Comments on: I’m Apparently White…

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:05:51 +0000

that’s a fair point.

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”

By: T.

T. — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:17:42 +0000

I’m all for that. Think about it…without labels you’d have to exhaustively explain everything. For example if I hate bobos, can you imagine if I had to say “Oh, let’s not go there because it has so many people who are upper middle class and elite but are ashamed of it and and try to paint an image of themselves as intellectual, bohemian artsy counterculture yaddayaddayadda…” or you can just say “Too many bobos.” Way easier. Or when we’re going to a club, if someone just says “Let’s not go there, the crowd is ghetto” I instantly understand. No need to go into a million specifics.

T.’s last blog post..I’m Apparently White…

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:07:34 +0000

well i definitely have a problem with moderation.
I agree that labeling and stereotyping in general serves an important function.
I just feel that this culture has a tendency to come up with these new labels, we latch onto them and start slapping them around like someone who just got a label maker for christmas.
Like you KNOW the bobo label is only gonna be used in negative contexts and with negative connotations.

“Oh you’re such a ‘Bobo’!”
“Nah let’s not go to that bar-It’s a completely ‘Bobo’ crowd!”

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”

By: T.

T. — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:35:15 +0000

See, I think the stance of avoiding stereotypes and labels at all costs can be just as bad an extreme as overlabeling. Labeling in moderation is cool.

T.’s last blog post..I’m Apparently White…

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:28:23 +0000

yeah, i sound defensive. And i might be, but not because i might be a bobo. I wear my flaws and contradictions openly. I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad about them. So i don’t mind being a bobo by constitution. but i DO have a problem with the human tendency to label.
By definition a label is something you slap on something so that you can later identify it without deep inspection.
That’s fine for moving boxes-not as cool with people.
It serves an evolutionary and survival function, i know. But it can get to destructive extremes.
I don’t mind us sitting here and discussing these issues and descriptions. The problem is when people (not accusing any of your enlightened readers) go out engage in those labels like the burly 250lb mover you hired-not truly giving a shit about what’s beyond the label.

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:20:00 +0000

I hear you, T. And that makes sense when you take into account true internal motivation. But how does one gauge that?

Ever since i was a kid i wanted to live in the village. its just seemed cool, this was before i knew what a CGB or a Bob Dylan was.
So if i’m not begrudged the getting of a good job upon graduating college why should i be for moving into a neighborhood that represents me, at the very least, demographically. I mean, if i get an apt in queens i’ll just be commuting downtown for both my work and my fun.

And yeah, on the weekends i wear t-shirts with the decepticon symbol on it..over ripped jeans. and maybe i paid $100 bucks for both. but so what? It was just as crazy for my parents to pay $20 bucks for a made in taiwan action figure 25 years ago.

You’re right. it’s mental gymnastics and its interesting but i don’t think its a particularly new phenomenon

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”

By: T

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:10:24 +0000

I think you’re just mad because it all hits a little too close to home!

I have no ideological stance against labeling people, so long as the labels are accurate. I openly admit to having a ton of bobo ways.

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:04:50 +0000

like take the term “bobo,” short for “borgeois-bohemian.” Each of those terms taken separately is multidimensional in itself. So what group of people is this compound of multi-faceted terms attempting to describe? And as far as it defines exactly who it’s describing, so what? All it does is give the world another label to slap on people based on perceived appearance.
Now anyone walking out of a pottery barn is a “bobo.” this ignores the fact that a hundred different people walk in and out of that store for a hundred different reasons. a hundred different internal motivations.
I could be overly defensive about this given that i just paid $4 dollars for an Iced Machiatto that I’m sipping while sitting idly in a Starbucks…so maybe that makes me a Bobo. Or maybe I’m not but the guy next to me is. Or maybe we’re both not but the woman who just pulled off in a volvo is.
But you know what? Volvos are good cars! So maybe she’s not but her daughter is gonna grow up to be…where does it end!

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”

By: T

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:54:18 +0000

I think Bobos are fascinating because they show the ridiculous mental gymanstics people perform in order to rationalize their materialism. And a lot of us, myself included, are guilty of it. Like the way people in NY love their indie, bohemain aesthetic, even as they are blatantly social climbing and keeping up with the joneses with corporate jobs and $2 million condos. Like those bobos that move into the Lower East Side and think they’re somehow the cultural heirs to former Lower East Siders like Blondie, Richard Hell and the old CBGB’s crowd just because they share geographic location and wear vintage clothes. Never mind they have corporate jobs and expensive condos and have more bourgeous trappings than even their parents ever did.

By: Smash

Smash — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:47:49 +0000

i dunno. i think it’s in my nature to give people the benefit of the doubt. not sure when i’ve run into bobos or if i’m developing into one. i think alot of arguments like these are about appearance vs. substance. illusion vs. authenticity.
I feel skittish about these “post-contemporary” labels. Bobos, Emos. A while back it was buppies and Generation “X” or “Next”. I read these articles and explanations re: them but i’m not sure if i understand anything beyond a human tendency to categorise and label.

At the risk of sounding stupid, what does any of this mean?

Smash’s last blog post..“Presto Prestare!”