Battleangel

Be Famous for Doing Nothing

No talent? No problem! Welcome to the faking-it generation where accomplishment is a footnote to exhibitionism. (Radar Magazine)

No, it’s not a tag line for Seinfeld.

Interesting concept. Could be worth looking into … because it’s a really telling tale of how the media driven contemporary world works. Not that I’ve read or even heard of the magazine in question. But the line of thought is appealing.

Nothing new per se either. Just terribly blown out of proportion by the corporate media. It’s proof that people and entities adapt, without even knowing it in most cases. It’s a symbiosis that has in many ways brought us back to our primitive roots and outlined the very things that define our species, behaviorally. Beauty, surface and packaging rules over content, meaning and message. PR coups trump common sense and temperance. And no one is truly immune. We’re all exposed to the meme. We all understand how we have to be to succeed.

So, welcome to the faking-it generation! If you thought that generation X and Y were bad, this will drive you mad.

On a similar note and in a juxtaposition to the “faking-it generation” is the “lost generation” of the 1980s, which doesn’t really seem to fit into society or indeed the employment market. I suppose that in a way it all fits together. As someone pointed out, the best job one can hope for is to be employed in a docu-soap setting. I’m being sarcastic of course, but the prospect of hyperreality is getting closer by the day. When media expands, borders blur, achievement is irrelevant, shallowness rules and even reality starts to melt, we’re in a world of uncertainty. But then again, every generation has its spectres to overcome. Now that was a lot of ranting just to be able to post that cover.