we are a culture of pretenders

our generation is moved by memes, and liberated from inspiration

in the fall of 2005, i had recently left talk radio and was beginning to drift from current events and world news consciousness. despite my departure from the fountain of information that gushes context and theme into the world of the mind, subtly dictating action, i remained in touch with a small conflict in west africa. in the country of sudan, a bloody war was being waged between arabs and blacks in the darfur region.

the conflict in darfur is complex and deeply tied into chinese-american relations, but even on its most base levels, often misunderstood. i felt passionate about the oppression, and also moved to steer reaction toward the roots of the abstaining solution – america. although largely alone, my beliefs were shared by a small collective of heightened individuals, most of whom were only there because they had happened to hug an african instead of a tree. regardless of their motives and misguided enthusiasm, we shared a common belief that change must be brought to chinese-american relations in order to end the sudanese genocide. 

today, the conflict is just as misunderstood as it was then. people, to generalize, do not understand what is going on. they do however, feel inclined to “save darfur” and “stop the genocide.” many folks may even be so driven as to call the genocide equal to or greater than the german genocide that precluded world war two. whether this is true is irrelevant, these people, such as the million-plus members of the “save darfur” cause on facebook, are clueless to the real aid effort that must be made.

the darfur issue was even broached by now-president barrack obama during his campaign for the white house. saving darfur has become a part of our culture, but it has infiltrated conversations and consciousness’ through a meme, not through inspiration.

our generation has not been well introduced to inspiration. we are not inspired to do or believe, but coerced by memes. these memes that slide in and out of our cultural identity such as livestrong bands, katrina relief, healthcare reform, nfl football, american idol, skinny jeans, twitter, and the like, are the products of memes.

the short of it is that we as a culture have created an “in-crowd mindset.” the composition of this mindset moves based not on the inspiration of a populace, but on the influence of a meme. we are not inspired to show support for cancer victims on our wrists, but coerced by a desire to belong.

the essence of our being – our morality, passions, convictions, preferences – all products of playing make believe in a concerted effort to be “in” and “hip.” 

you and i are charlatans, make believe identities forged by public opinion and manipulation, disconnected from soul-developed passion and conviction. 

we are a culture of pretenders.

 

thejonfoley