Hero Worship and Cultural Consumption: Sparagmos and Omophagia
Being human is a messy and highly contentious endeavour. We, in our very essence and articulation, are somewhat flawed and imperfect beings. We often get things wrong, do and say things we don't mean and mess up frequently on monumental scales of epicness. However, knowing and understanding this hard-wired tendency of humanity (this tendency has been historically documented since the fall of "man") I find myself thinking about the amount of hero worship that surrounds and permeates our contemporary culture. The level of celebrity and sport's icon veneration is a little nauseating but we see this tendency in our everyday lives in the form of selfies, upvotes, followers, Facebook likes and shares. It is a fascinating trend and seems to encourage a type of individualism that is on steroids. Has the "culture of me" become Hulk-like in its expression?
Hulk Selfie
I think it's a normal desire to enjoy some admiration and to seek some level of validation in others from time to time. Conversely, self-confidence and pride in your appearance are also not things that are inherently evil or bad. However, has social media made this need for approval an unhealthy atmosphere and in a Darwinian sense made this a sort of survival of the vainest?? Are the most narcissistic and internally focused of us the only ones to be successful and thrive in this new world order of "me"? I straddle the uncomfortable fence of modern communication and technology and often find myself thinking about the way these things shape us both: unconsciously and consciously. I do not mean to come across as judgmental but just expressing some of my thoughts and observations I have had over the years as I also possess cultural memory of the time prior to social media.
Along with this individualist trend I have additionally noticed a congruent relationship with perfectionism and purity. Perfectionism and Purity seem to come prepackaged and loosely veiled in the background of any type of hero-worship. I do somewhat find it troubling the amount of joy that seeps to the surface when idols inevitably fall (and they always do). As quickly as someone rises to the level of celebrity we soon find out they are human, they will err and make some irrevocable and unforgivable misstep. Once this happens the pig piling social commentary starts into a person's life, physical appearance and/or choices. This practice seems almost cannibalistic in nature. We build something, or in this case; someone, only to tear it apart and consume it later.
This cyclical nature of building up and tearing down reminds me of the greek word sparagmos ("Sparagmos refers to an ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs from the body. Sparagmos was frequently followed by omophagia (the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered")**. Are sparagmos and omophagia merely symptomatic of Western culture's unavoidable demise? I cannot help but recall the words of Terence McKenna to describe these social trends and the visible death throws of modernity. He said: "You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.” Are we merely consuming the bones of a dying world in our veneration of the social media idols and celebrities? Furthermore, what does our smug celebrations of their fall say about us as a culture?
Simone deBeauvoir once wrote," Values come only from our choices." I think during these uncertain and chaotic times choosing is a revolutionary act. Our choices and what we pay attention to ultimately and fundamentally matter. I guess the most salient question of our time is simply this: How will I choose?
Have a great day!
Kobie (AKA Existential Hippy)
**Defintions for Sparagmos and Omophagia were taken from the website: http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Sparagmos
I like the way your mind works, and your objective analysis of the unhealthy synthesis between human nature and technology. Gives some understanding to movements of the past; Luddites, Amish, the back to nature hippies. Hyper-individualism is the antithesis of community, yet community is crucial to a healthy society. Where it’s all going is uncertain.
It is uncertain that is certain. :) I do believe we are social animals who need each other and a sense of community. Communities seem to be a thing of the past as we rely more and more on corporations and governments for the necessities of life. We rarely speak directly to or know our neighbours. I would like to see more barter and trade within communities to disrupt some of the current power dynamics we witness everyday.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment @dissfordents. :)
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
Thank you @hotpacks! Enjoy your day!
If you keep writing these great posts I might have to start worshipping you :). I will be thinking about Sparagmos and Omophagia all day for sure :/
Oh goodness @cstrimel .....please keep reading (and better yet, commenting and posting your own posts as I enjoy reading them as well) but save the worship as I think we have enough of that! Haha. I was first introduced to these words in a class I took on Greek Myth. We were discussing the Eleusinian Mysteries and they came up and sort of just stuck. Greeks have lots of great words and myth is particularly intriguing.
You took a class that actually talked about the Elusinian mysterys? IM surprised, topics like that isnt what I hear is as being what schools teach.
Yes, I sure did. My undergraduate degree and graduate degree are in philosophy. Typically that isn't your "normal" education and I tended to take weird elective whenever I could.
Choice?)
That is one way to look the intricate nature of choice. I wish it was always that easy!! But sometimes when we think we aren't choosing we are, in fact, doing so. Not making a choice is also making a choice. :)
All ingenious is simple, but simple is ingeniously. The question is, are you ready for this simplicity?)
I guess I like things nuanced and complicated. It's probably why I chose to study philosophy. ;)
Why do you say we are flawed beings? just because we are capable of error?
I wrote an article about what you refer to as "the culture of me" that I called "A nation of attention seekers" that may be of interest.
Interesting thoguhts though. And to your points of if we may be putting a too high focus on idols and use of social media so that it becomes destructive i whould say yes we do. But hrer eis reasons for it ;)
In terms of the concept f heroes, that is in movies and TV series, Jordan petersen ahve an interesting take on it to show how it speaks to what we see as our ideals. This, however becomes somethings else in social media, as then its mroe of a group vs. group, where an idol or ideology is attacked only by the other group. Something that is an issue of what is termed; devide and conquer effect.
One reason for the outrage is an enhanced form of our own bad sides reflected back to us that we dont want to admit. So once we are made aware of it in others we rage against it. Or this is how I see it, but ofc there is other aspects that takes part in why, aswell.
Question is in the end; What is the best things to be done to potentially fix issues like this in our society.
1 is as you do here, pointing it out so that we can be aware of it. :)
I think we are flawed perhaps imperfectly perfect??? Even our own senses can deceive us at times.
Hey @kobiespriggs,
I think you are right but we can be a better person if we will do any work with careful and make yourself responsible for the work you are doing. Keep it up another amazing post by you:)
Of course we can all be better! That's where the choosing comes in to play and why it's so important. Thanks for reading and commenting. @aneesulhassan
Hey @kobiespriggs,
You are absolutely right. Nice to talk with you. I think you have a good heart:)
:)