The desire to purge and [more] authenticity.

by Alex Steed

Published November 02, 2008 @ 07:52AM PT

I am increasingly interested in moving to understand the generational embrace of authenticity-as-value  (beyond its insisted-upon reality in the PR world). We have grown up to understand "orphan" as Punky Brewster, "restaurant" as T. G. I. Fridays, and "the 50's" as reruns of Happy Days and there appears to be a desire by some to move beyond these superficial comprehensions. Advocacy groups are struggling to break through this post modern, hyper-referential narrative in order to powerfully convey their messages. It is through the seemingly-refreshing glimpses of modernity via a post-modern juxtaposition that we're encouraged to look at other elements of our lives and ask if we're comfortable with the layers of reference that separate our experiences from their perception/processing of comprehension. We've met Gabriel the Garbologist, inspired by this desire, and listened to him talk about his process. I've discussed the folks from Ryan Is Hungry and their contribution to the emerging "Back to the Land" 2.0 movement. This trend is also exemplified by a growing number of buy-local campaigns, which aim to cut some seemingly unnecessary layers out of the process of consumption - not just to reduce consumption of oil and fossil fuels, but also to get closer to and understand the origin of product.

There is certainly a palpable desire to purge in most everyone I've met so far. It is as if the eldest of this generation have become conscious of the collective perception we were brought up in an abusive household and, understanding how this creates a chance that we, too, might become abusive, we are faced with either understanding the problem and living with and blaming it for everything, or acknowledging that we have a desire to live differently and pursue counseling to ensure that we don't make the same mistakes. I believe that on the whole we've realized that we have a desire to do things differently - I am still trying to understand if we have the skills (beyond abilities, which are enabled by all of the cool web tools we fetishize) to turn this into a post-2008 Electionland movement.