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November 21, 2006Searching for authenticity in a baloney-ish worldI like this new piece by Dick Meyer and post it here wishing I had time write more on it (and I know Dick loooooves it when you folks comment on his stuff!) It’s a pretty important column, in which Meyer channels Holden Caulfield a little and bemoans the “crumby” phony-balonyness and fakery that is modern political theater and…well…almost the whole of the rest of 21st century American life, too. Writes Meyer:
His column touches on some themes that have been rolling about in Meyer’s head for a while - the dissolution of real “community” and the fakery of invented community (the “plus-sized community,” the “survivor community” the “world community”), the transient lifestyle that replaces nuclear family with bare acquaintances and forces us to find other means of personal interconnection; how those other means (political identity, food fanaticism) become not just social connections but replacements for the sort of stable and reassuring role religion used to play in most lives. There is a book in there somewhere that I wish Meyer would write. There should be at least a second part to all of this. I don’t agree with all of what he’s written here - I take exception to some on his list of “authentic” folks - but that is not the thing to get hung-up on, I guess (although, undoubtedly, because we are a cult-of-personality society, his premise will be waylaid by people focusing on those names - heck, even I just did it). It would be a shame, though, if that’s all you zero in on, because this is a valuable piece that can really inspire some thought (and some excellent, penetrating discussion, particularly at the Thanksgiving table) if you let yourself think about it. Why are we so willing to endure fakery that has become so commonplace it is predictable? Why do we reward politicians for it? (Did anyone really believe Pelosi when she said “Impeachment is off the table?” Then why do so many pretend to?) Why do we embrace it within ourselves, body and soul? What is the root cause of our willingness to surround ourselves with it? Some will say “it began with the first cult which became the first religion - that fakery doomed us to this day.” Others might suggest that the “damn the truth, print this headline” Pravda mindset that has impacted the whole world in one way or another has set the stage for our current acquiescence into the land of make-believe and spin. Some, of course, will blame the Clintons. Everyone else will blame Bush, who, standing atop a pile of rubble or holding the shield of a fallen cop before a joint session of congress - may have (along with Rudy Giuliani) managed the last authentic moments in our political memory. Yes, much in life is illusory - so is Time, itself - but what makes some so willing to believe that President Bush “lied” about WMD, while they accept that Clinton - who said all the same things - told the truth? Why are some so certain that giving amnesty to illegals who have lived here productively for many years, is a greater travesty than a man telling his wife he is leaving her while she lies in bed fighting cancer? Maybe there are no right answers. Maybe all of those theories are right to varying degrees. But the need for authenticity in our lives is basic and real, and urgent, and increasingly we look outside of ourselves and our families and our “nuclear” worlds to find it. And we seem to be coming up empty. Maybe that’s why football and baseball are so meaningful to some…you can’t fake it, especially baseball (you can’t fake anything that has no clock) - the humanity on display on the field is the last authentic/savage/heroic/noble activity you can participate in…except a just war…and we are a generation notoriously unwilling to define, much less participate in one of those. Lots to think about. I invite you to really read Meyer’s piece, and let’s mix it up. I have the best and smartest readers in the world, so I know the thinking will be worth reading! http://theanchoressonline.com/2006/11/21/searching-for-authenticity-in-a-baloney-ish-world/trackback/ 14 Responses to “Searching for authenticity in a baloney-ish world” |
November 21st, 2006 at 4:43 pm
[...] The Anchoress linked this afternoon to a piece by CBS’s Dick Meyer, discussing the problem of phoniness in our society. It’s way too big a problem to discuss in a short blog, but it’s more of a plague in politics than in any other area. I’ve been pondering ever since the midterm election about politics in our society, and I have come to some conclusions that mesh somewhat with what the Anchoress and Mr. Meyer discuss. [...]
November 21st, 2006 at 4:58 pm
It Takes One to Know One
Don’t worry about the people who don’t keep it right. Just keep it right.
November 21st, 2006 at 5:17 pm
this really has me thinking and I am not sure really what to think. I live in a small town around 4500 people. it is still rural with farms scattered about but it is changing fast. farmers selling their land to housing and business developers. new homes and shops going up all over. We are still close knit with many generations of family living here. we genuinely care for each other and our way of life in which GOD plays the most important role followed by family and then country. The newbies moving in want the idea of the country life and not the realities ie roosters crow at sunrise, cows moo and poop and it smells. pigs squeal, sheep baa and goats are a general nuicance. then you have the skunks, racoons and other things running around. and then there is the noise of farming tractors and such. they move in and then do nothing but complain because it isn’t what they thought it would be. and then demand we stop farming to make it ideal for them. The one thing I have noticed about the newbies is they aren’t very happy. they constantly have to have more. Bigger houses, bigger cars, more toys and the newest and most expensive gadget on the market. their homes look like a spread out of a magazine, but they still are not happy why? maybe because so many people have tried to replace God with things. trying to fill the void left when there is no God, but nothing will fill that void.not the government, the plastic surgery, fancy clothes, or popular celebs. If you want stability and peace and happiness then you must have God. He gives you the authentic life so many want. There are probably more ways to look at it but this is my first thought. I may write more after I’ve thought about it longer.
