A Painfully Great Salon.com Article

Step 1: Read this.
Step 2: Get over yourself.

I really loved this article. Mostly because it affirms a realization I had several years ago when in the depths of online dating misery: just because a person likes all the same cultural artifacts as you (Don Delillo; Joan Didion; the film Memento; the OC; whatever the indie band of the moment is) doesn't mean that you'll hit it off and that this person will forever be your soul mate. In fact, most of the guys I met online who claimed to love what I loved proved to be major douchebags (which could have called into question my allegiance towards said artifacts but it never did--maybe it should have).

To this day, whenever I meet a man in his 20's/early 30's who claims to love postmodern fiction and the band Spoon, my knee-jerk reaction is to feel something of sense of weariness towards him. Double that reaction if he has sideburns and attended Wesleyan University. Which isn't to say that all male alums of Wesleyan who love Spoon and pretentious literature are assholes, only that this is what my experience has been.

Try as we may to construct public identities pieced together by a love of all the right intellectual-approved books and other pieces of ephemera, we are not the sum of those parts. Probably because these sums are false calculations. They omit certain details that we'd rather not share. Like our love of Ashlee Simpson, cosmetics shopping, and the show One Tree Hill.

Which is a shame, because in my opinion, a diversity of interests points to a better-rounded individual. Yes, you can be an intellectual and still like cheesy pop songs, teen television mellow-dramas and whatever else your little heart desires.

So come one, come all, get off your high horse and get down to some US Weekly, TMZ, Gossip Girl, or whatever else your little heart desires.

Comments

[Kristin]

Thanks for pointing out the article. It's great. I am not what I read. I am not what I read. I am not what I read.

[Lemmonex]

Oh, this resonates so much. The pretension people project in these online profiles and social networking sites is just too much to handle sometimes. Why can't I be honest and just say I have an embarrassingly large nail polish collection and I read "Under the Banner of Heaven" about two years after everyone else?

[rosie]

Uh yeah, I watch the Bad Girls Club and listen to Avril Lavigne. I never finished Anna Karenena (I can't even spell it) and I once read a Dr. Phil book and kinda liked it. There. My secrets are out. I feel so relieved. :-)

[kim]

Hehe, very sobering. I once bought a huge copy of "Anna Karenina" together with a copy of "Shopaholic ties the knot" so I wouldn't look too ditzy at the cash register. But I've made efforts, I've outed my love of Harry Potter at work, as well as my addiction to Gossip Girl.

[paige]

I did like the article, although I felt some things were stated just to support the main argument. Discussing what you like isn't so much advertising as a recommendation, for instance, I think Neko Case is the BEST... and I want everyone to listen to here so she keeps making music that I love because she is supported by it. Ok, so I must I believe word of mouth is good.

I guess we are always a bit worried about what people think of us, like our clothes are crafted for the situation we think we will be in, so in a way this has always happened, think of your pants like a keyword, a shorthand for people being able to quickly see into your mind. But people don't usually wear their pajamas outside, even though they are comfortable.

I have to admit that I have had second thought about things like listing Lincoln Child on my goodreads account, but when I did it, I thought, heck, I liked it, it's trashy but good. This weekend when I read The Road, I felt weirded out that it had an Oprah's Book Club emblem on the cover, so I get it, I do.

It is amazing the effects of societal pressure you can get: I was purchasing a book by Gadamer, and asked the clerk if they had Skinny Legs and All, and he actually mocked my choice (I wanted to get it for my daughter, but I HAD read it!). Of course, how would he know how it was if he hadn't read it?

I can see the effect that article would have on people who are so concerned with projecting a certain image, they will now purposefully list slightly embarrassing literature, music, whatever to show how much they are not concerned. :) It would be great if the article had the effect of people questioning their motivations for why they act in certain ways and how honesty can be a help in our world, but in the end I think it will just lead to (if anything) another type recrafting of your image and no real thought. I mean to say, I understand the impulse, but honeys, if you have secrets about pop culture and you are an American, I hope you take a good look at some other aspects of your life, because that is probably the least of your worries.

[paige]

oh man, sorry that was so long, and sounded kind of negative. what I meant to say was that I really like this blog. I hope you find your real life satisfying, but that maybe you update here once in a while when you find something interesting. it is appreciated.