Friday 27 January 2012

Come Get Your Snake Oil… It’s Fantastic!


Superlatives, that is what we are talking today, and are they as super as they once were. But don’t worry this isn’t a grammar blog. I am talking about the way the world seems to throw words like fantastic, extraordinary, and amazing around like confetti. Everything seems to be exceptional in this world of ours but is that so.

 How many times have we seen a book being touted as an exceptional debut by an extraordinary new writer, to only find it is an utter disappointment? How many times are we going to see a trailer telling us a new film is a fantastic epic only to discover it puts us to sleep?

Too many, that is the answer.

There is an art magazine I subscribe to and it is amazing how much they throw the Superlatives around. Every painting is amazing and stunning, every artist is fantastic. Do the readers really get taken in by all this? Are we all so naive to believe that everything can be exceptional? And what happens when something truly exceptional and stunning comes along? Are we going to have to invent a whole new level of superlative, super superlatives maybe?

It seems to me they are selling us snake oil, touting everything and everyone as being exceptional. Or maybe they don’t know what exceptional really is, maybe they are the ones who are being naive?

If everything is elevated to this higher level then we no longer see the things that are deserving of the praise, and the meaning of the words no longer holds any power in our world. Everything becomes an exceptional mush, background noise for our society.

So when you come across someone or something having a bucket of superlatives dumped over them, ask why is this, and are they really deserving of these accolades? Don’t accept other’s opinions of ones greatness if you can’t see it yourself. For in the end it is only what you think is exceptional and fantastic that matters to you.

And one final thing, don’t forget to check out my book The Last – Tradition on Kindle, it is a stunning and extraordinary read…

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