I'm happy for the discussion. Again, I found myself mentally and verbally lashing out at a culture that I've defended before.

You're right - discrimination is bullshit, no matter what form it takes. Prejudice is usually its source. Elitist attitudes foster prejudice which leads to discrimination. But as a privileged white guy the only place I've ever experienced prejudice was amongst minorities. And you know what? I didn't need to be there, and they resented my presence.

The important thing is why.

I think trying to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas, NM is the same as trying to be old at a hipster barbecue joint. They live life without power, in someone else's world, and fuck you this is our time. Like I said, yeah it's douchey that there are places you aren't welcome because you believe in gear shifts on bicycles. And like you said, the better angels of our natures try to take the high road. Emphasis on "try."

It occurred to me that much gnashing of teeth and rending of shirts could have been spared had the barista said "you aren't going to like anything here." But that would have totally pissed me off 'cuz who was she to judge me? And really - they were nice, in their own way. If you take as a basic assumption that they make the best coffee on earth and that their customers are lucky to bask in the glory of their artisanal brewing skillz, they were positively magnanimous.

I begin to wonder how similar it is to the punk ethos. The music is shit because music is bourgeois but fuck you it's our music. I mean, CBGB's was a hole. Meanwhile the guys that wax nostalgic about Studio 54 are mostly rich assholes.