The Rise of the Non-Coping Hipsters

There’s a bizarre trend in popular culture and on social media in which non-coping hipsters denigrate and dismiss traditionally masculine or traditionally practical skills, knowledge, and tools. These think-pieces are usually positioned as attacks on “obsolete” or “toxic” masculinity. More subtle attempts are positioned simply as criticism of tools or talents thought of as traditionally masculine. The purpose of all these articles, however, is the same: to help non-coping hipsters, often millennials, feel better about their lack of masculinity. They seek either to redefine what it means to be practical, capable, and prepared (all values associated with traditional men) or, if they can’t do that, they hope to dismiss these values as unimportant, irrelevant, or even harmful.

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The basic format works like this: An O-faced “soy boy” with teased and frosted hair takes a break from blogging about his work as a male feminist at Buzzfeed (or its equivalent) in order to opine about the skills and pastimes on which today’s nu-male ought to be spending his time. Along the way he declares as obsolete or unnecessary the tools and abilities that every pragmatic coper takes for granted. He does this for the same reason the grasshopper mocked the ant: He is unprepared, incapable, and insecure. He therefore hates anyone who is prepared, capable, and confident… and he hopes, through publishing his self-congratulatory think-pieces, to influence society and culture in order to salve his self-hatred. He wants his friends to affirm him.

“No, you poor thing,” he hopes they’ll say. “You don’t need to know how to fight. You shouldn’t carry a knife. You ought not be concerned about being a leader. These vestiges of toxic masculinity are merely artifacts of the benighted age that preceded yours. Have a cup of cocoa, turn on Amy Schumer’s latest special, and shut out those hurtful voices that make you feel incapable. You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you.”

The only reason to urge people to be less prepared, to discourage them from carrying useful tools or learning useful, practical skills, is to make you feel better about what you, yourself, can’t or won’t do. I can think of no other motivation to dismiss coping skills or to proclaim some of the world’s most fundamental and critical tools as next to useless.

As a case in point, some millennial hipster named “Jaeger Shaw” wrote an article for Outdoor Research — ostensibly an outdoor products company whose staff should know better — proclaiming, “Knives are Overrated for Hiking.” In the piece, Shaw actually discourages people from carrying knives because, hey, he never needs one, so you won’t, either. Never you mind that a knife can be used to make shelter, to cut kindling, to separate line, and even to defend yourself… Shaw thinks these things are silly, so you should leave your knife at home the next time you’re tempted to carry it.

Outdoor Research tried to walk this back on their Facebook page, where (as you can imagine) the comments on Shaw’s article were overwhelmingly negative. “Two quick notes for those choosing to comment before reading the article,” they posted, assuming any criticism must be from people who haven’t read Shaw’s dreadful piece. “1. The author is not suggesting that you don’t carry a knife. 2. “Overrated” does not mean useless. It’s a reflection of perceived value vs. real value.”

The only problem with the company’s backpedaling is that this was exactly what Shaw was saying. He considers a knife useless and suggests you don’t carry it. “In 2018, I spent 54 days hiking in the backcountry,” he writes, “and not once did I require a knife. In fact, I’ve stopped bringing knives hiking entirely.” If that’s not proclaiming a knife useless and discouraging you from carrying one, what on Earth would be?

Shaw goes on to embarrass himself by saying,

But people rarely have the same outdoor skill sets that they used to in decades past. The average outdoorsperson does not know how to use their knife to start a fire, whittle tools, harvest meat, cut off their arm, make a shelter, hunt, or fend off a bear or assailant. If you do, that’s cool, please continue packing your knife. Especially if traditional bushcraft brings you joy. And heck, knives do come in handy sometimes. But outside of activity-specific demand, knife skills are semi-obsolete. We bring our own food, shelter, fire starters and essentials. And the wildernesses we adventure in are often, arguably, safer than the cities where we live.

In other words, Shaw can’t do these things — start a fire, whittle tools, make shelter, hunt, or fight with a blade — so these skills must be “semi-obsolete.” Shaw is a non-coper, and that makes Shaw feel insecure and uncomfortable, so Shaw must write a lengthy article proclaiming this lack of coping skills the new normal.

