Why do we live in the look-at-me era? Why are we all shouting from the rooftops? Why are we all trying, as Andy Warhol noted, to get our 15 minutes of fame?
Alton Brown noted that following the success of Iron Chef America, he saw an influx of people going into cooking to be famous. The droves of people going in to audition to Britain's Got Talent with no talent, willing to humiliate themselves for the chance to appear on television for less than a minute is well known. Rick Falkvinge has talked at length about how much of the privacy rights our grandparents fought for we are willing to sacrifice for a little fame. Even the Disney animated feature Hercules talks about the danger of mistaking fame for self-worth.
Is it possible, despite the crush of population, that we're all screamingly lonely? Are we seeking validation?
We spend 12 years being tested against all of our peers and told how well we do or don't measure up. We didn't see our parents for most of the day. And the surrogate parents were constantly demanding that we perform on cue to see if we're worth appreciating.
Maybe we're seven billion lonely Souls. Raised to believe will never be good enough.
Even our coming of age ceremony, as we walk across the stage with the cap and the gown and the little fake scroll, is filled with implicit and explicit commentary on how we're not yet good enough. What college are you going to? What scholarships have you earned?
Dance monkey! Dance!
Time to knock over the organ grinder.
Life is Short.
Work is Crap.
Join my Cult.
Work is Crap.
Join my Cult.
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