CHRIS AGBOLA
Columnist
What’s the color of the #TheDress? Is it #Blueandblack or #Goldandwhite? This question was viral last week as it divided the world into two teams; team blue and black and team gold and white. For a while, I wondered to myself why something as trivial as the color of a dress could earn so much attention across the world. The debate cut across all persons in society. What does it take for something to “break the Internet” or get trending nowadays? Does it have to do with its relevance or effect on the society? Or is it more about the number of individuals who share and like it. Has there been a paradigm shift in the structure and systems of society? There are more questions in this regard that I could pose. I’ll attempt to talk about what fame or influence means now as compared to earlier generations.
To be honest, the notion of fame is one of the most misconstrued concepts. A look into history provides us with individuals who are worth studying and knowing about due to remarkable feats they accomplished.
Fast forward to 2015 and what do we see? The inverse of what existed formerly. It takes a day, if not minutes or seconds, for someone to render him or herself “popular”. All it takes is make a video or share a picture on the net. Get as much approval as possible via likes, retweets, reblogs or shares, which would insinuate that a lot of other folks concur with you, and that’s it. You’ve become famous.
What happens next? The electronic and print media share your “exploits” and so you’ve made history or have attained the status of a celebrity or societal icon. It is baffling because the world has been plunged into state that is onerous to decipher. Historymaking has been redefined in ways it shouldn’t be.
For instance, the influence that news of that dress wielded, or the young employee of a Target store who made news last fall can be compared to, say, how we have come to know though the study of history how the founding fathers established the nation, or maybe the achievements of Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King.
Ridiculous, huh? Sadly, that is how things are now. And I’m not the one saying so. Society runs that way now. Do you still disagree with me? If you do, let me explain it. When we talk about great presidents America has had, Abraham Lincoln would be mentioned. More so, when we discuss those who lost their lives in service to the land, John .F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King would make the list here as well. Delving into the sciences will make us think of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, among others.
Well, in 2015, when you talk about the dress, there again, everyone knows to what you are referring — whereas, the earlier individuals changed the world through amazing discoveries and decisions for the good of numerous lives, the latter is also known because it went viral. And that’s history as well. Isn’t it?
The number of items or folks who influences masses in one way or the other is unprecedented. Making the archives of the world or being the model of emulation now does not require any major impact, discovery, service or decision that causes a major change in lives. It is only a click away. Is that what we have been leveled into? Think about it…..