Me Myself and I… Generation M.E.

“In my opinion modesty has been assaulted with a deadly weapon and self promotion is the prime suspect.”

If self promotion has made heroes of some, then it has made victims of less brash and more softly spoken values such as modesty, thoughtfulness, compassion and forgiveness. Society has over time become more crude, rude, and pointed mainly because we request that it be delivered that way. We require "real", blunt, communication without the temper of compassion, which in turn has made most of us coarse and often unapologetic when we are the offending party.  We have become infatuated with the idea of entitlement and just deserts.

I am by no means an old guy, but sometimes I feel that way when I talk to friends, family members and strangers  that are younger than I am. The reason is their ease at self promotion. A trait that I’m struggling to develop in a way that does not contradict any ideas I present in the post below. My name is Joshua and I struggle with embracing the idea and practice of self promotion. Self promotion is a necessary part of a businesses daily activities and entertainers, but self promotion seems less about advancement and more about selfish ambition when individuals seam to relish in their own self highlighted bliss aka mediocrity.  The fluidity in which they can turn any conversation into one that is centered on them, their interests and accomplishments or feelings, is astonishing. They scoff at what I consider to be traditions and blur the lines of confidence and arrogance on a minute by minute basis.

From Facebook to twitter to foursquare and the like, there is surge in the current culture and a willingness by society to accept the broadcasting of the mundane details of ones everyday life. I am not bashing these services as I frequently use them, but never before in history has the term YouTube Star or Twitterverse or Blogosphere been as important as the words credentials or experience. Self promotion existed in the past but it was not as accessible or widely accepted as it is in its current form. This modern mutation of self promotion often times drives some to displays us at our worst in order to go “viral”. We allow others to degrade, belittle, disrespect, and demean others for videos on YouTube or World Star Hip Hop and relish in the amount of hits or views of those videos receive. We can trade in our decorum for 15 minutes of fleeting internet fame. What’s even more disheartening is that its done with very little forethought, filtering and or censorship.

Gone are the days of children should be seen and not heard. Its not that the parents would like it less its that they have fewer social constructs to point to to reinforce that idea. Recent history shows many examples religion, sports, politics all failing to uphold their ideals. The wholesomeness of yes ma’am and yes sir, protecting the women children and the elderly, respecting the past and sacrifices made by generations before us. Those things don’t coexist coherently in the culture where Me, Myself, and I are the mantra of an entire generation. This is definitely a by product of how it has become increasingly difficult to minimize distractions in this always on, sound bite worthy, 24 hour news cycle society. We are content with watching reality TV rather than intent on creating our own reality.
 

I am not a hermit and by virtue of me writing this blog post I participate, use and benefit from the increased ability to communicate using the tools developed to facilitate the immersion in Generation M.E. I am also a realist I understand that a side effect of the Generation M.E. culture is the increase in efficiency that can be gained by effectively using these tools.

This culture has made millionaires of people who have seen the shift in society toward self promotion and found out how to harness that belief and communicate it effectively.

With the click of a button we can communicate with hundreds of  people expressing our likes, dislikes, our opinions, our views on any topic. As stated by Peter Parker's granddad, if you’re a follower or the Spider Man comics, “with great power comes great responsibility”. Social tools have been used as both a change agent ex. Syria, the voice of a movement insert Occupy Wall Street and the dark side of it all ask New York's Rep. Anthony Weiner who's improbable use of these Generation M.E. tools cost him his job and lots of embarrassment.

Perspective Point:

We started the post by indicating that Modesty has been assaulted, but all is not lost. It has now been confirmed that modesty is not dead, but on life support. Wheeeeeewwwwww, we can all breath a sigh of relief.  It will take careful thoughtful action and dedication to revive Modesty. I believe it can be done.

The point is there is a fine line to be walked between self promotion and self absorbed propaganda. In a world that seems to only hear the squeaky wheel, we have to create a personal space where decency has not given way to selfish promotion or blatant lying about ones self. The image says it all, Me.

Each of us has to purposely monitor ourselves in order to promote your best abilities in a meaningful and sensible way. Self promotion is not all bad and it certainly has a prominent a place in this new digital age. Its fast paced world either speed up or get off of information super highway. At the intersection of Information and Perspective we want to encourage you to promote yourself with dignity and social awareness to Extol the virtues that make you unique in this world without the blatant disregard for others, their feelings and values. Yes, this requires more effort and planning, we never said it would be easy. Its 2011 soon to be 2012 its an inevitable fact to survive in the upcoming years we all have to come to grips with and participate in Generation M.E. That's Myself Entertainment if you where not paying attention.