I love Ask Metafilter part 4(?): Eccentricities
Let's just say you're a boring person, and you want to spice yourself up with a charming eccentricity. Probably the best way to choose one is to ask metafilter, right?
Question: is this New Sincerity? Are acquired eccentricities New Sincerity? At first I thought no, but now I think that they may well be.
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Question: is this New Sincerity? Are acquired eccentricities New Sincerity? At first I thought no, but now I think that they may well be.
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posted by Jesse Thorn at Thursday, July 13, 2006
5 Comments:
I think it's meta-meta-New Sincerity, in the following Way:
Surely developing one's own eccentricities is New Sincerity.
Adopting an eccentricity because a trendmaker told you to, however, is not.
The reversal here is, you have to be aware that the person giving you advice on what eccentricity to adopt may be trying to punk you or otherwise embarrass you. You may unwittingly become a guinea pig for a cultural Svengali who is very upfront (and New Sincerity) about jerking people around. Thus, you have to enter the transaction knowing that you might get screwed with. Only then is it New Sincerity.
I don't really get this. (S)He desire to "become more distinctive" by appealing to others seems quizzical. Unless you decide to view your life as a performance, what is the point? How do you consciously gain an eccentricity without it being affectation?
An aside, but this post and then reading the poster's name really freaked me out:
" . . . I love a girl whose name has a suitable anagram."
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party
I say this is definitely NOT new sincerity. I admit, it scores off the charts on the irony quotient. But it scores conversely low on the awesomeness quotient. I mean, how boring is a person who has to ask internet strangers to give them some sort of distinction?
I think you're right. I think I just got caught up in the charm of the eccentricities themselves.
No. Acquired eccentricities are somewhat ironic, but they are not sincere. And they are not new. Just look at the 70's.
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