Endless Self-Promotion and the Tyranny of Opinion

In a world in which everyone competes for attention, the person with all the power, is the one who gives attention -- for that is what everyone is competing for.  However, if one is merely one of the many competing for attention, they are already lost -- and have no idea what they are doing -- because they are just doing what everybody else is doing, and running with the crowd.

Their explanation for their behavior, is that is what everybody else is doing -- so why shouldn't they?  And each pushes the boundaries, until they all begin to fall off the cliff -- and there is no turning back.  Each thinks to outdo the other -- thinking there is no end.  That is most obvious in conspicuous consumption but also true in most aspects of behaviors and activities -- that the frenzy goes on forever, and there is no turning point and return to balance -- until it happens.

Thus the wise, have always advised moderation in all things, never knowing for certain, when the pendulum will swing -- in its own mysterious timing.  That's never stopped anyone from trying to be ahead of the curve -- while countless others will be in denial, all the while it is happening.  So one can never be too certain of what they think is happening, and which way the wind is blowing -- because it may have changed, during the time one was making plans for eternity.

For a few, those are visions of enshrining themselves at the top of their favorite charity and cause --themselves.  They will stop at nothing that stands in their way of self-aggrandizement.  Neither shame nor embarrassment will deter nor discourage them.  They are tone-deaf; they don't want to hear anything other than what they want to believe. They will go to their grave with those convictions -- because they feel life is not worth living any other way -- and are willing to take as many as they can down with them in that final blaze of glory.

It should not be so.  Nobody should be so deluded, desperate and starved for attention and validation from the opinion of others -- they think have no other reason for being but to sustain them in that way.  Invariably, it is just a figment of their imagination.  Nobody cares -- as well they shouldn't.  They should be too busy caring for themselves.  That is the key to personal responsibility and accountability.  That is the first and last line of defense.  Lacking that, ruthlessness thrives -- as everyone tries to see what they can get away with.

So it is thought that only opinions (polls) matter -- and what one can do to manipulate them -- even if one has to do it themselves.  Many lives are now dedicated to those ends.  That's no longer the exclusive province of "Madison Avenue," and the mainstream media to tell everyone what to think -- because  they themselves, are scrambling for their own lives.  So how to know what to believe?  One can no longer believe -- but has to find out, for themselves, as best one can -- and go with it as far as it will take them.  But they have to question all their premises and assumptions -- and take nothing for granted.  Otherwise, they are lost. -- and have no idea what they are talking about.

That is the new world of uncertainty -- in which one is only as good as one can find out, and have to do it for themselves.  But everyone has the tools -- if they want to avail themselves of them.  That's become the inequality in the world -- the great differentiator:  Those who really want to find out the truth of any matter, and those who would prefer others do all their thinking for them.  The former is to live an authentic life -- while the other couldn't tell the difference if their lives depended on it.