups of Bedford Avenue crusty punks with an infestation of insects, now they've come up with a hilarious crusty punk foldable toy. This is so fucking obnoxious and hateful; next up, the "Let's Set Homeless People on Fire" foldable toy. Fuck you, get over yourselves and your provincial anxiety about scary panhandlers.
Comments (12)
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From the FW piece: "As you've undoubtedly noticed, they've invaded the 'burg and now we can expect a surge in lyme disease from the ticks festering in their nasty-ass beards."
Because yes, Williamsburg was free of "nasty-ass beards" before the crusty punks arrived.
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Oh my god, could you sound any more whiny and self-righteous than you already do? 'I publish an alternative magazine, I'm the voice of the underground!' Get over yourself.
As someone who lives in a building on Bedford that's forever swarmed by crusty panhandlers, some of whom can and have been verbally abusive to me and my guests, I totally understand the desire to poke a little fun at them here and there. Also, unless you have some of the thinnest, weakest, Michael Jackson-style translucent skin in the world, how is this toy "fucking obnoxious and hateful?"
Easy on the self-righteousness, buddy.
@Paul
I'm always going to be self-righteous and whiny when one class of people starts talking about another class of people as if they were insects. The toy was just an added bonus.
@Jonny
You might consider defending some underserved communities that really need the support. Not to say that being a crust punk isn't full of misery—it must be, judging from the odors some of them give off—but there are so many groups of people in Brooklyn and New York at large that could use a helping hand. The mentally disturbed, troubled veterans, ex-cons re-entering their communities—a kind word from someone with a voice as widely broadcast as yours could make a real impact. Defending one group of hipsters against another, though? That's how you're going to channel your self-righteousness?
I'm pleased to see you're waving the flag, though. It shows backbone. Just pick something worth defending next time.
@Paul
Defending any given community does not preclude defending, or advocating on behalf of, any other community; it's not a zero-sum situation (this is a weirdly common attack on "flag-wavers," e.g. How can you care about homeless dogs when children are starving in Africa? Well, it's possible to care and act on multiple fronts.)
You should also read the following article for a sense of what I'm getting at, vis a vis how easy it is to dehumanize marginalized groups: http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/are-co…
I do understand that the crusties on Bedford can be irritating, and may seem like suburban kids engaging in gutter tourism (an impression due largely to that Daily News article) but for the most part, crusties are homeless kids who've ended up on the streets for a variety of reasons. I don't have any problem with people complaining about other people being dicks to them, but there was just something about the tone in the two FreeWilliamsburg posts that touched a nerve in a pretty serious way.
My issue with your post, ultimately, is one of perspective—of mountains and molehills. I'm sorry to hear that the Free Williamsburg article touched a nerve, but jokes come at the expense of other people sometimes, and the connection you posit between the flip dehumanization of the FW article and the violence on Avenue D strikes me as facile (not to mention unprovable).
Of course we can care about more than one cause—everyone knows that. But I think it's telling that you've chosen this cause, which is hardly a cause at all. It's a seasonal quasi-tourism, of a sort that doesn't need an impassioned defense.
This forced internet civility is exhausting. I'm sure if we worked hard enough we could get down to irreconcilable first principles. So let's not.
Jeez! Toys are hateful, internet comments are exhausting...is there anything, no matter how minor, that doesn't take it out of you?
We've got a jokester on our hands! Well...as long as the jokes aren't about crust-punks.
Dear Mr. Paul or Whoever:
You seem bound and determined not to let Jonny have the last comment here. Every time he tries to wind down the discussion, leaving less and less room for further discussion, you squeeze your way in so that the last word is not somebody disagreeing with you. Or declining to continue to disagree with you, actually.
I commend your effort, though your self-awareness leaves something to be desired.
You are aware that this is our website, right? That for reasons of both access to the administrative software and our own professional attentions, we are unlikely to allow this to continue?
Don't reply to this, you'll just look silly.
Did I steal your professional attentions? My bad.
But seriously: you'll notice I've only *responded* to posts and comments. That's your hint. Now we'll see if you can figure out how to stop me from posting anything else. (One more hint: it doesn't involve retooling the administrative software or whatever.)
