Salocin

Baine Envy

David Blaine's underwater stunt in New York is generating a lot of commentary and blog entries.

Every so often, someone does something that brings the worst in people out of the woodwork, and in this case, everyone appears to have something to say. From "What's the point" to "you're nothing but an publicity-whore", people have let rip, and in so doing, brought out an aspect of the ugly underbelly of modern society.

I'm more interested in the societal phenomenon that brings people to make such ugly comments, but before I get there, here's my humble opinion on what David Blaine is doing, because the venom people so enjoy spitting in his direction deserves a response.

On whether it's for real
I for one believe that he's absolutely geniune about going underwater for a week - he's actually gone to great lengths to ensure that it's auditable, to the point of staying in a glass bubble in a public place for the entire duration of the exercise. If that weren't enough, recent stories regarding his need for medical treatment lend credibility to the story. There's little point in trying to argue with those who choose to disbelieve, as it is always possible to cast doubt if one chooses to be a sceptic. He could have an army of external auditors watching him night and day, and naysayers would still argue that some trick was at work, allowing him to rest outside of the water. They have chosen to disbelieve, bandying the word illusionist around as though that were all the proof they needed, and no amount of evidence will be sufficient to convince them.

On why it's cool
A man saws a cow in half, pickles it and sells it as art. Another puts timers on lights in an empty room and receives a prize. A woman puts her unmade bed on show and judges use words like "masterpiece". If you're looking for pointless, there's plenty of it around, and most of it far less interesting than what's going on at the Lincoln Centre in New York. From the comfort of their nine-to-five world, a gaggle of hypocrites point fingers and claim that his attempt, whether real or not, changes nothing, achieves nothing, or does nothing for the developing world. They do this while standing in a train carriage, reading the morning newspaper on their way to work for the hundredth week in a row. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I would rather live in a world with a hundred David Blaines performing weird stunts in major cities and interesting locations across the globe than a world where we all toe the line and keep our heads below whatever metaphorical parapet the dull cohorts are shooting over today. I take issue with the daily grind and with normality in it's morale-sapping miserable conformity, and while I have no desire to immerse myself in water for seven days while showing off my tattoos to the world, or getting buried alive for too many hours, I'm glad I live in a world where someone somewhere is oddball enough to play at that.

On envy
Which leads me to my third point, and nicely segues into the real reason I'm writing this : When someone does something as unusual as this, people watch. They may bitch, and they may criticise, but they do it while watching. Why?

Because it throws into sharp contrast the monotony we all deal with every day. It's something different, and that's a great reason to do it, and to look at him doing it, all on its own. I don't want to do the things he does, but I envy the fact that he really isn't trapped in the nine-to-five. I don't want the whole package, but in some ways, I do want to have what he has. Admittedly, this is a negative, because it's driven more by aversion to routine than by a positive search for something better, but I prefer variety to regularity, and I have regularity in most things : work that's weekly, the routine of commuting to and from work, a salary that's monthly, bi-annual performance reviews, Christmas, Easter, the onset of winter and the long wait for Spring. It repeats, and because there's a lack of variety (some might say, excitement), I resent it.

Don't get me wrong, I do a lot to break it up - I go sailing, I travel, I take holidays - but that's the problem, they're holidays - breaks from the routine, which I must eventually return to. You look at a guy doing something as oddball as immersing himself for a week in a glass bubble, and it gets you to thinking. Or it gets you resentful. So to those who say, "What's the point?", look to thyself: Why do you get up every day? To earn a living. Because you have to. Because that's what the contract says. Because it's what you're told to do. Because it's all you know. Because the routine runs your life.

What's interesting is the sheer volume of the vitriol that gets pointed at him.

His biggest "illusion" so far is that he's convinced himself he's an illusionist. A better word for him would be delusional. He's a joke.
  Randal S, Los Angeles

The level of advertising for this event barely scratched the surface compared to, say, the latest episode of god-knows-what on your local TV channels, he's made people aware of what he's doing, he's made himself a piece of public performance art, and you can choose to go see him or not - to pay attention to him, or not. Throwing derogatory comments in his direction tells us more about the people doing the throwing than the man who appears to have a thick skin in more ways than one.

If I have one criticism, it's that I'm allergic to the sort of hyped-up promotional language used in such events, such as "Failure means a drowning death!!", but that's a matter of style, and I suppose it's almost a tribute to Houdini, given that it echoes the promotional tone of his work, and of the circus acts of the time. It certainly isn't sufficient to create any loathing, although it puts me off watching any television specials as I just cringe when I hear it.

I cannot understand why people are so venomously critical of this, and I guess that while I'm not sure what that says about me, I think I like it.

Posted by nlvp at May 6, 2006 02:03 PM