Conspicuous Authenticity
Over the past 30 or 40 years, there’s been a shift in the culture where as we got wealthier, it actually became less socially acceptable to just sort of, like, engage in raw displays of how much wealth you have or what great taste you have. And so we engage in what I call "conspicuous authenticity," displays of consumption or experience that sort of express what a deep person, how spiritual you are.….
What I’m trying to point out is that when you wrap up your consumption in a sort of moralizing guise, it ends up sort of being almost a more pernicious form of status-seeking, because it makes it seem like you’re actually better than other people and not just simply better connected.
The quotes above are from a recent interview with Andrew Potter about his new book The Authenticity Hoax. You can listen to the whole interview from Marketplace Money here: The New Holier Than Thou
I was really struck by the criticism because I can see and sense what he is talking about in my own life and the lives of those I most closely associate with. Many of the things he mentions Beth and I do:
- Compost and garden at home
- Buy locally and organically
- Reject Big Box Stores
- Fetishize poverty
- etc.
It is not that these things are inherently bad (in fact, most of them are based on solid values and ideals). I am satisfied with my path of downward mobility. However, when we hold the idea of an action higher than the action itself, we risk falling into the trap of conspicuous authenticity – it becomes easy to do things because we want to project a certain image rather than actually live by a set of ideals.
I am the first to admit I am guilty of this.
Wrapped up in all this is my own understanding of just how important community is. The community that surrounds you set the bar for the ideals you pursue. Close friends can challenge you to love more deeply and serve more broadly, or they can promote selfishness and give you an excuse to become complacent.
I can honestly say my closest friends have brought both sides out of me.
My hope is not that I will do more “things” or live by more standards, but rather that I will become more deeply committed to the values I cherish.