The world is a crowded place. There are over seven and a half billion of us all vying and competing to be seen or heard, all attempting to fashion an inexorable rise to fame and glory. Where before excitable dreamers were given a reality check, they can now evolve an identity unabated. For better or worse; irrespective of skill, mastery or talent.
But it wasn’t always like this. If we look back twenty or thirty years it was all very different. There was some order. In addition to the fact that there were significantly less of us on the planet, the arts had their gatekeepers; the hallowed custodians of the keys to notoriety. Despite the fact that a great number of them propagated the careers of palm greasers, narcissists and peers, they brought some structure to the arts and successfully filtered out those who didn’t have a chance.
Today things have changed. The world has a voice, a platform, a vehicle by which literally anyone can be whatever they want to be irrespective of talent, skill or expertise. And the internet is accessible to all. This coupled with a reluctance to call things out for what they are means that anyone can fashion an identity for themselves. There are now a thousand unfettered voices all shouting to be heard when before there were ten carefully curated ones.
Now, the voices of those who apply themselves and tirelessly nurture their talents are significantly less likely to be heard than before. Those are the ones that, disheartened, sink into obscurity, drowned in the sea of the multitude. So perhaps the question is whether it is better to reach the pinnacle of mediocrity and be happy, or sacrifice happiness in the pursuit of the mastery of a craft.
