Christopher McCandless: the original hipster

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Chazwozel



So my friend and I got into a debate last night over this asshole. My friend insists that he lived a life in those two years that was more complete and full than people who walk the "beaten path".

I, on the other-hand, think he was a complete hippie-wannabe, trust-fund kid with nothing to lose, who discovered that nature is not a wonderful, magical, forgiving place in the end.

Think about it. He was a trust-fund kid. At any moment during his trip, he believed that if things went really south he could always phone home for his parents to come save him. My friend counters with with, "well, why did he die then?" He died because the Alaskan bush is completely and totally unforgiving. He didn't have a lifeline out there. He didn't even bring a compass (which should indicate what a moron he was).

I don't understand how people can idolize what he did. The guy dumped his family for his own selfish reasons, and died trying to prove some weird point that society is the root of all evil. I guess in the end natural selection made him its bitch...
 
Shakey

Shakey

I'm kinda split on it. I find it somewhat admirable that he was able to get out and experience something so completely different than what his life normally would have offered. Not many people are willing or able to do that. The way he went about it bothers me though. He was selfish and uncaring to his family. He put them through hell, and his death was completely avoidable.

I think if you want a better story about getting away from society and learning to live a simpler life, check out "Alone in the Wilderness". It's about Richard Proenneke's life in Alaska. That guy did it right. He knew what he was doing, and lived out in the woods by himself for 30 years until he was 82.
 
C

Chazwozel

SpecialKO said:
It's cool that he got to life such a different life. It's not cool that he was such a moron about it.
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He pretty much lived like a bum in the continental U.S. for two years. People would take him in and feed him. He was a vagrant. He died after 3 months in the Alaskan bush.
 
M

makare

I got really confused here and thought this was about Eddie Vedder. I get it now though. >.>

I think this guy was an idiot but I also think Walden is stupid too.
 
Vagabond

Vagabond

The word hipster is thrown around so casually it doesn't mean anything anymore.

This guy was just boring. And in the end he bored himself right to death.
 
Espy

Espy

The kid annoys me and I hate that book, I hate my smug uberhippie english teacher who thought this kid was the messiah and when he died I went, yup, that sounds about right.

I get it that people romanticize his life and lifestyle, but for me it felt like a hollow trust fund hippie kid fairytale meant
 
C

Chazwozel

Vagabond said:
The word hipster is thrown around so casually it doesn't mean anything anymore.

This guy was just boring. And in the end he bored himself right to death.
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I called him a hipster because that's what they are: bored trust-fund kids who literally are so bored with life they have these sorts of crisis situations where they shun the world they come from. For everyone Chris McCandless there are 1,000 people living in third world "wilds" that would gladly adopt his trust-fund life. Society can suck, but raw nature is a million times more heartless. From what I've read of his last journal entries that's a cold reality that struck him when it was too late. Again, the reason I think he's a douche is because the entire time he had nothing to lose. People put him up on this hippie, nature loving pedestal, when the reality was he knew that at any given moment his parents could swoop to his rescue. That's how he got buy in the Continental U.S. , through the charitable contributions of those that lived and worked in the society that he had so much contempt for. Out in the Alaskan wilderness he didn't last more than three months. Shit gets real, real fast, when you latch off the teat of society.

---------- Post added at 02:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------
Espy said:
The kid annoys me and I hate that book, I hate my smug uberhippie english teacher who thought this kid was the messiah and when he died I went, yup, that sounds about right.

I get it that people romanticize his life and lifestyle, but for me it felt like a hollow trust fund hippie kid fairytale meant
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That "Into the Wild" movie was such a piece of shit, so was the book. I especially hate when people fawn over his story and proclaim they should do what he did. I knew a girl in highschool who absolutely adored his story. Yeah she went camping with a bunch of us one summer; bitched after the first day when she found out there were no showers or bathrooms.
 
Vagabond

Vagabond

Chazwozel said:
I called him a hipster because that's what they are: bored trust-fund kids who literally are so bored with life they have these sorts of crisis situations where they shun the world they come from. For everyone Chris McCandless there are 1,000 people living in third world "wilds" that would gladly adopt his trust-fund life. Society can suck, but raw nature is a million times more heartless. From what I've read of his last journal entries that's a cold reality that struck him when it was too late. Again, the reason I think he's a douche is because the entire time he had nothing to lose. People put him up on this hippie, nature loving pedestal, when the reality was he knew that at any given moment his parents could swoop to his rescue. That's how he got buy in the Continental U.S. , through the charitable contributions of those that lived and worked in the society that he had so much contempt for. Out in the Alaskan wilderness he didn't last more than three months. Shit gets real, real fast, when you latch off the teat of society.
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I'm not arguing that the guy wasn't as thick as a brick, and those that outright admire his actions aren't several bricks thick as well.

I just think dubbing him the original hipster is an unimaginative put down. But it's a moot point.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

BAH, everyone knows that Christopher McCandless was killed by Richard Proenneke, because Poenneke hated useless morons.
 
Gurpel

Gurpel

I don't see a problem with what he set out to do. Do you want to eschew modern trappings? Great. Fine. Good for you.

It's just that he was... really dumb.
 
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