Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Myself
If I could change anything in the world, right now . . . . I would put an end to all the people, advertising campaigns, T-shirts, and soda bottles telling all who can see or hear to just "Be yourself".
"Be yourself" is the most trite phrase in the pantheon of human communication right now. I can't stand it, and people need to stop saying this.
All the Reasons Why This Phrase is Synonymous with a Bull's Excrement:
1.) How can one not be oneself? Huh? Explain that one to me, smart guy. I know what you're going to say, "Well, people need to stop being so fake." My response: if a guy is fake, that's "himself". His true self is a fake! He's being himself. This is a brilliant concept. In philosophy, it's called A = A.
2.) Don't the advertisers know that we know that they're being condescending by telling us to be ourselves? Do they actually think that we will think, "Oh, that's the beer that tells me to be myself. I think I'll buy their brand?"
3.) I saw this nonsense on a T-shirt the other day (actually twice in two days, thus the reason for this post), and thought, "Oh, yeah! Of course! That's it! This is the missing piece to my happiness and serenity! I only need to be myself! Let's all sing a Sly and the Family Stone song!"
4.) I can name . . . . oh, at least a dozen people who dislike me with something approaching a fierceness of passion. I was "myself" around them when the piss blew into the fan and things got ugly . . . . So isn't that argument enough NOT to be myself?
"Be yourself" is the most trite phrase in the pantheon of human communication right now. I can't stand it, and people need to stop saying this.
All the Reasons Why This Phrase is Synonymous with a Bull's Excrement:
1.) How can one not be oneself? Huh? Explain that one to me, smart guy. I know what you're going to say, "Well, people need to stop being so fake." My response: if a guy is fake, that's "himself". His true self is a fake! He's being himself. This is a brilliant concept. In philosophy, it's called A = A.
2.) Don't the advertisers know that we know that they're being condescending by telling us to be ourselves? Do they actually think that we will think, "Oh, that's the beer that tells me to be myself. I think I'll buy their brand?"
3.) I saw this nonsense on a T-shirt the other day (actually twice in two days, thus the reason for this post), and thought, "Oh, yeah! Of course! That's it! This is the missing piece to my happiness and serenity! I only need to be myself! Let's all sing a Sly and the Family Stone song!"
4.) I can name . . . . oh, at least a dozen people who dislike me with something approaching a fierceness of passion. I was "myself" around them when the piss blew into the fan and things got ugly . . . . So isn't that argument enough NOT to be myself?
