Confident Me: Do you wanna be famous?
Heartfelt Me: Yes! Of course, but what should I do?
Confident Me: Spit out all of your material, and dumb it down. Sacrifice art for quick money until you become sick of people using your work as common junkfood catch-phrases. Lose privacy. Pretend to be likable to all. Anyone else that is indifferent - Crush them! WIN!
Heartfelt Me: But I don't want to give up who I am, or dumb it down. I don't want to crush anyone just to get to the top....
Confident Me: So you really don't want to win do you?
Heartfelt Me: Well, yes of course I do, but....is that the only way for me to win? To dumb it down and crush the rest?
Confident Me: Yes....So do you want to win, or not?
Heartfelt Me: Well yes, but I don't want to crush anyone, I don't want to dumb it down...I want everyone to win.
Confident Me: Well that's really sad, but you can't win that way. I'm sorry. Winners can't be bothered with what happens to the losers, or what happens to their "originality". Making it to the top means crushing everyone else below you. Pretending to better no matter what.
Name examples of any famous, or successful people of whom you think hasn't had to crush other people to get to where they are.
Heartfelt Me: Oprah Winfrey?
Confident Me: Nope. For years she demanded that her syndicated company never allow any other black women to have a syndicated TV talk show. She threatened to leave her company if they did. Think of all of the successful black women crushed from having the chance to win the spotlight. Think of all of the black women she had to crush to be #1.
Heartfelt Me: Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Confident Me: Oh, please. Don't get me started on him. He's stepped on lots of people. He has just been really good at covering it up. Next?
Heartfelt Me: Obama?
Confident Me: Hah!....I'm a diehard Democrat. He's been implementing all of the dumbed down Republican solutions since he took office. Obama Care, was engineered by Republicans! He has crushed lots of the people that had hope in him. Just stop already, and find someone whose successful but hasn't caved, or covered up who they've had to crush.
Heartfelt Me: I don't know of anyone like that.
Confident Me: Yes, and I win....
Heartfelt Me: But, we're both one in the same so we both actually lose.
Heartfelt Less- Confident Me: *sigh* Yeah, I know....sucks.
Heartfelt Me: Yes! Of course, but what should I do?
Confident Me: Spit out all of your material, and dumb it down. Sacrifice art for quick money until you become sick of people using your work as common junkfood catch-phrases. Lose privacy. Pretend to be likable to all. Anyone else that is indifferent - Crush them! WIN!
Heartfelt Me: But I don't want to give up who I am, or dumb it down. I don't want to crush anyone just to get to the top....
Confident Me: So you really don't want to win do you?
Heartfelt Me: Well, yes of course I do, but....is that the only way for me to win? To dumb it down and crush the rest?
Confident Me: Yes....So do you want to win, or not?
Heartfelt Me: Well yes, but I don't want to crush anyone, I don't want to dumb it down...I want everyone to win.
Confident Me: Well that's really sad, but you can't win that way. I'm sorry. Winners can't be bothered with what happens to the losers, or what happens to their "originality". Making it to the top means crushing everyone else below you. Pretending to better no matter what.
Name examples of any famous, or successful people of whom you think hasn't had to crush other people to get to where they are.
Heartfelt Me: Oprah Winfrey?
Confident Me: Nope. For years she demanded that her syndicated company never allow any other black women to have a syndicated TV talk show. She threatened to leave her company if they did. Think of all of the successful black women crushed from having the chance to win the spotlight. Think of all of the black women she had to crush to be #1.
Heartfelt Me: Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Confident Me: Oh, please. Don't get me started on him. He's stepped on lots of people. He has just been really good at covering it up. Next?
Heartfelt Me: Obama?
Confident Me: Hah!....I'm a diehard Democrat. He's been implementing all of the dumbed down Republican solutions since he took office. Obama Care, was engineered by Republicans! He has crushed lots of the people that had hope in him. Just stop already, and find someone whose successful but hasn't caved, or covered up who they've had to crush.
Heartfelt Me: I don't know of anyone like that.
Confident Me: Yes, and I win....
Heartfelt Me: But, we're both one in the same so we both actually lose.
Heartfelt Less- Confident Me: *sigh* Yeah, I know....sucks.
Integrity, Bennet, is king,but it doesn't make the MON-AY, does it. This is something I ponder from time to time too, but in the end, fuck it--I'm only going to be me.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the proverbial TORTOISE approach: just keep plowing along, while others go for flash-in-the-pan glory.
ReplyDeleteI to ponder much of this, and how much famous people lose of themselves. Over, and over I see writers, actors, comedians all complain about 1 thing, having to live up to people's expectations to keep the money machines going.
ReplyDeleteIt seems quite annoying.
I have a few pseudonyms online with posted works done in 3D in no way directly connected to my name because I like the idea of people enjoying the creation, not the idea of who I'm supposed to be. I saw random people commenting on some 1 day and I didn't care whether they knew who I was. I just liked knowing people enjoyed the creation with no strings attached.
We don't really know though do we? I think the best we can do is maintain our integrity or not. Whatever we can comfortably live with.
ReplyDeleteSure it sucks much of the time and we not only have to be vigilant but we have to be ...well maybe we will have to start a revolution. I don't know.
I don't know Cooper, a revolution sounds a little too teaparty-ish for me.
ReplyDeleteAlthough much of the entertainment industry is suffering because of the internet so in a way that revolution has already begun, until of course the companies find ways to censor it which is what they're hard at work on, every day.