Hipsters respond: Don’t blame us for low response rates…blame the Hassidic Jews!
In response to my postings about hipsters failing to complete their census forms in Brooklyn, a hipster blog has refuted these claims and has instead shifted the blame for low response rates to the neighboring Hasidic Jewish community — yet also notes that the 2010 Census forms were mailed out during the week-long Passover holiday:
Stop Blaming Hipsters for the Census
Hey NPR, next time you run a piece entitled “New York’s Hipsters Too Cool for the Census,” you should maybe do more than talk to three people in a record store?
Sure, as Brian pointed out last week, Williamsburg’s response rates are super low. But check out the actual data available on the Census 2010 Map. The Census return rates for the “hip” parts of Williamsburg are about on par with those for the rest of the city. It’s the Hassidic areas that have a super low rate of return (see screenshot above). Which the NPR story mentioned, kind of, at the end of the piece, after focusing on those crazy kids with their “wacky bikes” and “ironic mustaches.”
So yeah, some of us are lazy assholes who haven’t mailed their forms in yet (like, ok, I *might* have just mailed mine in this morning). But come on – we’re no more lazy than the rest of this city.
UPDATE: Aaron Short, over at A Short Story blog, points out that one reason the Hassidic return rate might be so low is because the forms were mailed out during… Passover.
So what we’re saying is that it’s nobody’s fault, really.
Tags: Brooklyn, Hassidic, Hipster, hipsters, holiday, holidays, interactive, Jewish, Jews, mail, New York, participation rate, Passover, religion, religious, response rate, take 10 map, Take Ten, Williamsburg
April 19th, 2010 at 1:46 am
Oh, Williamsburg! Here in “neighboring” Bed-Stuy (as realtors lead us to believe), forms sent to wrong addresses are piling up–at least in my building–by the half-dozen. I guess this is where us enumerators will come in… Sigh…
February 15th, 2012 at 9:12 am
There are some interesting points in time in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart.There is some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further.Good article , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well
March 25th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
I just like to say it how I see it. Take care.