November 21st, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Meyer is exactly right, but — as noted — his list of “authentic” people nearly wide enough off the mark to bring the entire premise into question. Except that it is correct. The worst thing is that the world is filled with those who cynically exploit the phony at expense of genuine discourse (read: Democrats and, alas, Republicans, taken as a whole, and — where I live — the media). …
As for baseball, the steroid scandal has damaged its legitimacy as one of the “authentic” elements in post-modern life. How about soccer?
I would agree with FARRWESTMOM that it all begins with God and the values that follow … but you either get it or you don’t.
November 21st, 2006 at 5:35 pm
ARGHGHGHG…I forgot about the steroid scandal…kill me now.
‘
well, but Derek is no on ‘roids, I don’t think, so there is hope!
November 21st, 2006 at 6:13 pm
I don’t know, most of this rant by Meyer seemed to me to be in the category of ‘everything was better when I was younger.’ I don’t have a lot of respect for that arguement.
I happen to be quite fond of malls, suburban communities, and not oppossed to boobs of any sort, fake or otherwise. None of these things seem ‘unauthentic’ to me, although they are ‘new’ if you are as old as Dick Meyer.
As for the foodies, I suspect that a few of them notice a difference in taste, as for the rest they don’t want ‘authentic’ what they want to ostentatious display of wealth and taste. That is hardly a new development, the rich have done that as far back a recorded history.
Community, communication, and all of that are an interesting issue in the modern world, and their are challenges to it, but Meyer’s treatment here strikes me as totally useless in answering those questions.
November 21st, 2006 at 9:32 pm
I received the following in an email that had been forwarded many, many times:
Those Born 1930-1979
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED!!
•First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
•They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
•Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
•We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
•As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
•Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
•We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
•We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
•We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because.
•WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING !!!!!!!
•We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
•No one was able to reach us all day.
•And we were O.K.
•We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
•We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.
•WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
•We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
•We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
•We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
•We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
•Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
•Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
•The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to
grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
“With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides,flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks,”Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”
November 21st, 2006 at 11:52 pm
I believe his premise is correct, but I don’t think he understands it fully. I was reading the piece with an unbiased eye until I hit his examples. I know you warned us…but they were so off the mark I had a hard time finishing the article. I was vaguely liberal pre-9/11. Born in 1970, I realize more each day how the secular American culture shaped my views before I even realized they were “views”. My path back (re: location and emotion) to family, community and the church (Methodist) was a long and winding one – but one that I cherish. It was a journey that I’m guessing most “postmodern” Americans wouldn’t understand.
I would also argue that community is alive and well. I think the internet is helping people connect all over the world. Hidden atrocities are exposed immediately. People that were previously isolated can find kinsman ship. Of course it’s all in how you use it – anything can be detrimental if you try. I would also point out that creating “artificial” communities is not necessarily negative. After 2 years of searching, my husband and I are having a home built in a planned community (check out my blog http://www.castlefairchild.com/ for more info). There is an elementary school, a park and a paved walking/biking trail in the woods at the border - built right into the sub. I believe that technological advances and building upon the best ideas of the past (subdivisions utilizing small town perks) are just some of God’s blessings.
November 22nd, 2006 at 12:32 am
My personal opinion is the problem is not that we are in some way “phony”. The reality is that man is imperfect. He rarely lives up to his own standards. What we have reached today is the tipping point at which a majority of people no longer believe that standards are necessary. Perhaps that is too strong a brush. Perhaps it is simply that they no longer believe that the old standards are valuable. When Nixon lied, he was called on the carpet because people understood that there was truth, and there was also Truth, and that both were important. President Clinton got away with quite a lot because the elites of this nation no longer believe in or understand either of those two things. President Bush’s actions and words, in the main, resonate with those who understand that there is truth. Almost no one today understands that there is also Truth.
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I agree with his general argument. I also agree that the last authentic political moment was President Bush immediately after 9/11. I also liked the movie clip introducing him at the Republican Convention in ‘04 where it described the emotions of his first pitch at the World Series. Politics has become “phony” and there needs to be dramatic change on both sides of the aisle before America can become what it was meant to be.
November 25th, 2006 at 11:20 am
[...] Searching for authenticity in a baloney-ish world [...]
November 26th, 2006 at 4:07 am
M For Fake, Revisited
The Anchoress links to an essay by CBS’s Dick Meyer titled “Land Of The Fake” and adds:Why are we so willing to endure fakery that has become so commonplace it is predictable? Why do we reward politicians for it? (Did…
December 7th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
[...] Dick Meyer rarely writes a piece lacking in chewy food-for-thought. A few weeks ago he invited everyone to gnaw on a mildly acidic appetizer wherein searched for reality in a world full of baloney. Today he serves up the main course, and it’s pretty rich stuff that deserves a slow, appreciative consumption. [...]
September 28th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
[...] to the piece here, I appreciated that Meyer’s search for the authentic was broadening to include our whole [...]