I’m home sick with Ebola (actually just the cough from hell,
but Ebola is way more fun to say), so naturally what else is there to do but
sit on my computer. I have been trying to watch Clerks for the umpteenth time,
but my Netflix connection keeps timing out. I wasted some time on Facebook, and
that was about as boring as repeatedly poking a rock with a stick. It did bring
up some ire about something that grinds my gears on multiple levels. Can we
talk about how annoying the concept of the “selfie” is and the narcissism of
the people who are regularly making them?
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| Now THAT is a self-portrait. Man Ray. |
First of
all, “selfie” is NOT a word. Don’t believe me? Type it in a Word document. See
that little red line that pops up underneath it? That is proof that is made up
nonsense. Like smurfage or pafoegsiuf. Not words. It is clearly an attempt at a
coy, cutesy, abbreviation of the more substantive “self-portrait.” The idea of
a self-portrait even implies a more substantive media, not something taken in a
wink of time with a telephone.
At best, I
am an amateur photographer. When I think about the times I am inspired to take
photographs, two come to mind: for posterity, so that I may remember a moment,
or to show a different view of something normally seen. Since “selfies” are a
regularly taken picture of someone’s face, the different view concept is a
wash. It must be for memories then. “Remember that time I ate a piece of
chicken?” “Hey remember when I rode in that car and took a picture of myself
with sunglasses on?” “Remember that time I was in the bathroom?” “Oh snap,
remember that time I was wasted and decided everyone should see what a hot mess
I was?” “Remember when I was sitting at my desk?” Right. Events to be cherished
for a lifetime.
Do people
not understand that we don’t want to look at pictures of their face all the
time? I don’t want to look at my own face that much. It’s not particularly
interesting. It’s on my head and facilitates communication and eating. Why
would I want to see you in a car? Or eating a piece of chicken? Or sitting at
your desk at work? I DON’T. Believe it or not, I don’t care what you are doing
at every moment of every day. And I most definitely do not need a photo journal
of it. I’m sick of your face! I see these repeat offenders with their “Look at
me!” attitude and just wonder, how is your life that empty? In that moment you
chose to take a picture of yourself doing something not the least bit
interesting, you could have seen a bird fly by. You might have witnessed an act
of kindness between less narcissistic people. You could have paid more
attention to your driving and not rear-ended the person in front of you!
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| The people of Instagram don't seem to understand that ANYONE in the world can see their photos. I deleted her face. OOPS. |
