A world full of mistrust

In a world reeling between deepfakes and the exhausting banality of social media, it’s no surprise that people are done with artifice and leaning towards genuineness. “We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” said Peter Sokolowsky of Merriam Webster, quoting the vast number of look up spikes and data searches that led them to choose “authentic”.

It’s a fact, we can’t trust what we see, read or hear anymore. Add to that our own wholly human insecurities and the inherent contradictions we face in daily life, perpetually unsure of our decisions in a madly confusing world. How do we reconcile our dreams with reality? It’s hard enough quelling the disturbing suspicion that those very fantasies that seem so alluring in the abstract may be disastrous (in the unlikely probability they even came true). Indeed, second guessing is in our natures and the truth remains as elusive as ever.

A remote mountain or the seaside was a way to enhance perspective and recharge from drudgery but now, the incessant noise of the Internet age follows us on WhatsApp and Instagram. There’s no way to avoid the latest depressing missive befalling some corner of earth, information we can do little with but that clutters mind space all the same. Perhaps, the sudden interest in “authentic” which is certainly not a trendy new word like “Rizz” suggests people are simply tired of manipulation, via the updates and images flooding our phones.

According to common parlance, “authentic” means the somewhat superficial sounding adage, “Be yourself”, except, often enough, who “you” is, remains a confounding mystery. Being yourself is utterly meaningless because eking out a living, and survival, hinges on pleasing others, a boss or a spouse. At its core, teenage rebellion is a cry for authenticity, for establishing an identity distinct from parents, the unconscious first step towards Socratic thought, that the unexamined life is not worth living. It fades quickly because it’s possible only when somebody else is paying the bills. By one’s 20s, recognition dawns that achievement requires the ability to stick it out while being everything other than “yourself”. However, in our era of post truths and fake news, “authenticity” has taken an especially major battering, raising interest in the profound dilemma of “you” which has been an enduring preoccupation of mystics and popular culture, forever.

Shakespeare duly noted in As You Like It that we wear different masks and costumes through the journey of life: “All the world’s a stage, the men and women merely players…” Which roughly translates into the philosophical acceptance that there’s no avoiding the roles thrust on us by family, society and religion. Authenticity gets submerged along the way and to find a way back takes either a crisis, or age. Getting knocked around doesn’t have much to recommend it except when viewed retrospectively: it’s the dreadful experiences that build character and set us on the meandering road to discovery.  Alas, prevalent online chatter has us believing that “living authentically” is a magic wand for panacea but it would be wise to remember life will be life. Things will be both good and bad, a little like that other, popular, new term, “beige flag”,  meaning partly odd, blah and boring.

The writer is director, Hutkay Films