For all the impetus on individualism, actually we’re a bit Mehh - Probably one of the better pieces of cultural observation in a while
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What an interesting and informative read.
When superimposed over this
It’s fascinating - What we see is appealing to the ego’s need to be ‘special’ and ‘different’ creates a rather powerful motivator (To buy which isn’t much of an expression at all if you think about it) In reality we’re not as ‘special / different / unique’ as we might like to think. I guess it’s no surprise when humans are 99.9 percent identical in their genetic makeup.
Pah! If you want a real challenge, just try convincing someone their kids are not special.
Always start that conversation by pointing out they share 50% of their DNA with a banana
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As done by every teacher at every parents’ evening.
Luckily we have artists who can do this, thank fuck.
Three studies for figures at the base of a crucifiction, 1944. F Bacon.
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How many people would hang any of Bacon’s work pictured above on their wall if they believed it was done by a ‘no name’ artist? We’re told he was a genius, we’re told his work is of value, we’re told they are important works of meaning and expression but being ‘told’ these things is precisely what appeals to the ego’s ‘desire to be special’. Told = sold.
Banksy set up a market stall in central park selling original works (signed) for $60 each. Hundreds of people passed the stall believing them to be fake, all in he sold $420 worth. (The valuation of the small to medium-sized canvases sold is estimated to be in the region of £140,000) Outside of a gallery where we assume the ‘specialness’ of the exhibits, in an environment without these indicators the perceived value / specialness was very low.
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Null and void if you’re getting paid to do it 
We should all strive for the death of the ego.
Or rather the suicide of the ego - it must destroy itself: if others try, it just grows stronger…
I wish those opposing the likes of Trump and Putin understood this.
Humility.
Egomania is impossible to cure - the sufferer cannot recognise the disease as a disease.
The old saying get humble of get humiliated holds some weight but ultimately everyone gets humbled eventually. The ego tries everything self will can muster but it will die, for some that’s in their last breath. No wealth, power, status or prestige bests that rather real chestnut… it’s in the post, no one is that special.
Death’n’taxes FTW 
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Do we tend toward dull in everything from housing to art, interiors to architecture, do we seek to be no different, do we use spaces that reassure rather than challange, absolutely. Pretty sure those Russian artists wasted their money realising that the majority of Americans prefer art Bob Ross style. Music has, for the masses, become equally formulaic and mundane, from the “designed” pop format to sound alike festival durge.
Curation of artistic endeavor is necessary, without it, those who push boundaries would be crushed by our desire to be average. Can you imagine a world where Bauhaus or mid century was as good as it got? Heaven forbid.
Malvina Reynolds summed it up in a two minute song, not persuaded she was wrong.
In some ways culture has been kidnapped by marketing. The process of hegemony, taking an outsider ‘thing’ commodifying it and making it ‘mainstream’ is now incredibly rapid and prevalent due to the internet - Very few things remain ‘individual’ for long. Movements become normalized and dumbed down to reach a wider audience.
There are exceptions. The human voice for example can sometimes be unmistakably unique, Bjork, Macy Grey are two dumb examples but they stand quite alone. Visual art / Cooking / interior design / any kind of fashion is however unlikely to retain it’s ‘specialness’ as long as it once did. ‘Content’ will see to that.
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Damien Hirst is rich enough that he was able to buy a sizeable original Bacon and hang it on his living room wall. After a while he had to sell it again because he said it just shouted at him all the time, demanding that he look at it. He said it wouldn’t let him watch the telly. Of course he always knew what it was, so how much of the shouting really came from the picture and how much was just in his head is hard to tell.
I guess that’s it in many ways - putting stuff ‘just our heads’ (we are but a 3 lb lump of grey mass in the dark armed with limited senses and the odd instinct.) The culture of individualism is mainstream.
The idea we can express our unique individualism was the ‘promise’ but we are doing that via agreed norms & commercial offerings for the most part (We say I love you which should be a unique expression with diamonds / roses and candlelight or similar cliche’s for example).
Imagination and innovation get warped quite readily this way (Even those out of the box construct their own eventually) These days it seems you’d need to live in quite an isolated and acutely aware bubble looking inward not outward for creativity to not be influenced.
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I forget which of the Pythons said that the last line of this was the funniest joke in the whole film
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