Gideon Litchfield, editor in chief of MIT Technology Review, recounts how the other day, they got an angry message from some guy about how they'd used his photo to illustrate an article about research at Brandeis that tried to explain "the hipster effect" - how non-conformists often wind up looking the same.

The man declared the use of his image was slander and he never would have given his permission to have his visage used that way.

Turns out, though, the magazine licensed a stock photo of a young bearded guy in a knit cap and sort of plaid shirt. An editor checked with the photo company, which supplied the subject's name and it wasn't the guy who complained.

QED, Litchfield concludes:



All of which just proves the story we ran: Hipsters look so much alike that they can’t even tell themselves apart from each other.

Via the Register, via Marc Hurwitz.