Welcome to the 鈥榮elfie鈥� society! You know what selfies are, of course. Pictures people take of themselves. Usually using cellphones, you can, apparently, buy accessories that let you hold your phone way out front to click your own picture.
My granddaughter borrowed my iPad for about 10 minutes. She took 12 pictures of herself. All the same.
Click. 鈥淭his is me.鈥�
Joan and I used to chuckle at tourists who poured out of a bus to stand in front of some famous landmark to have their pictures taken. Usually by a member of their own party. Sometimes by a total stranger, to whom they entrusted several thousand dollars鈥� worth of camera and lenses.
We imagined the narrative of their slide show: 鈥淭his is us, in front of Niagara Falls. You can just see the falls in the background. This is us at the White House. This is us at Yosemite鈥�.鈥�
Click. 鈥淭his is me.鈥�
I had thought of selfies as an aberration until I read . Brooks suggests that selfies are a symbol of a radically changed society.
Most of my generation grew up assuming that wisdom accumulated over time. One studied the ancient philosophers, the great writers, the famous scientists, to seek wisdom and truth. We were expected to follow in the footsteps of those who had gone before.
And so we inherited a moral code, a set of ethics, that focused on responsibility. Loyalty. Working your way up. Suppressing personal emotions and desires, in favour of the greater good.
Then things changed. As Brooks says, 鈥淢oral authority is no longer found in some objective good; it is found in each person鈥檚 unique original self.鈥� Look deep within yourself to find your own ultimate truth.
Education subtly shifted its emphasis from moulding and training (from the Latin word 鈥渆ducare鈥�) to drawing out (from a similar Latin word, 鈥渆ducere鈥�) the abilities already there.
Click. 鈥淭his is me. I鈥檓 fine.鈥�
Most of us, Brooks says, assume that this shift started during the 鈥榟ippie 鈥�70s鈥�. He argues that it started in the 1950s and 鈥�60s鈥攚hile my generation was growing up. A series of best-selling books, from Dr. Spock to Norman Vincent Peale, urged people to reject repression in favour of free self-expression.
There were some positive results. As Brooks comments, 鈥淭he shift鈥� helped correct some deep social injustices. Many social groups, notably women, minorities, and the poor, had received messages of inferiority and humiliation. They were taught to think too lowly of themselves. The culture of self-esteem encouraged those groups鈥o raise their sights and aspirations.鈥�
Click. 鈥淭his is me. Get used to it.鈥�
At the same time, a selfie culture set up the 鈥渟piritual but not religious鈥� phenomenon. If truth is found within oneself, who needs a religion burdened with traditional teachings?
The earlier moral codes required God to be out there somewhere, watching over you. Such a God had to be a separate being.
The selfie culture internalizes God. God is in me, in you.
Click. 鈥淭his is God.鈥�
I don鈥檛 agree with everything Brooks writes. I don鈥檛 want to go back to a distant God. But I think he nailed the selfie culture.
