Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Elizabeth Warren has no idea who Diplo is

Critics created the “hipster antitrust” moniker as an immediate way to signal their displeasure

Warren: hipster antitrust nerd
Warren: hipster antitrust nerd

Hey Hipster:

What the heck is hipster antitrust and why does it keep showing up in my news feed? I’m not even exactly sure what regular antitrust is (except I think it has something to do with Theodore Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller), and I definitely had no idea there was a hipster version floating around now. Do actual hipsters have anything to do with it, or is this just a thing?

— T.S.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Well, this is the week I have to sing for my supper. I guess it can’t always be “lol hipsters” and jokes about moustaches.

You could go Google “hipster” right now, but I’ll save you the time and breakdown the results. The search will return 60 percent worthless listicles about “39 Times Hipsters Went Too Far!” and 39 percent ads for women’s underwear. The remainder will consist of a link to this column (if I’m lucky that week), something to do with Vice news, at least one link to the story that won’t die about the guy who mistook a stock photo of a hipster for himself, and at least one hit for something to do with hipster antitrust. It’s out there, waiting to perplex your newsfeed.

Pop quiz. Hipster antitrust is:

(A) The new Diplo collab with Gustavo Dudamel;

(B) A theory of anticompetitive business practices focused on the economic structure of a given industry rather than the effects of monopoly power on consumer prices; or

(C) Antitrust... but with a moustache (always room for a moustache joke).

I’ll give you an example. Mainstream antitrust has no problem with Amazon, because you can get your Sloth hoodies and knockoff selfie sticks at borderline wholesale prices. Hipster antitrust doesn’t care about how it’s cheaper to get Oreos delivered by Prime than it is to go buy them yourself. Instead, it regards with deep suspicion the probable future where there is only one store that sells everything to everyone; because what could possibly go wrong with that?

You’re probably hearing about it these days because Presidential hopeful and huge nerd Elizabeth Warren (who for sure has no idea who Diplo is or what he does) is all about some hipster antitrust.

To answer your final question, real hipsters had absolutely no part in coming up with this idea. They are too busy being hungover and complaining about Boomers. As near as I can tell, critics created the “hipster antitrust” moniker as an immediate way to signal their displeasure, and as a means of signalling to like-minded people that hipster antitrust should be immediately mistrusted, as if it were a guy trying to sell you an ASMR recording of artisanal keyboard sounds.

However, I think there’s delightful irony in all this. Hipster antitrust proponents would surely prefer an economy built on small, locally owned businesses dealing in a wide array of quirky trades and products that would go unprovided in a market dominated by businesses appealing to the lowest common denominator of competition. In that way, hipster antitrust is actually kind of hipster, even if the people who named it couldn’t tell a real hipster from a hole in the ground. Even the proverbial blind squirrel finds a single-origin heirloom acorn every now and again.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Warren: hipster antitrust nerd
Warren: hipster antitrust nerd

Hey Hipster:

What the heck is hipster antitrust and why does it keep showing up in my news feed? I’m not even exactly sure what regular antitrust is (except I think it has something to do with Theodore Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller), and I definitely had no idea there was a hipster version floating around now. Do actual hipsters have anything to do with it, or is this just a thing?

— T.S.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Well, this is the week I have to sing for my supper. I guess it can’t always be “lol hipsters” and jokes about moustaches.

You could go Google “hipster” right now, but I’ll save you the time and breakdown the results. The search will return 60 percent worthless listicles about “39 Times Hipsters Went Too Far!” and 39 percent ads for women’s underwear. The remainder will consist of a link to this column (if I’m lucky that week), something to do with Vice news, at least one link to the story that won’t die about the guy who mistook a stock photo of a hipster for himself, and at least one hit for something to do with hipster antitrust. It’s out there, waiting to perplex your newsfeed.

Pop quiz. Hipster antitrust is:

(A) The new Diplo collab with Gustavo Dudamel;

(B) A theory of anticompetitive business practices focused on the economic structure of a given industry rather than the effects of monopoly power on consumer prices; or

(C) Antitrust... but with a moustache (always room for a moustache joke).

I’ll give you an example. Mainstream antitrust has no problem with Amazon, because you can get your Sloth hoodies and knockoff selfie sticks at borderline wholesale prices. Hipster antitrust doesn’t care about how it’s cheaper to get Oreos delivered by Prime than it is to go buy them yourself. Instead, it regards with deep suspicion the probable future where there is only one store that sells everything to everyone; because what could possibly go wrong with that?

You’re probably hearing about it these days because Presidential hopeful and huge nerd Elizabeth Warren (who for sure has no idea who Diplo is or what he does) is all about some hipster antitrust.

To answer your final question, real hipsters had absolutely no part in coming up with this idea. They are too busy being hungover and complaining about Boomers. As near as I can tell, critics created the “hipster antitrust” moniker as an immediate way to signal their displeasure, and as a means of signalling to like-minded people that hipster antitrust should be immediately mistrusted, as if it were a guy trying to sell you an ASMR recording of artisanal keyboard sounds.

However, I think there’s delightful irony in all this. Hipster antitrust proponents would surely prefer an economy built on small, locally owned businesses dealing in a wide array of quirky trades and products that would go unprovided in a market dominated by businesses appealing to the lowest common denominator of competition. In that way, hipster antitrust is actually kind of hipster, even if the people who named it couldn’t tell a real hipster from a hole in the ground. Even the proverbial blind squirrel finds a single-origin heirloom acorn every now and again.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader