Authenticity & the Californian cult of the self

First of all, fuck authenticity.

Specifically, fuck all the airplay the idea of “being authentic” gets on social media.

Everyone’s trying to be their authentic selves — to “find their voice.”

Brené Brown is urging us to “let our true selves be seen.”

“Instagram versus Reality”

And on and on…

As if there’s some underlying subject with essential properties accessible through introspection.

GTFOH with that nonsense.

Focusing on your own inner feelings and attitudes seems to breed a self-centered preoccupation with yourself, no?

Kinda anti-social if you ask me — kinda uncompassionate.

Is this post authentic?

Am I using my authentic voice?

I don’t know. Who gives a shit?

All I can say for sure is it feels true and honest in this moment, as I sit in this Starbucks, pissed off about all the god damn Substack notes I’m seeing about authenticity and “being authentic.”

So look all you want. Do your inner work. Have a good time.

Even if there were an underlying subject, I don’t want to find it. I like being able to make myself up every day — every moment. I wouldn’t trade that flexibility for anything.

So create yourself as you want to be.

Or like the homey, French philosopher and historian, Michel Focault says:

“Rather than searching for a hidden true self, one should attempt to shape one’s life as a work of art, proceeding without recourse to any fixed rules or permanent truths in a process of unending becoming”

Way cooler.

American philosopher and educator, “Big” Richard Rorty, has argued that the idea of coming to “know a truth which was out there (or in here) all the time” is simply a myth.

Big Dick was onto something with that big brain of his.

Fuck the “Californian cult of the self.” (Focault)

Fuck the “liturgy of inwardness.”  (Adorno’s “The Jargon of Authenticity”)

(Found those top-shelf quotes in my Google research about authenticity.)

The only thing I know for sure about “being your authentic self on social media” is that you ain’t gonna come close if the only time you write is when you’re working on your next post.

Stick with me, kid. You just might make something of yourself.

Especially if you upgrade to a $10/month paid subscription.