Missing The Hype

God, I love the media. I love the instant celebrity and above all, I like every new hype, fad and every ‘best thing since sliced’. If I could, I’d probably want to be on the front page of some nasty British tabloid (since British tabloids are the nastiest in the world), with some shocking headline (with three exclamation marks and the letters bold and red) proclaiming the evils of my latest escapade.

Well, that’s probably exaggerating, but I love to read about all that media hype and all the latest fads, although I rarely buy any of that rubbish. Anyways, what I learn recently (well, over the last year or so), is to overcome all the hype, trendiness and negative publicity that surrounds everything from celebrities, films or even shoes.

I really like how these things come and go, it reminds one of the flow of time and how everything fades against it. But what is really much more interesting is too look at an object surrounded by controversy, negative publicity and was talked about many years go. Take the South Park movie.

I was about 10 at the time of its release and it really had no impact on my life whatsoever. Even if it did have generally good reviews, I supposed some people (especially parents) found it controversial due to its, how shall we put it, unique sense of humour. I first saw it about a month ago. It is really very, I don’t know how to say it…, to see something for the first time, without any prejudice, without being exposed to the opinion of the general public, an opinion which is usually biased and small-minded.

It is a great and refreshing feeling. My favourite recording artist made this record in ‘92, which was released alongside a rather (in)famous book. A media backlash followed. All things by this person were considered evil, lewd, shallow and insignificant. All this really obscured the album itself, something that certainly did not help its sales and reputation.

If you sit back and ignore this, you’ll see that the album has a very unique, chilly quality and is quite well done. The fact that you miss out on all the hype really makes you much more of an objective observer than otherwise. You won’t be affected by what the society tells you. You can make up your own mind. Surely, the reason why someone should NOT go see a film or buy an album is because the product is bad. Not because of obscenities or sex. I mean, If someone doesn’t want their children to watch, then don’t take them with.

Missing the hype is really the thing to do. So do explore stuff that was controversial in its time, things that people rejected as too inappropriate (ie too bold). And if you insist on exploring the contemporary stuff, ignore the headlines, forget the media buzz, don’t let the society thrust its opinion onto you and be an individual, make up your own mind, because after all, yours is the only opinion that matters.

Peter