#selfie #toilethipster

I dressed up for Halloween, to a Halloween goth/dark alt event mind you (called Synistry), as a Hipster. And boy did the shit hit the fan!

The amount of dirty, contemptuous looks I was getting from people inside Synistry was priceless! Those who didn't know me assumed hipster douchebag, a few who do know me were all "wow thats a change of style" and most did not see that this was a Halloween costume. Interestingly enough very few people were in Halloween costume (a by-product of an early Halloween party plus infrequent events so people tend to follow themes less) so I can see why people didn't get it. I have to admit I felt extremely under-dressed when I was upstairs until I had a fair bit of booze in me.

The Point

Anyway, you are likely wondering what is the point of this aside from shredding every goth point I have accrued. The point is when you see comments or participation from an apparent outsider, even if it is relevant, that is often undermined by appearances.

This wasn't always the case though. When the internet was new in the 90s the most you saw of a person might be a tiny picture on their geocities site or the IRC #gothic webpage. You got to know the people first by their words, actions and wanky username.

Quite often people commenting wouldn't look the part and you really wouldn't know their expertise unless you knew them personally or they had some kind of proof.

In today's Cemetery Conferssions podcast, they refer to subcultural capital. Sometimes its transferable online and off, sometimes online it requires capital earned elsewhere online. Reputations are earned and in the goth subculture this has always focused on some knowledge of the music, experience participating in the goth subculture and looking the part (at least some of the time).

Nowadays the big voices people listen to in the goth community online are the ones who usually look the part better than others do. They get their popularity and notoriety because they cultivate their image (or brand) well for wide appeal. So whether they like it or not, they have a lot of responsibility for how they use their power to influence things.

That said it takes balls of steel to put yourself out there like that nowadays as everyone will try to knock you off your perch. So its often a case of knowing the risks and doing it anyway. No matter if I agree with the message someone is portraying or not they get respect for that at least.

So then we get back to how everyone is broadcasting again. Who is listening aside from seeing the superficial? Do you like a link just because the thumbnail is pretty and go no further? Or do you actually sit it out and see if they have something interesting to say? What if the person posting the content isn't conventionally attractive? What if they are old, fat or have a face for radio?

