(Untitled)

[labrysinthe]

Why are we all subjected to the advice of the top .01% of the population when it's clear that (1) such advice applies only to them and (2) the world only has room for a few of these people? Most of us who aren't delusional would be more than satisfied with a non-televised life of moderate success, doing something we love in the company of friends.

Comments

[labrysinthe]

What set me off was dear old Lady Gaga telling musicians to 'get off their asses', stop carping about CD sales, and tour. 'That's how you make BANK!' etc. (No, that's how YOU make bank, lady -- dancing in tinfoil underwear doesn't work for all of us...) While it's certainly true that CD sales are always kind of the butt end of the Band Experience, somehow touring with Unto Ashes, while fun, didn't make us millionaires. Or even cause us to break even. The same level of fame is simply not given to everyone, and egotists like Gaga would like to think their success had nothing to do with luck or, well, tinfoil underwear. Of COURSE it was just because she was SO much more intelligent and hardworking and talented than everyone else. Whoever doesn't make it just didn't want it bad enough. Right?

Nuh uh. This is like getting snotty financial advice from someone who hit the Lotto. She might as well say, 'Wanna succeed? Just BE ME.'

Meanwhile, the question of what will make an individual happy is paved over with the idea that only the highest peak of success will suffice, despite widespread evidence that those who achieve it are often... unhappy. The media sells us all unhappiness with our own lives and tells us which of their sponsors can fill the emptiness. They belittle the pursuit of your own happiness as small dreams and chump change. They and their irrelevant comparisons desperately need to be ignored.