The Power of Being Authentic in a World of Mass Appeal

It’s very obvious, to me at least, that we live in a world being taken over by a sense of dog-eat-dog cynicism and exploited by those willing to completely fabricate a false image in order to maintain an obscene level of borderline idolatrous power…

Or at least that’s one way to phrase it.

Take the whole structure of, for example, TikTok, at a conceptual level. One video at a time, a person searching to turn their brain off for a brief moment may be bombarded by a slurry of media optimized to be both most attention-grabbing and most fitting with ByteDance’s public image. Logically, the only way to prevent yourself from being manipulated is to acknowledge that you are constantly being surveilled and incessantly monitor how much time you are devoting to any given video. But that kind of thinking is discouraged when your next brief escape is just one swipe away…just like how a slot machine is one pull away.

Behold, a TikToker.

The result is that people have very little control over how much misinformation is being blasted into people’s faces at any given moment in an attempt to control the population. That in and of itself is concerning (an understatement of the century), but it becomes a nightmare when people capitalize on the ability to so easily broadcast to the masses using ad revenue and product placement. No wonder misinformation is everywhere.

So what can we do about it?

A Philosophical Perspective

The concept I’m leading towards is one I have talked about in the past: bullshitting. That is, speaking with an apathy to the truth rather than actively attempting to deceive.

The idea was formally introduced to the scholarly world in the 1986 essay turned 2005 book On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt (not making this up), which you can read here. However, I must confess that my specialty doesn’t lie with this work of his but rather its sequel, On Truth, a book nine chapters long and dealing with the pragmatic value that the concept of and passion for the truth has with society.

Frankfurt is no wordsmith, with his dense prose in On Truth proving difficult to read for anybody outside of academia, but the book is full of ideas relevant to our current times. Each chapter is essentially itself an essay. It can be found in full on the the Internet Archive.

Nonetheless, I want to highlight chapters 7 and 8. In it, he describes an idea for where our shame in lying comes from. It simultaneously traps people in an "imaginary world" that only exist in the victims' own minds and destroys their ability for the victims to remain grounded in reality. We indeed gloss over that lying is both an act of both destruction and entrapment.

And yet, there is also destruction for the liar, who is also trapped; they cannot confess the truth to anybody without "breaking the spell", so they're also stuck in their own isolated, shameful bubbles.

The exception he gives for this is a hypothetical of "seeming trust," or of two people mutually lying to each other while knowing that the other person is lying and playing along with each other's idealized worlds.

But of course, all this implies that the elites of the world feel shame, and that our seeming trust is necessarily good for us. TikTok is a counterexample to both of these.

The Revolution is Televised

No, you are not insane. That is a picture of Kendrick Lamar. From his Super Bowl performance, no less.

As random as a choice it may seem now, I want to use my soapbox to highlight his works as an unprecedented example of what it means to be authentic in a digital age.

In 2024, the already arguably biggest rapper in the world unleashed on all-time high in popularity, with his album GNX dominating the charts after his rivalry with fellow rapper Drake, and earning himself a widely acclaimed Super Bowl appearance in February 2025. But this is of course already widely known public knowledge.

I want to analyze a few of his songs' lyrics to show the real impact that he is trying to exert on society.

It's evident that he was trying to dedicate his career to societal progress from the very beginning, even with his debut single, "HiiiPoWeR", referencing "visions of Martin Luther", naming off Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey, and even creating his own "three fingers in the air" symbol. His albums are a deconstruction of both his reality and of himself, with his 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly notably being considered one of the greatest albums in popular music. Ever.

However, his emphasis on authenticity wasn't really in full swing until GNX. His song "tv off" (stylized in all lowercase) is what I want to focus on.

The clean version, if you absolutely insist on listening to it in public.

The track is divided into two parts, first starting with a chant of "it's not enough" as he complains about how "solid" people are disappearing. It also introduces the main ideas of him being politically incorrect (something he mentioned directly in "wacced out murals") and calling for the dwindling authentic population to "get [their] chili up", or engage with the grind in society.

The second part puts the first part's hook into context with a triumphant beat switch to a grandiose horn section as he emphasizes to "turn this TV off" and raps about making noise and flexing on the population. It ends with a closing mantra of "Crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious", reflecting common social media buzzwords.

The meaning is obvious. We shouldn't play nice with frauds and liars like Drake, who sell their souls for fast cash while hiding demons. Instead of entrancing ourselves with constant social media addiction that's never truly enough, we should be getting ourselves up and take pride in the struggle of being authentic and dealing with uncomfortable realities.

The "seeming trusts" of our reality, though difficult to leave, are slowly killing us. No more illusions. No more imagining. No more lying to ourselves. No more euphemisms and no more bullshit.

Closing Thoughts

I'm going to intentionally keep this brief, so we can use a little effort to ponder the implications without the directness and flatness of academic language. There is no one way to approach all of this. The art will arise when you discover the truth within yourself.

And ultimately, I want to reiterate that this is no game, and there are no easy solutions. But there is one thing I have to suggest: cause a ruckus.

Be loud. Spread the word. Awe people, and don't be afraid to make a few angry.

Not everyone will get it, but the people who want to listen will direct their ears wisely.

Success is evidently shown in people who won't shut up. And getting your art out there—and on repeat, nonetheless—is an excellent way to not shut up.

Pay close attention to your delivery. Being perceived as annoying, or even as violent, is a great way to be immediately rejected by the opposition.

And just get out there, any way you can. I chose to highlight Kendrick Lamar as an example since he shows mass media as an ultimate force for good. You're not him, but you have a voice, and that's all that matters.

Put three fingers in the air for me.

There are lives on the line. But you are not alone. It is your moral imperative to cause some good trouble. Music is just one way to do it.

-Dakota Christian