What's the difference between reality and unreality? In real life you have no options. It's like when JFK is assassinated and you're in a method acting class, trying to become a mourning American citizen. Thomas De Zengotita's (reality is so passé) new book is out.
posted by prozaction on Apr 12, 2005 - 8 comments

Let's say you like cats. When you visit a friend's house and he happens to have a cat, you make a big deal about stroking it, picking it up, talking to it. And you do the same thing with every cat you encounter. It demonstrates to the people around you that you're a sensitive, sympathetic, tactile person. All these things are true of you, including your innate adoration of cats. But that doesn't mean to say you haven't cultivated your cat-fancying into a self-conscious, gushing performance that somehow represents you. This doesn't make you a phony; it makes you something else: mediated. "Me" culture : Reality is so passé
Salon interviews Thomas De Zengotita, author of The Numbing Of The The American Mind and Closure for You, Jedermensch ein Übermensch.
posted by y2karl on Mar 9, 2005 - 50 comments