See You

Most people in the modern world suffer from an ineffable – but no less present – sense of invisibility in terms of their basic reality in the eyes of the mainstream public. Here we are bathed in these images of “stars,” great shining human beings who are extraordinary in every way, and whose every image and utterance is captured by the greater public for intense scrutiny and worship, and yet so many of our daily appearances and performances dissipate into the ambient environment unheard, unseen, and unappreciated by a connected social body.

This connection is key. One could be praised to the stars by one's mother. One could get that warm nod of approval from the pops, and those cheerful accolades from friends, and these things are indeed important and they feel good. But to the modern subject it is not enough! No, it must be that the entire universe lights up around oneself, awash in the divine glow emanating from one's self.

As absurd as this sounds, it is the subjective truth for many people, including at times myself. How could an entire population of narcissists ever achieve the satisfaction of being universally worshiped when every narcissist requires the undying devotion of the next? To sustain this state of affairs we have to pick a winner every once in a while, and the winner must appeal to the greatest number possible so as to garner the greatest return for capital.

This is partially what animates the cultural rat race. All these writers, thespians, artists, musicians, etc. all clamoring over each other, making all manner of compromise to elbow over the rest and retain the spotlight.

And curiously enough, the only way that this process can sustain itself is by destroying its subjects. Our stars are both loved and hated. Consider the meteoric rise of our pop stars, bathed in widespread love and enthusiasm, but then as soon as they begin to pass out of favor, the first flaw or weakness that glimmers through is seized upon and used as a lever by the resentful public to tear the star down.

What did we think would happen when we attempted to encase a society of thrashing individual egos within the yoke of a centralized collective culture?

The truth of the matter is that there is a fundamental tension between the centrality of our society's locus of attention and the complexity and heterogeneity with which it conducts itself. A great culture perceives itself as all-powerful, even immortal. Its lifestyle is perceived by its adherents as The Way, which should be shared by everyone.

The Way should be stretched and extended so that its umbrella subsumes all cultures, and at the same time, this uber culture is always seeking exotic subjects to incorporate, so as to regenerate itself. But to subsume difference without dissolving itself, the collective has to reinforce its own homogeneity, asserting its anglo-cultural origins, and its patriarchy, converting its absorbed subjects into its own cultural codes, alienating the ever-widening frequencies of foreign subjects it seeks to subsume.

But for whatever reason, a community has to see itself, and be seen in turn. Its members must be appreciated by each other, not just from peer to peer, but appreciated within the entire framework, so that everyone sees that any given individual is appreciated by the rest.