Selling Out

[RoyGBiv]

Whether you lived through Freedom Summer or “Jem and the Holograms” – somewhere in your youth you started to realize who was in control, and you rebelled. You started to discover the paradigms of censorship and consumerism – and they repulsed you.

You needed to self actualize, to find your own way, and you sought out something real, something with meaning. You waved your hand at popular music, popular movies, and popular television. You dug deeper and disparaged all those mindless sheeple who gobbled up pop culture.

Yet, you still listened to music and bought shirts and went to see movies. Someone was appealing to you despite your dissent.

...

You sold out long ago in one way or another. The specifics of who you sell to and how much you make – those are only details.

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/04/12/selling-out/

[catnhatnh]

1. Private Purity Ball? N/T

[RoyGBiv]

6. No idea what you mean.

[babylonsister]

2. Where DID you find that website?

I like it; we all are influenced by our past, and determine our opinions from what we absorb from our experiences.

Or did I miss the point totally? Wouldn't be the first time.

[RoyGBiv]

4. I think you got the point exactly ...

This piece generates some extreme reactions. I've posted it elsewhere, among people I know better, and even in that context some interesting argument developed ... although the arguments remained respectful.

I think your interpretation is the correct one. I think that's what the author intended, and it's basically how I see it.

There's another level to it that speaks to a phenomenon sociologists and others observe and occasionally try to quantify. How is it that stuff becomes popular when popular stuff is so universally panned? How is it that Bob Dylan, for instance, is a "sell out" after making a commercial but was the king of counter-culture when he was making millions from selling records? How are so many people so easily able to ignore the irony of paying $3 for a cup of coffee with a Che Guevara image emblazoned on the side? Etc.

The piece makes people uncomfortable, especially those who think of themselves as a part of the "counter culture" or who make it a hobby to criticize those they believe to have sold out.

A friend of mine summed up the piece in an interesting way that I also agree with. He says that the piece crystallizes what most old people know. It's what causes so many young people to think old people look and dress funny. These old people have played this game all their lives and finally got wise, abandoning form for function. Or, they don't care if it looks good as long as it is comfortable or has some utility.

And to answer your initial question, I follow the RSS feed at http://kottke.org . He finds all kinds of interesting things, and I end up following many of them more frequently.

OnEdit: I assume you browsed the rest of the site. It definitely has some interesting pieces to challenge your noodle. It attacks, in a humorous and fun way, a lot of people's assumptions and sacred cows.

[RandomThoughts]

3. I disagree.

Here is the difference, I don't do or say what I do or say because I think I need to be some way for someone else.

I do think there is some music, films and stories, both obvious and more obscure, that also shows there are many people that have not sold out.

What is it to sell out? To agree with something you disagree with, to assign ones own thoughts and actions to someone else for something in return. Many musicians and some of pop culture expresses what the person thinks and feels, not because they are told to be that way, but because they choose to.

You sell out if you do what someone else wants without thinking and feeling if it is correct.

[RoyGBiv]

5. So you don't seek approval from anyone?

You don't compete in any way socially?