It is almost funny the way Kanye West completely believes in the abilities of Kanye West. It is even funnier to recognize that he isn’t in on the joke. Or is it? I started to wonder about him, and about some of the ways in which high school culture pervades our society when I saw the man say that he was going to run for president and win and everyone laughed him off the stage. I thought again about the Trump bid and how it isn’t nearly as funny anymore and it made me very aware of the way society reinforces our social position. ‘Can’t we all just get along’ has slowly degraded into ‘can’t we all just keep everyone down here where they belong’ and led to a consolidation of power that, at this point, seems unreversable.
You might suggest that Kanye is a bad example. After all, we know he is an idiot who isn’t self aware and seems to have no actual intellect. Yet how do we know? What do we know? Our knowledge of the man is primarily based on his television appearances and the downward spiral of his lyrical acuity over the last decade, and of course his media sensation wife. I promise she’s (or at least her handlers) not stupid. After all, she managed to turn a complete lack of talent and limited looks into a multi-million dollar industry and household name. Yeah, she didn’t do it the way we are taught is the right way and she doesn’t for a minute follow the christian virtues many are supposing this country is built upon, but she is (to quote Charlie Sheen) ‘Winning’.
I suppose that is what this 10 minutes is really about: winning. Socially speaking, we are trained and reminded of what is right and wrong. We are constantly bombarded by mixed messages of success and want and need of things that are outside of our means. We try to do and be and follow paths that really aren’t designed to give us what we are told we want. The moment we ask for more than we have or people think we can get, we are laughed at. The moment we get a step up on success and then fall, we are laughed at. So, I ask two questions: What is the purpose of winning other than to remind people the fall is a lot harder from higher up? And beyond that, why is it that win we do fail, it is so much easier for folks to laugh at us than to catch us like a star falling from a stage?
Some Thoughts:
- Dave Mirra died. Looks like it was suicide, which is a sad end to a life that highlighted a difficult and wonderful path to success. The suicide does seem to indicate that the success might not have been the happy ending we all expect.