A pornified society of authenticy
A dive into one of the many topics covered in Byung Chul Han's text, "The disappearance of rituals".
Bismillah
We are not satiated. We are sick.
And it is not too little that is making us sick, but rather, too much.
We live in an ever-increasingly pornified society, that is run by a narcissistic cult of authenticity that has inverted the public and the private. Traditionally, when a person entered the public sphere, they left their most private selves behind and engaged in a game of theater. Everyone played a part. You had formal clothes that you only wore in the public sphere, you had formal behavior that you operated with when engaging with the public. You exchanged pleasantries, smiles, and politeness. Today on the other hand you have the inverse. You bring your most private, most authentic self to the fore.
"Today, the world is not a theater in which roles are played and ritual gestures exchanged but a market in which one exposes and exhibits oneself. Theatrical presentation gives way to a pornographic exhibition of the private." (Han)
It's the inverse of a traditional society in which you hid your authenticity.
Your most private self was limited to only the closest individuals in your life. The act of putting on a show in the public sphere led to a greater community. Your authentic self didn't matter when it came to the community. When you met a person you didn't like, it didn't matter, you said Salaam to them anyway. Certain forms of interaction were forced which led the community to a better emotional state. Smiling is a Sunnah and a form of charity. When you meet someone you smile and this in turn impacts your behavior and your emotional state. Often you're forced to hug someone after an Eid prayer, you're forced to attend the Janazah of any Muslim who may have passed away. These forms of ritual create community and force us out of atomization. Your authentic self doesn't matter, what matters is what impact you bring to your community.
"Polite behavior can strongly influence our thoughts. And miming graciousness, kindness, and happiness are of considerable help in combating ill humor and even stomach aches; the movements involved – gracious gestures and smiles – do this much good colon they exclude the possibility of contrary movements, which express rage, defiance, and sadness. That is why social activities, visits, formal occasions, and parties are so well-liked. It is a chance to imitate happiness; and this kind of comedy certainly frees us from tragedy – no small accomplishment." (Han)
The loss of authenticity in a community makes life a lot easier. Traditionally once a young man was around 10 or 11, they would learn how to conduct themselves in the ritual ceremonies of social interaction and surprisingly it made life much easier. All they had to do was mime the behaviors of older boys and older men and this would virtually lead them to transition into being an adult. There is no figuring out what they need to do about who they are, because who they are didn't matter, what mattered was what needs to be done to be a part of the community.
This inversion of the public and the private is seen in many aspects of society, as Han says, a pornographic exhibition.
An example of this can be illustrated using the ritual of Japanese packaging. The Japanese continue to hold onto many aspects of their traditional rituals even though they have modernized in many other ways. If you've ever seen a Japanese packaging video you'll know that an extreme amount of care, precision, and ritual is dedicated to the process of putting together an envelope or package for an item. What is interesting to note is that regardless of how trivial or mundane the material inside is, the package is put together most beautifully and artfully. Take a look at the video below and you'll see how remarkable this is. The packaging is meant to delay the revelation of the possibly insignificant content inside to a later time.
"The Japanese parcel doesn't reveal anything. It distracts us from the thing, and in the first instance presents the magnificent envelope." (Han)
There is something special about a Japanese parcel, in that, it is not meant to be just any old commodity in the capitalist economy in which the packaging merely exists so that it may be removed. Compare this to most modern packages and you'll know that they are designed to be torn off quickly to reveal the package inside. Amazon even has a category of packaging called frustration-free.
Deriving pleasure through porn itself is a trait of narcissism. An obsession with pleasure and a need to be satisfied through solitary voyeurism.
Many things are now about unraveling the package and getting to the point of completion.
"Ours is a culture of premature ejaculation" (Han)
Reading a text is almost like watching a strip tease today, deriving pleasure from the unveiling of information like it were a sexual organ. It's for this reason that today we have a loss of poetry. No one wants to read a poem anymore let alone memorize and recite them. Unlike thriller novels and the latest episode of Wednesday, they don't contain an empty completion like the act of self-stimulation with porn. A poem is a lot like love, a magical ceremony of language. It is not meant to be consumed like an object and discarded. It is meant to be pondered, reflected upon, and loved.
"[Poems] they do not admit of pornographic reading; they do not possess pornographic sharpness." (Han)
This is why most films and most content feels empty today. They are meant to be consumed and discarded, moving from pleasure and release to pleasure and release.
"We remain perplexed and vaguely compassionate when confronted with cultures for which the sexual act is not a finality in itself, which sexuality does not have the mortal seriousness of an energy to be liberated, of an ejaculation to be forced, a production at any price, or hygienic auditing of the body. Cultures that preserve lengthy procedures of enticement and sensuality, long series of gifts and counter–gifts, with sex being one service amongst others, and the act of love one possible end-term to a prescribed, ritualistic interchange." (Baudrillard)
Even communication becomes porn-like when it becomes transparent and its only function is to convey an accelerated exchange of information.
We have become addicted as a society to pleasure and release, an ever-increasing addiction to pornography, not just of visual imagery but of all things. An addiction to the consumption, of frustration-free packaging as we tear off the wrappings to get to the goods inside, ultimately feeling empty, removed of seminal fluid, and a portion of ourselves.
May Allah protect our eyes and our hearts from the Dajjalic nature of society and grant us purity in all of our senses and cleanse us of the ills that impact our hearts. Ameen.
And Allah and his Messenger ﷺ know best.