VENERATION OR CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION?
At 3:47PM I learned that Nelson Mandela had died. At 4:22PM I posted this on Twitter:
Ignore my lame jokes, please.
Within minutes #RIPNelsonMandela was trending.
"Wow!" you whisper to yourself. "Is David a prophet?" Yes, but in this case I think there's a more mundane explanation.
You're guaranteed to see a similar #RIP hashtag whenever anyone remotely famous dies, and if I've learned anything from my days exploring the Internet it's that talk is cheap. Reverence and outrage are cheap. Many things we claim online have little to no relevance in the rest of our lives.
The movement that inspired a generation…for a month.
No one was heaping praise on Paul Walker's career until he died last week. Then immediately everyone rushed to point out what an inspiration he was. I'm not saying that no one really cared about Paul Walker, but when someone skyrockets from "ignored" to "saint" to "last week's news" faster than a 1970's Charger on NOS then I can't help but be suspicious about what's actually motivating it.
"David, you black hole of decency and joy," everyone screams. "Mandela was a great person! A humanitarian and an activist! Who cares if we don't acknowledge him every day of our lives? He's dead now and we should take the opportunity to say how we feel while we're thinking about him!"
Fair enough, but I want you to consider this:
WE'LL HONOR ANYONE IF WE SEE OTHERS DO IT
On July 22, 2013 actor Dennis Farina died at the age of 69, and Twitter couldn't stop talking about him. Variations on "Dennis Farina" and "Dennis Farina Dead" and "#RIPDennisFarina" were trending all day.
Oh, wait, you don't know who Dennis Farina is? Sorry, here you go:
No? Nothing?
He's just one of "those guys" who shows up in movies and TV from time to time. He's probably best known for being on Law and Order for like two years, but I think his seminal role was in that sweet photo I just showed you.
All that to say I guarantee you Dennis Farina was never more famous than on the day he died.
For reference, this is the search popularity of "Silly Bandz":
Appreciation for this man's life was a fad more fleeting than the colorful rubber bands that come in fun shapes.
"Well, we didn't care THAT much, but a life is a life and throwing out a #RIP is the civil, polite thing to do."
And sure, maybe that's true. Maybe everyone just wants to pay their dues. Veneration of the dead is an important tradition across time and cultures; we're just carrying out that custom the 21st Century way. Each #RIP is another flower on the grave.
But what if it's not just about that? What if reverence for Mandela and Paul Walker and Farina isn't just civil, but trendy? At what point does their memory become less valuable than us remembering them?
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT…AND INSTAGRAM
Bear with me.
If you're like me then you're living in the Post-Modern, Post-Scarcity*, Consumerist, Internet-Connected First World. Recession or not, developing nations are lining up to sell us what they can make. In the global economy we are the consumers, not the manufacturers, and we're getting better and better at embracing that identity, and all the existential crises that come with it.
We have a habit of defining ourselves by musical tastes and brand loyalties and political parties. We are defined by what we consume, but nothing from this Earth can last. It can become stolen, or rusted, or moth-ridden, or (worst of all) outdated and irrelevant.
Cool as ever. No Regrets.
Nothing gold can stay. Even Barack Obama can't inspire the same optimism he used to. So we need to find the next thing. Novelty is practically a currency.
It's the endless hunt for novelty that gave rise to the early adopters and will Instagram every meal. It's what makes Spotify so useful and why we waste hours clicking related videos on Youtube. Make fun of hipsters all you want, but under the cover of darkness every one of us will groan and let loose with a disgruntled "well I liked it before it was cool".
Hipsters are the spirit animal of our generation
We don't just want to be first, we want it on the record. When I saw "The Fox" (AKA What Does The Fox Say?) in September it meant I was in-the-know about funny Internet videos. A day later it blew up on Facebook and I was just another schmuck like the rest of you.
We need to make sure everyone sees that WE CARED when Nelson Mandela died, just like we cared when Amy Winehouse died and when Ron Paul eventually dies. And when caring is just the baseline then we'd better care HARDER. Within hours a cursory RIP won't cut it anymore. It's time to post quotes. Then move on to memorial articles from the New York Times. It's the new Keeping Up With The Joneses. The Nuclear Arms Race of compassion.
We all think we're fairies, acting like our identity can only exist so long as other people believe in it.
WE'RE ALL AMATEUR PUBLICISTS
Social media makes it easy to manage and prune your image, to the point where I think we're all pretty proficient at it. I'd even say that we value that virtual mask above the imperfect person behind it. It's more convenient that way.
And maybe I'm totally wrong. Some people might write me off as cynical, but I don't think it's cynicism. I think it's genuine concern. My fear isn't that we're too passionate. My fear is that we mistake passion for conviction and we mistake image for character. What difference does it make that you were inspired if it doesn't change the way you live your life?
Can you go without telling the world why you'll miss Paul Walker? If not then ask yourself why.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to pay respect to another person's life. My fear is that too often "paying respect" can become the very disrespectful act of using someone's death to draw attention to yourself.
Not that I would ever do that.
#RIPNelsonMandela
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