Damn You Andy Warhol

Yeah, I’m pissed at Andy Warhol. I’m pissed because his work is contributing to the dumbing down of society and the destruction of America. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “How can that be? He did Campbell Soup! And that Marilyn Monroe thing! The man is a genius! An American icon! I love Andy Warhol! Damn you Faheem!” But you see, I’m not talking about his traditional works here.

I’m not so much upset as to what he did as I am to what he said. Remember that quote, “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes?” Well it has proved to be all too prophetic and I’m convinced that Andy’s prophecy is contributing to the destruction of America. Bear with me a moment.

The other day I was watching TV and I stumbled across one of VH1’s most popular shows Flavor of Love (part 18 or whatever). For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, it has a bunch of degenerate women trying to win the love of rapper Flavor Flav – a man who closely resembles a crack addict turned burn victim.

I really wouldn’t have a problem with this show if it didn’t give so much exposure to the ghetto ass, trailer trash, nasty skanks who parade along like they’re hot shit. As a result of this show, socially undesirable nobodies who have probably worked for nothing in their entire lives all of sudden become famous. As millions of people across the world go unnoticed for the important things they contribute to society these whores are enjoying their “15 minutes” and people actually give a shit enough about them to keep watching every week.

Andy Warhol envisioned the horrors of reality television decades before it came into being. He allowed these worthless individuals to gain exposure for doing nothing other than acting completely worthless on television and it absolutely pisses me off.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“Andy Warhol’s ‘15 minutes of fame’ didn’t create the mess that is reality television. His quote was simply providing commentary on the nature of pop culture and the attention span of the average American. Reality television was bound to come about with or without Andy Warhol!”

Well, that’s completely wrong and I still think Andy Warhol’s an asshole. You want my counter argument? Haven’t you read the book The Secret? It states that you can create something if you think about it hard enough and believe in it. I’m convinced that Andy Warhol utilized “The Secret” and created reality television by stating that quote and believing in it. So yes, Andy Warhol is directly responsible for the “famous” trash that is being produced by Flavor of Love.

And the bigger problem is that Flavor of Love is not the only reality show that gives exposure to generally worthless individuals. You can’t change the channel without seeing some talent less hack, obnoxious asshole, or dirty whore try to make something out of themselves. It’s like the only thing that people care about these days is gaining exposure and becoming famous. And that’s fucking sad because there are bigger things going on in the world right now other than some talent less hack’s attempt to gain fame. Did anyone care to notice that yesterday marked the 5 year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq?

Honestly, media gives the impression that nobody gives a shit about anything other than themselves. What ever happened to the good old days where we had positive role models in the media like Rosie the Riveter? Well, it appears that instead of building tanks and warplanes, Rosie the Riveter is running around on VH1 trying her damnedest to bang Flavor Flav. What the fuck happened to this country? Thank god Andy Warhol wasn’t around when we were fighting the Nazis. Then we’d all be fucked.

So, at what price are you willing to gain your 15 minutes of fame? If you’re willing to throw yourself all over a D-list celebrity or degrade yourself in any other way on national television then please do the whole world a favor and gain your 15 minutes in a more constructive way. For starters, how about getting eaten by an exotic animal . . . .

What's My Motivation?

I’m going to try to be semi-serious so bear with me for a moment. If you want some smart ass commentary about something then I guess I can provide one quick quip:

Mark my words, MTV will be the downfall of Western Civilization. The girls from The Hills, Tila Tequila, all the posers on the show Next, these people are to society what Mexican food is to the colon.

Now to being serious….

My work life is one big Catch 22. When I’m working all I can think about is my time off and the weekend. Throughout the duration of the work week I zone in and out thinking about how awesome it will be to sleep in, sit around and do nothing, and perhaps go out one night. These tend to be the things that get me through those long days. I don’t hate my job however I’d rather be doing nothing if I could get away with it.

Now for the Catch 22.

Often times on my time off I think about how unfulfilling it is to sit around and waste away. Watching T.V., surfing the internet, and eating Taco Bell aren’t enough to make me feel like a worthy member of society. It’s at this point I start wanting to get back to work. That’s right, I want to get back to work. My job gives me purpose and direction in life and I feel that it separates me from the people who contribute nothing to the world and cheat their way through life, living a shallow existence while being perfectly content with it. By the time Monday rolls around the entire ugly contradicting loop continues.

What the hell is wrong with me? Damn my conscience and good sense for realizing that sitting around and doing nothing doesn’t amount to any purpose. In addition, damn the system that forces me to get a job and work so I can sustain myself and feel like a contributing member or society. It makes sense now why most European states are welfare state. The system makes it okay to do nothing thus allowing the people to feel good about doing nothing. Everyone’s a winner!!

I think I’m rambling at this point because I don’t want to go to work tomorrow. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some sleep before I work for 8 straight days where I’ll do nothing but think about the empty free time I’ll end up feeling guilty about. Perhaps a little MTV before work will be enough to make me cherish 8 glorious days of work.