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A Bieber or a Balloon Boy?

27.05.10

We persevere in a world filled with the fake, the imitation, the knockoff, the inauthentic. Christian male Republicans who dissipate a lifetime trying to take civil rights and dignity away from homosexuals get caught with a boy toy for rent. Celebrity images on magazine covers are Photoshopped into the realm of the hyper-real. Something that was supposititious to have been handmade in Italy has “Made in China” stamped on it. Something that is supposed to be pink alive is actually clear silicon. Something that looks like a tan comes from a can.

So when amateur online videography took everyone by to which he replied and provided the driving force behind YouTube, the fastest-growing website ever, ordinary people reacted against this soprano age of inauthenticity by seeking out real people doing real things. We wandered out of the retribution of the unreal and onto YouTube looking for real people, real pets, and real families, and sometimes we came away having made truthful friends.

Yet it did not take long for public relations agencies, marketers, advertisers, and other masters of the falsified to find their way onto YouTube. Armed with a keen insight into our postmodern culture of inauthentic authenticity, these arcane persuaders brought us a 19-year-old actress passing herself off as LonelyGirl15, Nike pimping specialist videos as amateur stunts, and a growing number of other corporate-made videos disguised as homemade bungling productions.

Source: The Mark