Oh hipsters, how we love to loathe thee! David Brooks' New York Times Anti-Hipster Op Ed has generated lots of traffic for Babble, but nevertheless, we must object. And so, in an articulate funny piece, must hottie-dad Steven Johnson. According to Mr. Johnson, you'd have to be "... seriously tone-deaf as a sociologist if you think that
these parents believe they're fighting the man by putting their kids in
"Anarchy in the Pre-K" t-shirts. Obviously, obviously they're making a joke." While I'm not sure I'd identify David Brooks as a sociologist (angry grandfather more like), I agree with this assessment.
These t-shirts aren't intended to be political action, they are funny. And as Nerve Media's Rufus Griscom observes on the Babble Boards, "Here's the bad news David: we Gen X parents have not all grown up and
decided to starch our shirts, barricade ourselves in the burbs, and
vote Republican."
Mom-101 asks if it's "...possible that parents today,
more cynical, more media-savvy, more independent than those who came
before them, are simply behaving as parents they way they behave as
people?" In this last round, even the most hipster-weary are taking a stand. Whatever "this" type of parenting is, this writing and blogging about our experiences. We've clearly hit a nerve. And that's just how we like it. Just like that.
