Some thoughts on performative culture--

 

We live in a toxic performative culture, one where the optics matter more than the substance. This holds true in everything from overtly cheering at a little league game (sports mom vibe) to the President of the USA. People spend thousands --millions-- on things like weddings (Bezos in Venice), grand pomp and circumstance graduations, funerals... where all the outer trappings are in place, but the meaning is all but eliminated. Shouting and chair throwing on talk shows, "reality" television, yelling over one another to cause a scene (in person or recorded), shock jocks on radio or podcast-- everything is brazen, boisterous, and hollow. 

Not that I'm against a tasteful, well-decorated wedding, or a lovely video of a boat ride that shows seals on the beach. Those are things that help us remember the details of life events. But selfie culture is unhealthy, and not everything must be photographed, recorded, or digitally altered to be consumable by people you don't even know. How many likes does it take to get to the center of a person's psyche? (Cue the owl.)

I'm of the opinion that this focus on optics, on the perfect shot, on the perfect staging for a life, is almost 100% what is wrong with our country, let alone with much of the developed world. My missile is bigger than your missile, and all that goes with it, is causing a lot of unnecessary difficulty. My hotel is decked out in more garish gold stuff. My lips are bigger, my list of followers is in six digits, my-my-my-my...

O my. 

Pandering to egos is big business, and Americans are preternaturally drawn to the glitz. It's not only troubling, it's destructive. How many children (not just girls) suffer from eating disorders? There's a ban on "skinnyTok"-- banned by TikTok itself-- because of the damage that it is causing. Have you seen the clothing out there for little girls? Whore-wear. 

Anyone need the newest (fill in the blank with a digital or tech thing)? Why? The camera is better. It's not because of better phone connectivity. Hardly anyone even calls anymore; it's text only. And emojis. Not even words or full sentences. All the dysfunction-adoration-shows are top raters-- Big Brother Bride Boyfriend Naked and Eating Bugs. Why do we follow this stuff, as a culture? 

I think part of why people are so drawn to the loud and obnoxious is because we've been fed the lie that our quiet little lives are insufficient. We, as a culture, feel inadequate and unfulfilled, because we have been told over and over again that we are unworthy of notice. But hey, that loud guy and that rude woman are getting a lot of press-- that must be the way to break free from the laundry-dishes-kids-jobs-cleaning-exhaustion routine. Can't get out of it altogether? Go to your kids' games and be obnoxious-- call it enthusiasm-- and stop hollering just shy of getting tossed out of the stands by the officials. Or if you do get tossed, stand across the street with your fat foam finger and yell even louder-- poor injured soul that you are-- you are there for your kid. 

As if.

Thousands of dissatisfied customers of the status quo huddle together and bitch over light beer, creating misspelled signs and flags to anchor onto their muffler-deficient trucks-- gonna own the libs!! Down with--- whomever they are told are the enemy. Today, China. Tomorrow, Iran. Tuesday? Your neighbor. Wednesday, your kid's teachers. But never the loud, rude, crude, crass, mouthpiece of hollow disgust that blares from every television, cell phone, and billboard. 

Those people speak "the truth." 

Loud does not mean correct. It certainly does not mean compassionate, intelligent, caring, or reasonable. 

How do we turn off the noise? How can we save ourselves? To whom can we turn, if it's all theatre in the ever-widening round? 

That's the tough question, and I'm not sure there are too many people willing to engage with it.

Take care,

C