Wednesday 11 November 2009

Idea Porn

Question: When do ideas become shallow and worthless? Answer: When they become fashionable.

It has been brought to my attention that the ‘chattering classes’ are developing a penchant for non-fiction, devouring ghastly little books that analyse modern cultural trends. It appears that a number of self-styled ‘public intellectuals’ have been doing very nicely producing books on everything from understanding children through to deciphering politicians (same thing no doubt.) Apparently the aspirational middle classes, desperate not to appear lacking in the erudition stakes, are lapping it up.

Self help manuals – which is essentially what these wretched books are – have previously been the preserve of the poorly educated and the socially insecure. Works like How to Influence People have sold in their millions to ambitious working folk who believed that a pot of gold awaited them at the end of the final chapter. But the sad thing about the latest crop of manuals is that they appeal to a supposedly better educated class of citizen, the ones who went to decent Universities. So what exactly has brought this about?

Well, one thing that became apparent during the Thatcher / Blair decades was that conspicuous consumption not only infected the vulgar nouveau riches, but also spread to those that had spent three years in higher education, studying subjects normally considered pretty highbrow. I, for one have been to countless dinner parties where to a man (and woman) the guests have been Oxbridge educated – with perhaps the occasional red-brick gooseberry. And yet for most of the evening these couples have banged on about their five star holidays or their dinners at the Ivy or rising house prices, as though there were nothing else to life.

I have often wondered what people get out of University, Oxbridge included. But when you discover that some of the most vacuous public figures attended the most revered institutions - including a raft of bland, blond newsreaders and witless television personalities – you realize that for many they are simply a stepping stone to ‘the most enviable jobs in society.’

Problem is that a lot of these BA Hons. lightweights are now facing intellectual mid-life crisis. It is dawning on them that the viewing public doesn’t consider them any wiser than the stars of X-factor or Come Dancing. Similarly, my old dinner party set look back on what they have achieved and discover that there is little more than material wealth – houses, cars, designer clothing.

They all know that they cannot return to college, so they have decided that a crash course in some fashionable, pseudo-intellectual topic is just the ticket. They can cherry pick ideas from easy-to-read paperbacks and regurgitate them in front of their peers (who are doing the same thing). Then they can hold their heads up high, and no doubt sleep nights, confident that their formative years at college weren’t all pissed down the drain in the pursuit of shallow materialism and keeping up with the X-factor generation.
By guest blogger Lord Trencherman of Furmity

12 comments:

  1. Some people are very busy, and still have to pay the rent, even if they went to University. I went to Leeds - is that redbrick enough for you? - and I have read one or two of these kind of books. Is it that awful for me to pick up one or two ideas that I would not have otherwise known?

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  2. You do wonder, what does anyone gain from any of these books? Most people forget most of what they read anyway. What are they hoping to change? Themselves? Their family? Society?
    Gratfication is ddefinitely the key.

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  3. That is your classic elitist b/s that I would expect from someone like you.
    It's oh so funny when people want to improve themselves isn't it?
    I studied sociology at Uni (Southampton ectually). Maybe I would like to keep up to date with current thinking on these sociological topics.

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  4. Not just the X-Factor generation but the Google one too!

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  5. How would pop stars like Madonna become intellectual without such manuuals, you have to ask.

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  6. And there was me thinking that people go to University because grads earn more over their lifetime.

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  7. I wonder who the elitists really are... What about the cynical academics who exploit peoples insecurity and offer them 'self help manuals'?

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  8. There are some really dumb people working for the Beeb who have BA Hons from Oxford and Cambridge. Am I allowed to name them here?

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  9. I blame all this property chit chat on that ghastly Kirstie Moron.
    Apparently she is a Baronet's daughter. Whatever next?

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  10. Not every Uni grad is into X Factor and property prices. But maybe we are the minority.

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  11. Apparently Gordie watches the X Factor.
    Pathetic really

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  12. Non-fiction is becoming an extension of the Sunday Times style mag, eh?
    Its all bleedin lifestyle stuff nowadays, and why not write a sociological / philosophical analysis of lifestyle stuff?

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