BrinkLindsey.com – The Age of Abundance

It turns out that human beings have far too active imaginations to settle for lives of bloodless, soulless calculation and rationality. And so, while science and technology have shattered many of our old illusions, the entertainment and marketing industries have helpfully stepped in to supply our craving for make-believe and magic. 

Thus we now have sports “legends”:

And action “heroes”:

And sex “goddesses”:

And advertising “icons”:

And even pop “idols”:

Sure, the products of popular culture are often shallow and banal. They’re also a lot of fun. And harmless fun at that — I’ll take cola wars over religious wars any day.

Let’s finish up this freedom four-play with a pop gem from George Michael. We’ve now entered the video era: rapid cuts; style over substance; the synthesis of Aquarian music and sexuality, technological progress, and economic deregulation, all whipped up in this particular offering to sleek, lush perfection.

Mass affluence and its cultural dynamism are the fruits of modernity’s open society — a new kind of social order geared toward ceaseless experimentation and innovation. A social order, in other words, whose organizing principle is the discovery and invention of the new.

Which is why the world of fashion is a perfect metaphor for the larger world we live in. Indeed, the word “modernity” comes from the Latin modo, which means “just now.” “Modernity” thus shares a common root with “model” and “mode” (which is the French word for fashion, and can mean fashion or style in English). Cool, huh?

On a less cosmic note, one question: by choosing famous objects of male lust to stand in for him in this video, was the then-closeted George trying to tell us something?