The Emptiness of Fashion and Branding

Had a discussion with a pal of mine the other night about "fashion."  "Fashion" attracts moths to its light; but then there's another light, and the moths rush over, and at each light, some of the moths get a little too close--and become dead.

Well, anyhow, V. D. Hanson notes "branding."  "Branding" is merely the front-page of "fashion."

...Graduating from today’s Yale or Harvard law school is not necessarily a sign of achievement, much less legal expertise. Mostly, entrance into heralded schools is a reminder of past good prep school grades and test scores winning admittance—or using some sort of old-boy, networking, athletic, or affirmative action pull.

Being a “senior” official at some alphabet government agency also means little any more outside of the nomenklatura. Academia, the media, and entertainment industries are likewise supposedly meritocratic without being based on demonstrable worth. Otherwise, why would college graduates know so little, the media so often report fantasies as truth, and Hollywood focus on poor remakes? Take all the signature brand names that the Baby Boomers inherited from prior generations—Harvard, Yale, the New York Times, NPR, CNN, the Oscars, the NFL, the NBA, the FBI, the CIA, the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, and a host of others. And then ask whether they enhanced or diminished such inheritances?...

All that was addressed a few thousand years ago:

 

“I determined that I would examine and study all things that are done in this world. I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless” (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14).

But the moths will still be flying to their deaths.