Fakes & Phonies: Authentically Artificial or Artificially Authentic?

Every so often, but with some regularity, I read on Facebook derisive comments about some who, either through a fashion choice or appearance alteration somehow automatically now qualify as “fake,” or “phony,” or “artificially hip.” A recent such observation inspired me to dredge up the draft and edit the following previously written, but unpublished, piece.

Based on trips to both coasts over the last year it would be almost impossible not to notice that many people go to great trouble and expense to create or maintain an image. Before the movie came out, I re-read Girl on Fire (Hunger Games trilogy) where denizens of the capitol change their appearances to fit the dictates of mercurial fashion leaders. I have previously written about “acting one’s age.” Not all that long ago we were treated to numerous references to J.D. Salinger, the creator of Holden Caulfield and his rants on being “phony.”

We all (well, maybe not ALL – I still cringe remembering my father’s propensity for loudly opining, “Obesity is an epidemic in this country” every time a person of girth passed us in a restaurant – and since he seemingly always wanted to eat at IHOP or Cracker Barrel….) like to think we’re not judgmental. We like to think we’re tolerant. I would suggest that we can be both tolerant and judgmental. Nevertheless, this collision of random thoughts and events makes me wonder....

Like Holden's references, this piece is only about adults; teens, and even young adults, are still trying to figure out their true identities and entitled to try on as many as they need to be comfortable in their own skins. Actually, now that I consider it, aren’t we all? Isn’t our identity-search an ongoing process? How many of us are the same person now we were when we were younger? And if we are, is that a good thing?

Most of us, if we’re being truly honest with ourselves, do not have a great deal of respect for others whom we perceive as “fake” or “phony,” while we, of course, are completely authentic, true to ourselves and our nature. Very few of us would admit otherwise. We might rationalize that we occasionally have to put on a political front in certain situations, usually with family or co-workers, but our friends and loved ones know and can count on who the “real us” is.

But what exactly constitutes authenticity? Can you modify your looks and still be authentic? For example, does using make-up turn a woman (or man, I guess) into a fake, someone inauthentic? How about changing hairstyle or color? Adding or subtracting facial hair? Piercings, tattoos, or other body modifications? Cosmetic surgery? Wearing a certain style of clothing? I’d suggest those are superficial changes and are not, in and of themselves, enough to make someone “fake.”

Cannot appearance-altering, using cosmetic or chemical enhancements, be an attempt to become more authentic, to bring into line what we see in the mirror with the person we think we are, or want to be? Do those actions make us artificially authentic or authentically artificial? Cannot someone who aggressively disregards artifice in order to present a certain “natural” image be just as “fake” as one who pursues an “improved” (in their mind) image? What of those who use a shocking appearance as a political or personal statement? Are they, too, fake?

In the end, doesn’t it all come down to being true to ourselves, our motivation for the appearance we present? Is not how we act, how we treat people, more important than the appearance we present? At least, is that not what we claim to believe, ignoring the boatloads of evidence that attractiveness increases the odds of success in our society? How can we judge someone else based solely on his or her appearance, no matter how “fake,” inauthentic, unattractive, or downright bizarre it may appear to us? Can we really judge another’s attempts, no matter how misguided, to make him or herself attractive as “phony”? Is vain or superficial the same thing as fake?

I’m not saying I won’t look askance (discretely, I hope) at the next person I see who has created an incongruous image for him or herself or one that doesn’t conform to my definition of attractive, that my mind won’t scream, “What is (s)he thinking!?” But I do hope I can continue to be generous enough in thought to live and let live and not affix the “fake” label to them until I actually know them, and have it apply to something more significant than their appearance, like their actions.