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Response to You've got to have a gimmick!

from John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com)
At the risk of sounding like some New Age guru, there are two things that stop people from achieving "success" (which I'll define as more success than the level at which they have currently plateaued): 1) Fear - not of failure, but of the added responsibility of continuing to perform at a higher level than they currently do, and, more subtly, 2) Lack of Self-Worth - the belief that they don't deserve to be more successful than they currently are.

Capitalism feeds off of these insecurities, which, in conjuction with our Protestant work ethic, provide the perfect, submissive workforce. In almost a mirror image to the medieval peasant who believed that his God-given place in the universe couldn't be changed, the capitalist worker believes implicitly that his current lot in life is that which he truly deserves. Of course, that doesn't rule out advancement - but he has to believe he actually deserves it, through, of course, the very institutions that make him a more desirable (and complacent) worker: more schooling (indoctrination), more experience (acceptance), more seniority (passivity) - even through more samples for his portfolio.

I think it's ironic that photographers, more independent and self- actualized than the average worker to start with, fail to realize that in the media-dominated world that they help to make possible, the ones who "make it" (to the pinnacles of fame and fortune) are the ones who market themselves (or are marketed) best. (The con man knows this implicitly: for him it's all marketing; there's no need to fear failure - since he never intends to carry through with anything - only being caught.)

Look around. We still live in a class-dominated society. If you were lucky enough (had the money) to go to a top school, you start at the top. If you have money, you start at the top. If you are famous in one field (or just famous period), you can start at the top in another. It's not education that has leveled the playing field (that's just a way of keeping the workers in their place), it's the media. The ones who make it from the bottom don't necessarily work harder than everyone else, but they do out-market them. If you can learn to use the media (rather than be enslaved by/to it) then you can be one of the few who actually has some control over their destiny.

In short, be a little more con man and a little less worker bee.

(posted 8663 days ago)

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