moar internetz

cameronr:

towerofsleep:

A related phenomenon is the transformation, courtesy of Facebook, of the verb “to like” from a state of mind to an action that you perform with your computer mouse, from a feeling to an assertion of consumer choice. And liking, in general, is commercial culture’s substitute for loving. The striking thing about all consumer products — and none more so than electronic devices and applications — is that they’re designed to be immensely likable. This is, in fact, the definition of a consumer product, in contrast to the product that is simply itself and whose makers aren’t fixated on your liking it. (I’m thinking here of jet engines, laboratory equipment, serious art and literature.)

But if you consider this in human terms, and you imagine a person defined by a desperation to be liked, what do you see? You see a person without integrity, without a center. In more pathological cases, you see a narcissist — a person who can’t tolerate the tarnishing of his or her self-image that not being liked represents, and who therefore either withdraws from human contact or goes to extreme, integrity-sacrificing lengths to be likable.

If you dedicate your existence to being likable, however, and if you adopt whatever cool persona is necessary to make it happen, it suggests that you’ve despaired of being loved for who you really are. And if you succeed in manipulating other people into liking you, it will be hard not to feel, at some level, contempt for those people, because they’ve fallen for your shtick. You may find yourself becoming depressed, or alcoholic, or, if you’re Donald Trump, running for president (and then quitting).

This is the longest set up for a Donald Trump joke I’ve ever seen.

This is a strange part of this article to excerpt, since it feels like the technology/Facebook part is just a set up to a much larger (and more relevant) point.

I’d also argue that Franzen used “liking” on Facebook since it’s obviously topical, but the idea that when you come out of college (this was his address to a grad class) you’re a combination of excited and afraid and that fear can turn to hopelessness if you let it—if you’re not willing to let yourself feel passionate enough about something to take risks for it—isn’t something that’s manifested itself with today’s young people, because of technology. Social media just happens to provide a convenient and illustrative example.

Also, there’s something ironic about clipping out this part of the speech and posting it without context on Tumblr, considering the argument contained therein.

Cam’s zinger was great though.