Debbie Schlussel: Declining America: Meet the "Hipster Dad"
Yet another manifestation of America's decline: Slacker Nation is taking hold.
Think the metrosexual man is bad. Meet the Hipster Dad a/k/a "Alternadad." Oy.
Today's USA Today profiles the "urban parent" coming of age. And when they say "urban parent," they don't mean a hip-hop dad (not that that is any better). They mean slacker, casual Dad, who is more of a cool buddy than a father.
There's unfortunately even a new book, "Alternadad," celebrating this new decline in fatherhood in America.
These excerpts from USA Today, say it all, as does the title of the article, "'Hipster Dads' Trying Hard to Keep Their Cool." Yup, staying "cool" and "with it" are more important than being a good father. Think Mr. Angie Voight a/k/a Brad Pitt, or Travis Barker. Thank G-d my Dad wasn't--and isn't--like these:
Hipster dad, aka alternadad, the guy who hasn't worn a suit since his wedding and listens to the same music as the college kid who babysits his tots.If metrosexual man exhibited a penchant for pressed Prada, hipster dad - and Junior - wear their rumpled, spit-up-stained Black Sabbath T-shirts with pride.
Hipster dad made his mainstream debut last April in a New York cover story. (The magazine's term of choice: "grup," taken from a Star Trek episode about a planet ruled by children.) . . .
[Hipster Dads] aren't "vain or adolescent just because they have an iPod," says editor in chief Ada Calhoun, 30. They want to hold onto the culturally rich life they had as childless adults, "and they want to be good parents."
Memo to Hipster Dads: a "rumpled, spit-up-stained Black Sabbath T-shirt" does NOT make your life "culturally rich."
"If you're resting your kid on a pool table so you can hang out at the bar, maybe it's not cool," he [The Hipster Handbook author, Robert Lanham] says. "But maybe a pool table is a good place to change a diaper."
Oy Gevalt. A baby in a bar on a pool table. Can it get any trashier than that? That's a dad?
G-d help our declining, dumbed-down nation.
Posted by Debbie on January 23, 2007 10:27 AM to Debbie Schlussel