As students of South, we are allowed, compared to a lot of other schools, a very lenient dress code. We have no uniform, and basically as long as garments aren’t obscene or offensive, most articles of clothing are fair game. However, that doesn’t mean what you wear doesn’t have consequences.

Walking down the halls in a Speedo might turn a few heads, wearing an “I hate dubstep” shirt would more than likely start a few physical altercations (which is dangerous…those dubstep fans really know how to drop-kick), and wearing flannel will almost certainly come with the inevitable hipster joke, something any student who wears thick-rimmed glasses, is a fan of tight jeans or owns an Arcade Fire t-shirt knows much about.

As an unofficial member of the “Indie Community” (membership requires getting a Pitchfork.com tattoo, so no thank you), I’m no stranger to the adversity that comes with wearing comfortable flannel, listening to indie music and having my iPhone’s background be an album cover of a band that’s very obscure (in fact, you’ve probably never heard of them). It’s practically a daily occurrence that someone will throw a comb at me, demand I return to my studio apartment in Wicker Park, and so on.

The term “hipster” isn’t anything new; it originated in the 40s, describing jazz aficionados (possibly the ones who knew all the really obscure jazz artists).

But in today’s culture, the term “hipster” has taken on a new, hurtful definition. While the exact meaning is debated daily by scientists, government officials and people in increasingly tight pants (primarily the tight pants crowd, actually), the popular use of “hipster” at South refers to a person with a taste for obscure music and flannel, who almost certainly thinks he/she is better than you.

After talking to Daniel Rhoades, social studies teacher, (who has had his own experiences with being falsely labeled a hipster), I gained a new perspective on hipsters, or as Rhoades calls them, “the end of Western Civilization as we know it.”

Not to say that anyone who digs Vampire Weekend is helping to bring about the destruction of our world, though that is part of the problem.

Rhoades agreed that the term is misunderstood, claiming that most people don’t understand what an insult being called a hipster can be.

“It suggests a shallowness of character and of values […] It’s a huge insult from my perspective,” Rhoades said.

Rhoades hits the nail right on the head: being a hipster isn’t about how you dress, what you listen to or if you have a pencil thin moustache. To me, being a hipster is all about the belief that you know more than others, acting pretentious, conceited, etcetera.

According to Rhoades, calling someone a hipster is just like calling someone a dork or a geek.

“You call someone a nerd, dork, gangster, whatever, I mean that’s a very, very brief and cursory appraisal of who they are that’s just part of being human, you know we try and find ways to categorize other people,” Rhoades said.

Calling someone a hipster is just another way for us to categorize each other, only in a very shallow way.

So like Rhoades expressed, “We all know the saying don’t judge a book by its cover, but when you say, ‘Oh that kid’s a hipster,’ that’s exactly what they’re doing.”