A Call for Originality

Dania says that I should write about my "life and experiences...and so on." Unfortunately, in order to write about those things, I need to have them. I don't. So while that idea of Dania's doesn't work so hot, she just happened to later inspire me with her Facebook status. For those of you who didn't see it, I'll put it here:


Look at your status. Now back to mine. Now back to yours. Now back to mine. Sadly, yours isn't mine. But if you stopped posting about other things & made this your status, yours could be like mine. Look down. Back up. Where are you? You're on Facebook, reading the status your status could be like! Anything is possible when your Facebook status looks like this one.


Now, many of you are probably laughing at this. I will admit that as statuses go, it actually is very good, far better than anything I have ever come up with. However, as good as it is, it really isn't original humor. You see, ever since the recent Old Spice commercials, I have been noticing an increasing trend of people personalizing someone else's line and making it their own. I love the Old Spice guy (if you haven't, you should check out his video responses). His stuff is very funny and very effective as an advertising campaign. What I don't love is the rampant sayings that have cropped up that go something along the lines of "Look at your X. Now look at mine. Now back at your X. Now back to mine. Sadly, your X isn't like mine. But if you stopped doing Y and started doing Z, yours could be like mine." etc. Please, people, let's be original. Ripping off someone's thing, especially when it is as popular as the Old Spice commercial, just isn't as funny as something you yourself do. Even if your idea isn't as funny as someone else's, having it be your own makes it funny. And trust me, if you are reading this blog, you can be a funny person.


This doesn't relate only to humor, however. There is the larger societal problem with using famous quotes. Honestly, I get why society has the rule. People we quote were respected. They have legitimacy; legitimacy that we often lack. We use what they said because it strengthens what we say. But why can't we come up with our own sayings? Why are our thoughts any less valid because we aren't yet famous? As much as I love Mark Twain, I shouldn't have to use his sayings. I should be an independent thinker and come up with my own things. I do understand that Mark Twain has a certain amount of legitimacy that I will probably never achieve. He is accepted as a master. But he didn't achieve that by quoting Jonathan Swift. He came up with his own material. So I ask that as we like and love quotes from others, we also take into account our own intelligence and come up with our own thoughts.