Andy Warhol once said everybody would get their fifteen minutes of fame. He couldn’t have predicted the world we live in today. Everybody has a show and brand. Social media has granted everyone the potential of having their own Truman Show of sorts. If you’re reading this then you know my show and brand. My brand is encompassed under the umbrella of, “Tasty Danish”. It’s a cultivated brand. I’ve used Instagram and this blog to carve out a show of sorts. What do I sell? I don’t actually sell anything for monetary value yet. This is not a good business model. I create content. I spend time and effort into creating words and images that do not return any profit. So, what do I get out of it?
I am able to bare my soul to the world. In fact, I do sell something. I sell ideology. I sell personal philosophy. The return for this sale is when I can connect with you on a transcendent level. This alone is worth it. I wouldn’t mind money for product created, but I am content with the work being seen. I believe strongly and truly in what I do; why else do it?
I’ve been rejected more times than I can count. I’ve lost more than I’ve won. I’ve taken the beating, but I’m not quite finished yet. There are many of you out there, friends and strangers, who’ve been kind to me. I am grateful that you’ve sent encouragement. I am forever in your debt. It’s a difficult thing for a man to be told he’s not good enough. That’s what a rejection letter means. It means that you need not apply.
It’s odd for a person to live on social media. More often than not when I’m out and about people are posting. They are stepping away from life, and then they are documenting that which isn’t happening. It isn’t happening, because it was involving them. Then, they pull out that camera, and everything that was happening is no longer. In essence, the selfie is a lethal bullet to the heart of the moment.
I have mixed feelings about this modern world we live in. We are interconnected, but isolated. Our glowing screens lure us away from each other. We are like moths being beckoned by our own personal light bulb.
The flip side of this is the opposite. I’ve made friends all over the globe that I’ve never met in person. In fact, I may have never known them if it wasn’t for this miracle of technology. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to find connections that span the globe.
I’ve recently wondered if I should take time away. Maybe, too much time exploring cyberspace has left me blind in the physical world around me. It’s possible that I’m missing the connections on a local level.
So, I think there is a lesson here. The old adage rings true; “Everything in Moderation”. Social media in moderation is the prescription for this social experiment. Maybe, we need a little more time within our own fleshy hard-drives.
This small amount of attention may be my fifteen minutes. I may be living it right now. The extent at which people digest my content may be the most I ever have. Maybe it’ll peter out fifteen minutes from now. That would be that. Andy Warhol still would have been right. If this is as good as it gets then I’ll accept that. For those of you who’ve entertained the words and pictures I’ve put out there: thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I will do my best to keep doing what I do.
Maybe one day you’ll be able to say that you followed me when nobody else did. Maybe you are the trendsetter. Maybe, you are the tastemaker. Maybe, just maybe all I need now are you folks who follow yours truly, Tasty (no matter where it leads).