the facebook event

John Currin "The Bra Shop" 1997

"Because no one checks their facebook events anymore . . . ," is becoming a familiar subject line in my inbox. Such emails are usually a more "personal" version of what used be a facebook event, with a plea for a prompt RSVP and seductive party/event descriptions.

So what happened to the facebook event?

Nothing really. They're still there and are being sent by the dozen, hourly. But it's just too much. Like everything else on facebook; The "friends" list, the requests, the pages, the likes, the groups, the causes. And surprise surprise, the market is over-saturated: we don't care (that much) anymore. The newsfeed is overwhelming, status updates redundant, and the pictures just too pictureseque or too personal -- I mean, do I really need to watch you shave?

It's the curse of overinforming and oversharing. And there's really no one to blame. We're only human. How many ways can you say "I had a great night last night" or display your "pretty friends and lovers" before it becomes gauge-worthy?

In this case, what is more emblematic is our inevitable tendency to get
desensitized to images or news or pieces of information, no matter how trivial or critical they are. (to the sad face of the starving African child on t.v, or the Tsunami victims, or Britney Spears, or fitness commercials, or corrupt leaders).

And so we just glance over. Click away. Change the chanel.

We stop digging to discover because it all seems too much to handle, too fucking in-your-face.

So we (or you) elect someone like Rob Ford as Toronto's mayor. Or get enamourd by the Tea Party. We stop reading and stop researching. And what's almost as worst as voting for Rob Ford, is not voting at all [pauses. remembers all the blood she saw on streets of Tehran when people were protesting against fraudulent elections].

In any case, maybe evolutionist theorists got it wrong. Evolution, perhaps, is not a "betterment" of what already exists, but is (apparently) the triumph of comfort and docility.

Or maybe I'm just sick of facebook events.