The notion that “because I have never needed something, no one ever needs that thing” is not new among non-copers. Years ago, I lost a friend to far-left politics. We used to be good pals in college, but after graduation he sank deeper and deeper into progressive ideology. Finally, he told me that, because he could not imagine ever using a gun to defend himself, he saw no way that anyone could successfully use a gun in self-defense (and therefore guns should be banned). I am not making that up and I am not exaggerating. That was his position, more or less verbatim.

I would argue that if you are not capable of engaging in basic survival skills, you have absolutely no business hiking or camping anywhere that is not a designated campground with water and electrical hookups. If the notion of starting a fire, or of using your knife for whittling or hunting fills you with dread, you ought to stay indoors. If you think those people who do carry knives are representatives of a “semi-obsolete” generation of antiquated outdoorsmen, you are embarrassing yourself when you proclaim your helpless, defeatist attitude the new normal. If you think your smartphone is an essential outdoor tool, you’ve missed the entire point of preparedness and survival… and it’s only a matter of time before you get yourself or someone else injured or killed on an outing.

Discouraging people from carrying essential tools, such as knives, is bad. This line of thought urges people to refuse to prepare, willfully and knowingly. It’s the grasshoppers telling each other that the ant is foolish for working all summer when he could be partying. Just because Shaw is uncomfortable using a knife (and therefore doesn’t try) doesn’t mean refusing to carry this essential outdoor tool should become the standard. That’s moronic. Worse, it’s going to get someone hurt when they leave behind a tool that could save their lives in an emergency.

I carry road flares in my car. I’ve never used them. By Shaw’s logic, I shouldn’t carry them because they’re semi-useless. After all, I could call for an Uber if I broke down. Right? Yet road flares are a basic and fundamental component of any road safety kit. Every driver should have them. You may never need them. Hell, you’ll go your whole life never using your life insurance policy (until you do). A knife is the most fundamental and basic of tools. You should have one with you all the time, but especially when you’re outdoors. If you never use it, count yourself lucky.

As bad as Shaw’s attitude is, however, there are plenty of worse examples among the non-coping hipsters. Consider Ian Stobber’s absurd “Obsolete Man Skills You Should Ditch.” In this article, Stobber opines that such basic and practical skills as hunting, fighting, repairing your car, and even leadership are obsolete… because, of course, Stobber can do none of them. You should learn how to “mediate,” he claims, because fighting “doesn’t solve anything.” One assumes Stobber pictures himself mediating his way out of a mugging or a bar fight. No, I’m just kidding — I imagine if someone assaults him in a bar while he’s drinking a pretentious craft beer, Stobber will curl into a ball and beg for the toxic masculinity to stop.

You shouldn’t bother trying to repair your car, he asserts. It’s too hard, you see. Instead, you should — I kid you not — “learn to code.” (Let me know how C++ works out the next time your engine light comes on while you’re miles from civilization, Ian.) And leadership? That’s an obsolete concept, according to Stobber. Why, your boss might be a woman, he points out. Whatever will you do if you cannot simply accept your new servile position in society?

You shouldn’t try to get ahead or improve yourself; you should, according to Stobber, learn the “soft skills” of “collaboration.” And while you’re at it, you nu-males should be learning how to talk about your feelings — because what woman, what coworker, what team member doesn’t appreciate a weepy sentimentalist who can’t stop blubbering about collaborating? Sharing is caring, you monsters.

The think-pieces of the non-coping hipsters aren’t actually advice. They’re cries for help. They’re people who lack basic skills for dealing with life, desperate to justify and rationalize their unwillingness to confront their lack. The Ian Stobbers and the Jaeger Shaws of the world are willfully helpless and intentionally ignorant. They understand, on some level, what they can’t do and why that’s bad… but instead of working on these things, they want you to join them in their ignorance. They want you to affirm their refusal to cope, rather than educate themselves on how they might change. They want you to join them in their helplessness so they won’t have to feel bad about themselves.

It is a horrifying symptom of what’s wrong with our society that more and more people seem to think this attitude is correct. It is neither progressive nor positive. It is, instead, self-destructive and pitiful.
For survivalists, for prepared martialists, for men, it is not an option.