The dear boyfriend and I have been watching a bunch of "Dose of Buckley" videos on YouTube lately and, as such, have been having some philosophical conversations about life, young people and the evolution of 'fame'. I feel like I must be getting old because my tolerance for the idiotic youth of America seems to lessen more and more with each passing year. It's not really their fault, what with being raised by a generation that uses TV and techno gadgets as a replacement for babysitters and parenting in general. However, I can't take a tour of the country to slap every slacker parent in the mouth. I'd never have time for anything else and probably wouldn't reach even a fraction of the offenders.
So, what's my beef with young people, you might ask? Self entitlement, mainly. I don't think it's a new concept, but getting on in years has gained me some perspective on the human condition. The problem that arises in this ever advancing technological age is the over saturation of the Internet and media with content from these unintelligent, ego-inflated, selfish little bastards.
Everyone wants attention, but few really deserve it. Okay, not everyone wants attention, but there seems to be an ongoing fixation with the concept of 'fame' in our society. Uncreative American welps want to be the next Brad Pitt, or Charleze Theron, or (insert some current icon that I don't care enough about to remember their name here). Memes are a perfect example. One idiot makes a video, five other idiots see it and say "Hey, that's popular. I can do that, too!" Then those idiots each make a similar video and the cycle continues as stupidity replicates at an exponential rate (to the fifth power in this specific example). Instead of developing talents and creating their own content, young people jump on the meme band wagon and replicate viral media in the hopes of getting views or likes.
No one lives forever and it's part of the human drive to want to leave an impression that will last passed our own existence (some people have kids, some people start a charity and some people just give every guy they meet a blow job). However, popularity does NOT equal immortality. Do you know how many popular kids from high school whose names I can actually remember? Maybe three, at best. The rest are mostly filed away as "rich douchebag".
Well, that was a fun little rant, but some of you may be thinking "Hey Lucky, you have a DeviantArt account, post your work on social media and you blog. Aren't you just trying to get attention like these idiotic kids you're talking about?" (and if you weren't thinking that, you should be). The answer is "yes".
I don't want to be famous in the sense that people would recognize me on the street. I do, however, hope to gain recognition for my artwork (and perhaps get a job). A great deal of my life has been spent honing my talents and, while I do it for the simple joy of creating art, I do hope that one day my work will be known (again, at least enough to get me a job). There is a big difference in perfecting your own skill set and gaining notoriety by creating original content than to simple get a few thousand subscribers or views because you filmed your own rendition of the Harlem Shake. Lets face it, do those subscribers really know who you are or give a shit if you croak next week? No, they don't. They won't even notice or care that you're gone because they didn't give a fuck about you in the first place.
Being known and securing a legacy that will live on after you have died are two different things. I have reached neither, so, given my lack of empirical knowledge, I suppose I should go ahead and wrap this up. Today's picture is a charcoal portrait of a gentleman named Steve. He's retired and going to school for art because, well, he loves it. Steve has made more of an impact on the world by creating a positive effect in ONE person's life than some 14 year old with 150k views could ever hope to.
So, without further a due, here it is:
Until next time!
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