A note about Chris Rock and truth tellers: Over the past few weeks, my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been filled with Chris Rock. Hes everywhere, not just promoting his new movie, but as a major cultural commentator. I find it fascinating that we increasingly look to comedians to tell us the TRUTH. Rock will tell it like it is on race (I don’t think I should get a job over a white person if I get a lower mark on a test) and Ferguson, the Obamas (hes cool for a politician, but not cool like Jay-Z), Hollywoods prejudices (You’re in L.A., you’ve got to try not to hire Mexicans.). My personal favorite is that racial issues will get better in America if we just have more nice white kids. The other day, I was talking with my friend Fagan Harris, a keen observer of American culture, and he reminded me that Shakespeare used the jesters as truth tellers. It was a fascinating point. Hundreds of years later, as institutions from journalism to politics to the church are as brittle as ever, truth telling increasingly falls to comedians. On the right, perhaps its Dennis Miller. On the left, Jon Stewart. And, in between, lots of people in the middle like Jerry Seinfeld (who called out the entire advertising industry for its bullshit earlier this year, when receiving an award at the CLIOs marketingmag.ca/advertising/have-you-seen-jerry-seinfelds-clios-speech-yet-126394) Whats clear from Chris Rocks viral quotes and sentiments is that Americans are THIRSTY for authenticity and truth-telling. As Fagan put it, Very few things are real anymore. Personally, I see many people in our generation over-marketing all the time, and large segments of the tech marketing world are awash in complete B.S. The good news is that the rest of the world ultimately knows substance and quality, and substance wins in the end. Heres to Chris Rock.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 16:53:30 +0000