Good morning,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
The words of the year are out!
RIZZ? THE OED MISSED THE BOAT
The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen “rizz,” as its word of the year, an apparent shortening of the word “charisma.” Generally, I can find justification for the OED’s designation of a word of the year, as it tends to be a neologism representative of the time. But this year, sorry, but I don’t really think this is indicative of the times in which we live, nor is it in general usage, nor do I believe it has “staying power.” I understand it may be a word of a younger generation, but I can’t help believing it is a faddish word that will fall the way of “neato.” It may reflect the opinions of the editors, but don’t think it reflects the moment.
AUTHENTICITY
On the other hand, I think the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year seems far more appropriate. It isn’t a neologism, but is one that already was in common usage. And it reflects the zeitgeist and the existential challenges we face. Merriam-Webster has year after year seized upon the times to suggest words of the year that are not faddish, broadly used and understood, and should stand the test of time. Here are the last few:
2020 pandemic—who can dispute this?!
2021 anti-vaxxer—again, no disputing its importance and timeliness…!
2022 gaslighting—once again, spot on the times
The word of the moment, drawn by the editors in part based upon frequency of users looking it up, is “authentic.” It is relevant in all its forms—authenticity, inauthentic, inauthenticity. It can be applied to the world we inhabit both on a global and on a personal scale.
This year, I think they again hit the mark. Pull together the disinformation on the web, the posturing of public figures, the fear of Artificial Intelligence, the proliferation of “bots,” and the struggle to find the truth amidst the noise all about us that seek—often knowingly—to drive us from the truth and what we lack is authenticity and the ability to discern when we see it.
Merriam-Webster defines authentic variously as “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character,” “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact,” and “made or done the same way as an original.”
With the growth in disinformation, misinformation, bot-distributed messages, and deep fakes, authenticity is under siege. We often can’t know what’s real and what is manufactured. When a clever prankster in his basement creates a Tiktok video of a celebrity dancing the macarena, its obvious artifice will show itself to be an amateur SNL sketch. But when that same person is armed with the tools to put words and actions into the mouths and bodies of political leaders, and when these fakes are broadly distributed, reposted, quoted, and commented upon, we no longer will know what is real and what is not. It will be up to the news media—or some other group of experts—to chase after these fakes and tell the public what is and what is not authentic.
On the more global scale, we have politicians who secretly harbor certain beliefs or believe there can be negotiated compromise on issues that inflame their base, yet will not articulate their concerns, for fear that their authentic points of view, while patriotic and perhaps even helpful in stopping the emerging authoritarianism, may have political cost. So, in an effort to evade responsibility for sharing their opinions, they adopt inauthentic excuses and defenses.
We have “information” being propagated, amplified, retweeted, republished, and expanded to a level unrecognizable. We have bots and foreign actors manipulating our news, our “feeds,” and what we are encouraged to purchase or desire. We have conspiracy theories that once would be the domain of people in foil hats or meeting in basements being presented as “the other side,” and as legitimate points of debate—often with dire consequences (particularly in the area of health).
On the personal scale, the bard may have said it best: “To thine own self be true.” Knowing who we are, being true to oneself, and being honest with others, is one of the prescriptions for human mental health and satisfaction and a gift we give to those around us. But the desire to be accepted, which begins in childhood, often stands in the way. There are strong drivers encouraging us to be anything but ourselves. Artifice, posturing, and public persona that don’t resemble who we really are stand in the way of authenticity.
INAUTHENTIC FRIENDS
There is a debate going on regarding the emerging technology that will allow us to communicate with AI in ways that reek of science fictional dystopia. We are close to the point when we can choose artificial friends with whom to interact. The idea that a child who cannot yet articulate their unique personality to a class full of similarly confused—yet authentic—other children will instead find companionship in the most inauthentic of ways is deeply disturbing.
Taken to its logical extreme, people will choose companions who will see the person not as who they are, but how they choose to present themselves in a phony world. It will be a world in which they are the puppet-master, a world in which they may well choose their friends—even their loves—in a fantasy world. Sadly, however, they will not experience the joy in being oneself and having another human being choose them back. Their friends, their affections, their lives will become inauthentic.
RUNNERS-UP FOR WORD OF THE YEAR
The methodology employed by Merriam-Webster includes an analysis the most “hits” on its site seeking definitions. There are a number of runners-up based on this analysis, including “X,” “EGOT,” “implode,” “deepfake,” “coronation,” and the aforementioned “rizz.” Lauren proposed a definite candidate—“eras”—riffing off of the Taylor Swift tour but also in how people are describing their lives, to wit, “I’m entering my career era” or “it’s time for my childrearing era.”
AUTHENTIC CLOSING THOUGHTS
Bullying in school is the earliest instance of demanding inauthenticity by attempting to squash differences that are characterized as weirdness or worse. It is indicative of human nature that, as children, one of the first instincts is to draw distinctions of “the other” as a means of raising one’s own social standing. In doing so, those not strong enough will comply and uniqueness, creativity, and difference will be lost. We must fight the drive toward homogeneity and inauthenticity. We must celebrate and reward authenticity.
Sometimes inauthenticity is demanded of us in order to survive or thrive. Society often exerts forces encouraging us to bury our authenticity and our differences in an effort to comply, to be “the same.” Imagine, for example, how difficult it must have been to be Rock Hudson or Tab Hunter or countless other stars forced to live inauthentic lives in order to maintain their mainstream popularity as “ladies men,” when they were “men’s men,” in more ways than one. To force inauthenticity is an aggression with consequence.
And then there is phony authenticity—like the prepackaged public images of politicians, the deep fakes on the internet, the bots that feed us drivel and worse, the artificial friends made to appear (but are not) authentic, and the endless supply of disinformation. As Steve Bannon warned in 2018, the best way to deal with the media is “to flood the zone with shit.”
Finally, there is Donald Trump, as inauthentic a business success there can be, a manufactured, retooled reality TV star, a politician without principles. His desire for retribution and authoritarian power is perhaps the only place where he is truly authentic. He should be taken at his word and the word of his sycophants and enablers. Authentically inauthentic.
QUESTIONING AUTHENTICITY IS TO VALUE IT EVEN MORE
As Peter Sokoloski, the editor of Merriam-Webster said in announcing the word of the year, “We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity. What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”
Have a great day,
Glenn
Thanks for your always thoughtful and interesting observations and commentary. I always am left thinking about many of your ideas, all of which are authentic and heartfelt.