Monday, October 17, 2005

a century of fakers

One thing that occupies a big space in my head is worrying about all of the pretenders out there. Those people who have somehow made it to a position of power simply because they are so full of shit. They have somehow been able to trick a large number of people into thinking they know what they're talking about. What I find fascinating is how a faker can fake another faker into thinking he's real. Fakery is everywhere. Musicians. Writers. Lawyers. Doctors. All the way to the president, who might be one of the biggest fakers. How did this way of living become so rampant? Did my generation - the baby boomers - make it acceptable? When we hung up our hash pipes and quit tripping in the park, did we move on to another form of entertainment where we pretended to be adults? It's tough, this fakery. When we live in a world so inundated with fakers, it makes it hard to know if a person is legitimate, or just a clown in a closet.

(this is why chronic complainers shouldn't have blogs.)

12 comments:

Captain Melons said...

the hash pipes and acid wasn't fakery? If we live in a world of fakers, legitimacy is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

Anne, this post is scaring me. Is everything okay? (Nudge, nudge...wink, wink).

Yes, fakers abound. Hopefully none of them is currently raining their ignorance down upon you.

Rob Gregory Browne said...

Writer fakers are some of the worst. Go to any writing forum and you'll find dozens of self-proclaimed writing experts who offer all kinds of wrong-headed advice to people who are looking for guidance.

Most of these experts have never written a word for hire. Does that make them wrong? Not necessarily, but it certainly makes them suspect and potentially dangerous.

You're right. We are in a world full of posers. And, unfortunately, the Internet makes it much easier.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

It's hard to spot the fakers from the real guys out there. I just follow my own instinct, I guess. ;D

Jeff said...

Stephen King, when speaking for our generation said, "We had a chance to change the world, but instead opted for the Home Shopping Network" hmmmm

People like you describe, as my grandfather would have said, "give me a pain I can't locate."
This saying is an oldie but a goodie, "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

Bonnie Godbee said...

Is this about Bush?

Bonnie Godbee said...

why did I hit enter,
I meant,
is this only about Bush, or is there a whole buncha people like him?
Seriously, my mom and her group of friends are the fakest people i have ever met. Like it's a generational thing.
Where as people I know are more likely to actually be who they say they are..and do what they want to do.
I think we all fake adulthood though. I don't feel like an adult, much less someones wife and someones mother, it's like a goin thru the motions type thing,.

anne frasier said...

emom, i'm talking about general fakes who have to put on a public front, but i'm also talking about people who have jobs they aren't qualified for, but have somehow fooled people into getting where they are. and yeah, i'll NEVER feel like an adult!

Jeff said...

I hope I never turn into an adult. I've met some of them and they make me nervous.

Mary Louisa said...

My thinking on your post at this late hour: it's democracy's curse. Without divine right or the class system to tell us who's in charge, we often rely on personality. Or sheer brains:
"Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me ... you can't get fooled again." Guess who?

Rob Gregory Browne said...

The world's biggest fool?

anne frasier said...

hehe