December 2007

On 28 December 2007, 20/20 ran a segment on celebrity antics of 2007 and mentioned that the same photographer who gave us the startling image of a naked girl running down the street in Vietnam also gave us the image of Lindsay Lohan passed out in her car. They then juxtaposed the two photographs on screen and in one moment signalled the fall of any semblance to high culture and import within American society. The snapshots are also very telling of the current cultural 'mentalite' - one of the same decadence and decay Nietzsche railed against...one we are too quick to embrace as we vehemently extol a cult of celebrity...

Looking back to perhaps the most rudely blatant of celebrity exploits of 2007 is that of Naomi Campbell. Perhaps the greater shame is Guy Trebay's treatment of her offense (from my March 2007 blog "Of Masks and Moxie"):

The New York Times Sunday Styles section published an article by Guy Trebay on 25 March 2007, aptly titled, "La Campbell Proves That Beauty Makes Its Own Rules". In his article, Trebay rather acclaims Campbell for "[t]urning a community service sentence into a fashion statement." He dares to link her with "famous beauties of the ages" including the 18th Century Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Diana Cooper, and Louise Brooks. He then extols Campbell for her "moxie", explaining that she "…represents something more potent…some quality that never seems to go out of vogue. She has moxie, of a sort that only people whose molecules are arranged as perfectly as hers are able to claim. Beauty operates according to its own rules. Everybody knows that" (bold added for emphasis).

In a turn from bad to worse, our further dissolution to decay is nowhere more poignant than in the reported 7% rise in plastic surgery in 2007 compared to 2006, as clearly exemplified by teenager Ashley Tisdale's recent rhinoplasty (Mireya Navarro, "Hey, It's Still Me in Here," The New York Times, 30 December 2007). Sadly, rather than comment on the rise of plastic surgery - especially with teenagers - Navarro focuses her article on the "Jennifer Grey syndrome" and how to be "unembarrassable"...

As if this focus on the superficial and the yearning to propel 'stardom' at the expense of one's health and well-being is a commonplace acceptable phenomenon, reporters - our national communicators - are forcing their eyes and everyone else's eyes shut to the white elephant that is but one of many of America's pathologies.

I cringe to go further...

Last month, New York City reportedly introduced a $1,000 bagel and a $25,000 chocolate sundae (Vivianne Rodrigues, "New York's $25,000 dessert sets Guinness record," Reuters, 7 November 2007).

And what of world hunger, of foreign and domestic poverty?

Recently, Maureen Callahan commented on Oprah Winfrey's decision to devote two shows to Elizabeth Gilbert and her book: Eat, Pray, Love (Maureen Callahan, "Eat, pray, loathe," New York Post, 23 December 2007).  Some of the gems from Gilbert's appearances, as cited by Callahan:

" 'If you take the word 'no' and put it backwards, it's almost 'om' "

" 'When you fill up your own skin with yourself, that alone becomes your offering' "

" 'There are days when I look at that meditation mat and say, 'I'm gonna have to see you, like Thursday, but I know you're there and we're coming back to each other' "

Apparently, in her zealousness to share her favorite book with the world, Oprah overlooked Gilbert's fetishization of Eastern thought and culture in an attempt to 'kool-aid' the American 'mentalite'...

With such a public presence and obvious and unquestionning power, Oprah knows better than to be so careless. And yet the perpetration is done...the die cast, wherever it falls, the descent is already crashing thunderously...

And finally, to top it all and remove all doubt is the announcement to add joysticks to slot machines so gambling can be targeted to a younger and active audience (Gary Rivlin, "Slot Machines for the Young and Active," The New York Times, 10 December 2007). As if the solution to the problem of the 'video game generation' (the solution being a youthful and active modality of lifestyle) could not be left untarnished, the gambling industry decides to go ahead and target this same "Young and Active" audience, luring them into 'playful decay'...

From food to gambling and celebrity exploits to the fetishization of thought and cultures, the 'kool-aiding' of American society in the name of instant gratification where the superficial is everything is fast enabling a 'masks and moxie' approach towards decay. Perhaps as a couner-balance to the technological advances of accomplished striving potentiality, this profoundly devastating level of decadence is being inculcated into the marrow of American culture to the point of self-annihilation...