La Fiera dell'Autenticità by Gilles Lipovetsky

 La Fiera dell'Autenticità

by Gilles Lipovetsky published by Marsilio (20 euros) traces a portrait of our society that is powerfully interesting.

We live, in this historical moment, under the dogma of authenticity. This dimension absorbs more or less every aspect of our existence. Brands we buy must be necessarily what they tell us that they are: naturals, authentics,: they are our biggest influencers. Brands telling: Be Yourself  a phrase that we find often, wherever we look at want to tell to us that we are unique people, suggesting us, it's implied but pretty understandable that we must in this way to propose our unique way to be to everyone.

Social medias, of course, are the perfect place where to exhibit ourselves although every kind of normality is banned and where perfection must play the biggest role: we can share what we want but it must be perfect: every second of our existence can, theorically end in a social media. Everything started with the advent of the net, the first webcams and the first girls who shared everything of their existence. 

Our society is pretty free. Religion and the rigid society of some time ago

are not anymore "big influencers" in the existence of men and women and fluidity is the biggest reality reached during these decades with the possibility to experience every possibe shade of love. There is to add that people reached a lot of goals: marriages with people of the same sex and certain taboos of the past, like love between two men or two girls, are over, accepted largely socially: also eterosexual couples can live love and affectivity differently from the past.

Same story involves transgenders, largely seen on TV, or song contests. 

If sex is accepted, the movement metoo created a repressive state regarding absuses of men on women and nothing is anymore considered accepted when forced. Women can manifest with total freedom their desires, but no one must try to use any kind of violence against a woman. Same is for paedophiles. The author adds that this one is a society that, if very free, can punish pretty strongly.

For sure: each of us is a consumer in this society devoted to consumerism and that's also why capitalism has embraced a certain way of living. Yes, it's not an innocent society this one, forget it and certain decisions have been taken for implementing business.

Children are another chapter that created confusion during the past decades: if in the past, there was a rigid education, at the moment every kid is untouchable, must be treated with great respect, consideration, he is plenty of rights, and respected because a little person that must develop who he is. This education with the time has created problems and sometimes didn't offer solutions. 

What kind of society is this one? Well, it is maybe authentic, but the idols offering their authenticity are not people ethically great as it happened in the past: in general they are actors, sport-men, people of the showbitz. In most cases these existences, but also the ones of common people are reported in talk-shows, where common people or known ones love to indulge in their life, troubles in particular, problems. It's what people want or just, to me, what the society wants to give us. 

The book doesn't forget the new trend born in recent times: eating better, buying ethically, in general taking the existence more easily.

Tourism appears always more incapsuled under the perspective of offering to the tourist the perfection: but this perfection, in its authenticity appear surreal and depressing. Who is the main winner of tourism at the moment? The lonely tourist: the one who decide to invoke a complete freedom of expression: the one who don't follow masses, but, with his own personality create the best travel of his existence because in search of real people, real places, real adventures and a lot of fun, without being driven, addressed by a society who would want to cuddle all of us, without to let us add any sparkle of creativity, personality and character where we go.

Environmentalist crisis and solutions are analyzed profoundly, seeing the limit of frugality asked to us by our governments, important but not sufficient for resolving the big mess in which we are in, and the necessity, pretty urgent to find answers through investments for starting a new society, a new world more efficient and real, meeting the necessities of our poor Earth!

Beautiful, splendid book, highly recommended.

Anna Maria Polidori