The Real Thing Is Getting So Hard to Find

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http://www.alternet.org/story/40501/

 

 

The Real Thing Is Getting So Hard to Find

 

By Jay Walljasper, Ode. Posted August 21, 2006.

 

 

 

High-powered technology can manipulate reality and disseminate

falsehoods on a scale never before seen.

 

 

Victoria Beckham, also known to the world as Posh of the Spice Girls,

was giving a performance for fans in Birmingham, England, and

accidentally dropped the microphone. Her voice, however, continued

ringing out of the speakers as if by magic. But it wasn't magic; Posh

was lip-synching to a pre-recorded track. As if that weren't insincere

enough, the lip ring she wore also turned out to be fake. Posh hadn't

really pierced herself like so many of her young fans... she just

wanted them to think so.

 

It's difficult to know what's real anymore. Politicians deceive us.

Corporations cover up misdeeds with frothy PR. Photoshop makes it

simple to fake photographs. Breast implants and facelifts are as

common as Band-Aids.

 

This is nothing new. The pages of history are filled with stories of

fraud going back at least as far as the Trojan Horse. The difference

today is that high-powered technology can manipulate reality and

disseminate falsehoods on a scale never before seen.

 

In response to this onslaught, it's easy to become cynical about

almost everything. Yet rather than throwing up our hands and accepting

a world that feels faux, many of us are rolling up our sleeves to

maintain what's honest in our lives. American social scientist Paul

Ray calls this as a historic social development. " Authenticity is so

much in demand today, " he declares.

 

Ray became fascinated by the subject through his research on " cultural

creatives " --a sizable segment of the population he has identified who

share common values about the environment, social justice, creative

expression and personal growth. After extensive interviews with

numbers of them, Ray uncovered another trait cultural creatives hold

in common: a drive for authenticity. This means living in a way that

" your inner self matches your outer self, " he says.

 

Veteran British journalist and trend spotter David Boyle also sees the

emergence of a new social sensibility based upon " a determined

rejection of the fake, the virtual, the spun and the mass-produced.

 

" There is an obsession on all levels about what is real and what is

fake, " he notes in a recent interview. " At its core it is a search for

what's still human in business, in politics, in culture and in our own

lives. "

 

Boyle sees our growing yearning for authenticity as a factor in the

recent boom of organic and local food, holistic medicine and socially

responsible business. He also points to the worldwide success of the

raw Detroit blues-rock duo The White Stripes, the resurgence of public

poetry in the UK and the popularity of vintage fabrics from fashion

designer Stella McCartney as precursors of a coming " authenticity

revolution. "

 

In his book Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real

Life, Boyle describes nine kinds of values that inspire us to seek out

what's genuine in the world: ethical, natural, honest, simple, unspun,

sustainable, beautiful, rooted and human.

 

You see people everywhere making choices that once would have seemed

surprising. Forgoing a fancy holiday to embark on an eco-travel

adventure or a volunteer vacation helping out in a poor community.

Skipping the mall in favor of funky furnishings and fashions from

thrift stores or handicraft shops. Deciding against a new house on the

edge of town to take part in revitalizing an older neighbourhood.

Tuning out powerful entertainment conglomerates in order to discover

avant-garde, locally made or exotic artistic alternatives. Steering

clear of the high-flying corporate track for a lower-paying career

with more satisfaction.

 

" People feel contradictions more sharply than a generation ago, " Boyle

explains. " They are less willing to work for a company they dislike,

or invest their pensions there, or buy their products. Businesses know

this, but it's hard for a company to actually be authentic when it is

big, globalized and virtual. "

 

As hard as it may be, embracing authenticity represents the wisest,

brightest future for business, according to Neil Crofts--a former

British publishing executive, race-car driver and corporate-strategy

specialist who founded the Authentic Business website.

