Shameless exhibitionism seems like it’s becoming the recurrent theme of this decade. With the advent of contemporary technology, specifically the Internet, anyone can become a celebrity in a second. Andy Warhol’s infamous statement on fame has accelerated to an insane degree. Previously obscure, average people can become noteworthy overnight for wholly unremarkable tasks.

            The YouTube generation have become zombified spectators. We’re choking on our own postmodern self-reference. Our idea of reality is more interesting than what’s actually out there. We film events, we record happenings, we laugh at them, but we don’t actually look at the object itself. People talk to each other on MySpace more often than they do in real life. These viral videos are supposed to give off a more intimate feel but I feel like it just makes us more detached from anything of substance. We’re Twitter-obsessed slackers, losing ourselves in “Badger, Badger, Mushroom”.

            We text each other and we’ve even carried this stupefying, horrendous “leet” speak with us over into everyday conversation. We read hipster magazines and chase after what we think is the next fashion fad, even though no one true unifying style exists anymore (and it’s debatable if there ever has been such a visual zeitgeist).

            Cheap comedy and mindless, violent entertainment is fetishized. Where have we gone as a society?