Christian Lander

At what exact moment ‘alternative’ and ‘yuppy’ became friends, nobody is quite sure. But the rise of the hipster is a well documented one – and not just in Tumblr photo blogs. Advocates celebrate the hipster’s incredible knowledge of fine music, art, social causes, and organic food.

And yet there are no notable advocates for the hipster. In fact, if you ask around, you may even struggle to find anybody identifying as one: though there’ll be no shortage of indignant retorts.

According to Christian Lander — author of Stuff White People Like — the taxonomical self-denial of the cool crowd reflects a self conscious awareness that cool itself is, in fact, a finite resource. In conversation with John Safran and a talkative audience, Lander explains how he classifies ‘wrong’ and ‘right’ white people, and elaborates on his playful critique of race and class.

Lander also discusses the negative aspects of partaking in a monoculture. And he considers what ‘orange people’ like.