The anatomy of pretentious culture

We all wish to be unique, in a socially acceptable way, but we would rather have our tastes and likings be spoon fed to us, owing to the mentally exhausting process of exploration and discovery, as well as the peer pressure that others subconsciously placed on us. In search of distinctiveness, we became overwhelmed and rushed to join a fraction of interests that would make your soul appear more approachable and interesting.

Modern taste is often shaped inorganically and unauthentically, namely through ingestion without digestion. This phenomenon became apparent in the age of doomscrolling, prompting me to coin the term “reels of taste”, which describes the occurrence where one derives tastes from their surroundings without judgement. It led to the emergence of new terminologies for unauthentic taste like “copycat”, “performative male” and “matcha male”, where people latch onto trending interests or behaviours and claim them as part of their identity just to maintain relationships and conversations with others, giving us a false sense of belonging and uniqueness.

It is no surprise that algorithmic recommendation systems bear no tastes, it is merely the manifestation of human’s collective intelligence, actualized by code and mathematics. Yet it spreads, shapes and alters the likes of the general public, by showcasing popular posts and reels. We thought our tastes were the origin, for we select them from the curated pool of choices, failing to recognise the fact that we are just cherry picking from the subset blessed upon us by the algorithm.

Once we have identified something as part of our identity, it becomes extremely difficult to get rid of it, for we link the disassociation of interests to the destruction and reinvention of one’s self identity, which is painful and uncomfortable. Regular experimentation with various interests is also undesirable, for we are trapped within the safe bubble of comfort zone and what it can be expected of.

I wish we can be more fearless, to decline the attractive invitation to jump on the bandwagon, to experiment more with our fondness and disinclination, to essay (essay means to try here) in spite of initial discomfort, and to devote our life to uncover what makes us excited and happy. That’s what makes us unique as a person, when we can finally answer the question, “What do you like?” truthfully, without hesitation.