aesthetic(n.)

1798, from German Ästhetisch (mid-18c.) or French esthétique (which is from German), ultimately from Greek aisthetikos “of or for perception by the senses, perceptive,” of things, “perceptible,” from aisthanesthai “to perceive (by the senses or by the mind), to feel,” from PIE *awis-dh-yo-, from root *au- “to perceive.” https://www.etymonline.com

The aesthetic, pleasing to the eye, easy on the senses. A lot of things look good but don’t match how they’re represented. In business, we call this the fine print or the bait and switch.
Is this what happened in life?

I dipped off social media for about a year and when I returned, it was even more cluster fuct with AI generated pictures and bot accounts. If there were some of us that thought the perfectly smoothing filters were bad, this AI shit is even worse. But aren’t we to blame? We thought it was cute. We thought it was fun, the little puppy ears and big soulful eyes (personally never used these) and then it turned into “hey, I look really good when I use this filter.” And all the likes and clicks ensued.

I love what some of the “celebrities” are doing— since people actually still worship them, they’re removing their fake breasts, quit dying their hair and going all natural. That’s a statement. Because if there was anything that the 90’s and the 2000’s taught me, it was to fall in love with the aesthetic. But it only got worse as time went on. 2000’s turned into 2010’s with pimp my ride and MTV cribs having passed by. The life of a street racer, the partier, the beach bunny— let’s not forget the man the legend, Hugh Heffner and his Playboy bunnies. We had all kinds of TV reality shows thrown at us. It’s no wonder we reject and turn away from what’s real. Getting high, drunk— pill’d up, whatever it takes, right? We were raised on the aesthetic.

Our households became the mark of what the American dream looks like. “Bob Smith down the road bought a new Buick. I think it’s time we get a new Plymouth, Jane,” John calls to his wife as she’s pulling the meatloaf out of the oven.

C’mon, we all had this picture of what family life was supposed to look like. In the 50’s it was something just short of Pleasantville. In the 90’s it was that East coast— Westcoast vibe or the latest trends and that grunge appeal. Now we’re facing robots and screens and wondering why life still feels like there’s something more. We still feel like life is something we can’t quite grasp or hold onto. Because what we’ve believed in, sought and coveted was an illusion.

Dating land was overtaken by this too. Hell yes I wanted the man that passionately pursued me, loved and supported me and I wanted to do all those things too. But I fell in love with mirages. I fell in love with who they needed to be, not who they were under the image. I think most people can relate to this. I ticked the boxes, then we ticked the boxes together— then the whole page started on fire because it was soaked in gasoline. Sorry, I’m actually laughing as I type this. It wasn’t funny at the time. It made a big ass mess of my life and it took years, a couple of time to rebuild. But I wanted the dream, the vision— what I was told to want. I later discovered that it was never what I wanted.

The trouble with our culture is that it is so cunning, so devious, so sinister that we have something called an algorithm now. It tracks you and gets to know you just so it can sell you more shit the real you never wanted. Think about it for a minute. Did you want to work as a corporate sell out until 70, retire with just enough juice left in you to buy your retirement home in the south to watch a few sunsets and then die? Think about 6 year old you, what did they want? Who gives a shit if you think it’s realistic or not. What did they want? ^ year old you is likely more in touch with who you really are than corporate sell out you is.

We sold out for the storefront. For the poisoned apple. For the aesthetic— for the life we are supposed to want. Do you know why this life is pushed onto every single one of us the moment we are born?
Because we have this one precious go around with these bodies and there is no more pleasure that can be found within the darkness that be than for you to waste your precious years toiling away to serve it. All of your luminous creative energy being spilled upon the ground like waste. No… take it back again.

Take back what is rightfully yours. Your identity. Who you truly are on the inside. What you truly want. Be who you truly came here to be. Fuck the filters and the dyes and backgrounds. Share your beautiful self. Posing and choreographing is exhausting and fake. No, it’s a lie. It’s deceitful.

AI and these other bots and even greater lies will arise as we continue to use them and make agreements with them. Your use is an agreement. Your attention is an agreement. We’re plastic-ing the shit out of being human.

I’ll continue to write more on this subject because it runs so far, wide and deep— it truly is the root of all that has gone wrong in humanity. Who we really are. Be you. Be true to who you are and if you don’t know who you are, ask yourself; “do i even like this?” You’ll be amazed to find that you don’t…

Be blessed xx