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All projects: Gel, Jobs, Gootodo, Games, Uncle Mark, Goovite, Blog, Bit Literacy

A thought on humility

From David Brooks, a thought on our self-involved cultural moment.

Everything that starts out as a cultural revolution ends up as capitalist routine. Before long, self-exposure and self-love became ways to win shares in the competition for attention. Muhammad Ali would tell all cameras that he was the greatest of all time. Norman Mailer wrote a book called "Advertisements for Myself."

Today, immodesty is as ubiquitous as advertising, and for the same reasons. To scoop up just a few examples of self-indulgent expression from the past few days, there is Joe Wilson using the House floor as his own private "Crossfire"; there is Kanye West grabbing the microphone from Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards to give us his opinion that the wrong person won; there is Michael Jordan's egomaniacal and self-indulgent Hall of Fame speech. Baseball and football games are now so routinely interrupted by self-celebration, you don't even notice it anymore.





All Projects from Good Experience

Gel Conference
Our annual get-together in New York
Jobs Board
Post or find a job
Gootodo
The world's best todo list
Good Experience Games
The best games online
Uncle Mark Gift Guide
The guide to technology and life
Goovite
Easy event invites
Good Experience Blog & Newsletter
Mark Hurst explores good experience

"...the Elements of Style for the digital age."
- Seth Godin
Bit Literacy, the book by Mark Hurst, shows how to solve email and info overload.