 

The key to authentic business, and an authentic life, in Crofts' view,

is knowing that some things matter more than money. " If you are doing

something you believe in passionately and it fits with your talents,

you will always do it better and you will attract the support of

others, " he asserts. " You will not only make more money, you'll be

happier. "

 

Crofts sees Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear company, as a

prime example. " Their customers are hardly customers; they're more

like fans. " He also singles out two rising British firms that

graphically illustrate the rewards of authentic business -- Yeo Valley

Organic yogurt and Cafédirect coffee.

 

Yeo Valley ranks fourth among UK yogurt producers with six percent of

the market and spends 700,000 pounds ($1.3 million U.S. or a million

euros) a year on marketing, according to Crofts. Muller, the

top-selling British brand, meanwhile controls 36 percent of the market

and spends 40 million pounds ($79 million U.S. or 59 million euros) on

marketing. " That's almost 60 times as much money to sell six times as

much yogurt, " Crofts calculates, noting that Yeo Valley's good

reputation and organic ingredients sell themselves.

 

Cafédirect -- which sells fair-trade coffee -- was seeking new

investment recently and raised 5 million pounds ($8.8 million U.S. or

7.3 million euros) in just five weeks, all of it from their customers.

Every one of these new shareholders, Crofts notes, signed a statement

endorsing the company's social principles and half of them agreed to

forgo any dividends in the short run. Imagine what great opportunities

that kind of financial arrangement offers a growing business.

 

" Who said business has to be ruthless and competitive and corrupt? "

Crofts asks. " Business exists to serve the needs of society. And this

is not some kind of new message. It is part of the perennial

philosophy of humanity. Look at Buddha. Look at Christ. "

 

While the principles of authenticity are enduring, the concept itself

is rather new. In researching a coming book on the subject, Paul Ray

could trace the idea back no further than the 17th century. He credits

Enlightenment mathematician and philosopher René Descartes with

coining the term. Much later it was taken up by existentialist

philosophers in France and Beat generation poets in the U.S.,

eventually being introduced into mainstream culture thanks to the

social movements of the 1960s. " It first went public with the women's

movement, which emphasized the need for authenticity in relationships

and with the slogan 'the personal is political.' But it's easily

traced back to the civil-rights movement, where they called it,

'walking your talk.' "

 

Some of the big debates of our era look different when viewed through

the lens of authenticity. The controversy over gay rights and same-sex

marriage, for instance, is not simply a moral debate but a question

about whether a person should acknowledge or repress authentic

feelings from within. The resurgent movements for human rights, global

justice and ecological restoration are all inspired by people no

longer willing to hide their feelings about what's going on in the world.

 

" After making its mark on psychology and the social movements,

authenticity is now hitting business. The one place it hasn't hit yet

is mainstream politics, " Ray notes. " In fact, one reason why Al Gore

and John Kerry lost [in U.S. presidential elections] is that people

didn't perceive them as authentic. " Ray, Crofts, and Boyle, in fact,

all mention Al Gore's recent transformation. Now that he's speaking

out boldly on global warming and other issues, Ray observes, " he comes

across as convincingly authentic after seeming so inauthentic in his

campaign. "

 

" Humanity's continuing evolution, " is how Ray explains the rising

interest in authenticity throughout the modern world. " You have people

now who want to keep developing through their whole lives. For most

people through history the idea that you keep growing emotionally

through your whole life was not known, except for maybe the upper

classes. Authenticity is showing up now because we are ready for it. "

 

Neil Crofts sees this growing quest for authenticity as a new form of

spiritual expression. " There is a huge spiritual vacuum going on in

our society, a crisis of meaning. " This leads some people to throw

themselves headfirst into consumerism. Others seek clarity and comfort

in fundamentalism -- which gropes for a sense of authenticity by

holding up the Bible, Koran or other all-encompassing philosophy as

the supreme truth.

 

" But true authenticity is not based on dogma, " Crofts says, " it's

based on what's meaningful to you. It's based on our intuition. We

know when we are doing the wrong thing. That's what guides us on our

authentic journey. "

 

Jay Walljasper is the executive editor of Ode Magazine.