Thomas de Zengotita's Mediated is full of interesting ideas about interesting things. Like the meaning of the word "whatever", why girls rule junior high and what makes musical preference such a strong badge of identity. But what I think about most is this:
...in a mediated world, the opposite of real isn't phony or illusional or fictional--it's optional...We are most free of mediation, we are most real, when we are at the disposal of accident and necessity.
This clears up a lot of my muddled and disgruntled thinking about "authenticity". I've just never liked the word because:
- Unless we specify "authentic to what?" (and we often don't), we're just invoking vague, nostalgic cliches about sweat and asphalt.
- Once you're consciously selecting qualities to be represented elsewhere in order to give a certain impression to a chosen audience (which we often do), you're miles away from any recognizable definition of "authentic".
- It often embodies a hypocritical reverse snobbism according to which people who are poorer, darker or less educated than the intended viewer are assumed to be more "real".
But if you think of "authentic" as "not optional" rather than "gritty" or "real", it becomes a productive and interesting idea:
- I think it helps to explain why young people are generally not so bothered by the "reality" of advertising or special effects or even The Real World. "Illusory" isn't automatically a bad thing anymore.
- By focusing on (lack of) choices, it highlights an important value at work in advertising and the world at large: Status is about the ability to make choices. We look down on and feel guilty about those whose choices are visibly limited.
- It can help you to identify the most interesting and credible thing to say about a company: what is not optional about the way it behaves?
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