
In the age of ass loads of information, constant floods from (a)social media, its easy to find a cause, a movement, or a #hashtag that relates to how we feel, who we think we are, what we identify with, or what our passion is. We spend so much time trying to classify ourselves, to put ourselves in to nice, neat, identifiable categories, that Its easy to forget what is most important…
“Who am I? Am I those things? Am I really something outside of myself? Does that passion come from something else someone else has defined? Does that filter make me look more like the you that I think I am, or should be? “
In the wise words of Tyler Durden,
“you are not the car you drive; you are not the content of your wallet, you are not your fucking khakis. "

Or for you 2021'rs... You are not the app you share with!!
Maybe you fill out your profile… you list your favorite movies, your favorite songs, post pictures of your food. Who is your favorite sports team? So you believe something, so you say “I identify with this”. Are you a Republican? Democrat? Jew? Muslim? Atheist? Christian? Maybe you belong to some fraternal organization. Beta Kappa Kappa? Okay. This is the way you wish to convey your ‘self’ to the world, right? But is that really possible?
Are those symbols, groups, or words, hashtags, really you?
A wise man once said: “a man is not Jaqen H'ghar”.

Words and images are symbols meant to serve as placeholders to represent an idea of a thing, but not the thing itself. Can you really be something outside of yourself? So the “I” finds its place amongst those that can reinforce its identity. The “I” becomes “we” or ‘this’ or ‘that’.
So we tell the world how grungy we are, create an Inst4gr4m story, Show them how unique we are, so radical and authentic. Going against the status quo! “We don’t need vaccines!” or “We don’t believe in eating meat”, drink our fair-trade vegan coffee with sustainably harvested beans and almond milk latte, atop that beautiful scenic view. Now we can show the world just how in touch with nature we are, or… not.
Now for ‘them’ those “friends of ours” total meat eaters, That cheeky little meme “this is like me, ill share this part of myself so others like me like it”. “We don’t like those liberals, trying to steal our country and make the government take over our lives!!”. Those republicans “so backwards, all racist homophobes”.
So we raise our weapons of memes, our armor of self-righteousness. The impenetrable wall of reality… or is it?
What is this madness?
Comments