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.
This isn’t the death of civilization. It’s just the culture in which we live. And from this vantage point, a display of mass modesty, like the kind represented on the V-J Day “Command Performance,” comes as something of a refreshing shock, a glimpse into another world. It’s funny how the nation’s mood was at its most humble when its actual achievements were at their most extraordinary.
Great article. Time for modesty and humility to come back into vogue. Let’s start with football players who pump their fists and chests for performing the exact action (tackle, run, pass, catch a pass) that they are expected to do – that’s why they are there. Let’s continue with movie stars staying away from political microphones – since they are no well-informed than average citizens (which they prove whenever most of them speak). And let’s follow that with news media, who often begin reporting on themselves, their opinions and their reactions, instead of the stories they are hired to present to the public. That will be a good start. We can go from there.
In short: one of the best op-ed pieces I have ever read.
“It’s funny how the nation’s mood was at its most humble when its actual achievements were at their most extraordinary.”
Funny and poignant and chastening.
Does this include conspicuous fist-bumping?
No, hugging your teammates and shaking hands or fist bumping is not immodest. That is just celebrating. I also don’t have a problem with pointing to the sky – that says to me, “I didn’t do this; He did.” But chest pounding, standing with your legs splayed apart and hands on hip, and strutting around like you are better than anyone else is obscene!
And we can see from Brook’s fine essay what happens when a society chooses to go from an Apollonian to a Dionysian society, when self restraint and self discipline fail. Larry