The New Sincerity

From now on, BlaggBlogg will host a weekly feature called "Maximum Fun Fridays". This feature is based on a theoretical social movement called "The New Sincerity", first conceived of and propagated by my good friend Jesse Thorn, of the awesome The Sound of Young America radio show/podcast. First, you will need to familiarize yourself with what "The New Sincerity" really is, so I'll turn it over to Jesse:

Word came down from America's commentary class around September 13th, 2001. Irony was dead. In what would come to be called "The Post 9/11 World," there would be no room for that particularly distasteful form of discourse. It was to be replaced by soft, sweet sincerity. Somewhere, an eagle shed a single tear.

Of course, reports of irony's death were greatly exaggerated. A few weeks after the tragedy, irony made a heroic, if modest, resurgence. Great exemplars of the form like The Onion and Jon Stewart went back to their grindstones. Hipsters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn slapped on their Roos and drowned what was left of their trauma in Pabst Blue Ribbon. Within two years, America was watching The Simple Life and basking in contempt.

The great irony of all this is that the pundits and prognosticators who declared irony dead three years ago were absolutely right. Irony is dead. Their account of it's death, however, was greatly flawed. Irony died not in a fiery explosion, but slowly, quietly, of old age. And it wasn't replaced by a return of the old guard. This time around, there's a new cultural paradigm, itching to get in the ballgame.

This radical new ethos has a name. It's called: The New Sincerity.

What is The New Sincerity? Think of it as irony and sincerity combined like Voltron, to form a new movement of astonishing power. Or think of it as the absence of irony and sincerity, where less is (obviously) more. If those strain the brain, just think of Evel Knievel.

Let's be frank. There's no way to appreciate Evel Knievel literally. Evel is the kind of man who defies even fiction, because the reality is too over the top. Here is a man in a red-white-and-blue leather jumpsuit, driving some kind of rocket car. A man who achieved fame and fortune jumping over things. Here is a real man who feels at home as Spidey on the cover of a comic book. Simply put, Evel Knievel boggles the mind.

But by the same token, he isn't to be taken ironically, either. The fact of the matter is that Evel is, in a word, awesome. His jumpsuit looks great. His stunts were amazing. As he once said of his own life:"I've had every airplane, every ship, every yacht, every racehorse, every diamond, and probably, with the exception of two or three, every woman I wanted in my lifetime. I've lived a better life than any king or prince or president." And as patently ridiculous as those words are, they're pretty much true.

So now, dear reader, you're in on the Next Big Thing. Something more Hedwig than Rocky Horror; more Princess Bride than Last Unicorn; more Bruce Lee than Chuck Norris. Something new, and beautiful. So join us.

Our greeting: a double thumbs-up. Our credo: "Be More Awesome." Our lifestyle: "Maximum Fun". Throw caution to the wind, friend, and live The New Sincerity.

Each week will name official additions to the New Sincerity Movement. We will also allow you to nominate things you think might be considered New Sincerity, and we'll post the best ones. To give you a better idea what we mean, here are a few things we think are very New Sincerity:

Newborn Sea Turtles Heading Out to Sea
Official Race of the New Sincerity



Water Balloons That Look Like Grenades
Official Aquatic Weapon of the New Sincerity



Bill Cosby & A Little Asian American Girl
Official Cultural Exchange Program of the New Sincerity



Secret Handshakes
Official Pal Acknowledgement of the New Sincerity



William Carlos Williams
Official Country Doctor/Poet of the New Sincerity

Or, as Jesse says, "More like Awesome Carlos Awesome!"



More New Sincerity things: Best Friends, High Fives, Lemonade Stands, Ron Popeil, Arena Football, Forts, Catapults, Retarded People, Hammer, Dodgeball, Camping Trips, Big League Chew, Backpacks, Andrew WK, Astronauts, Tenacious D

So there you have it. Be sure to send in your suggestions to blaggblogg (at) gmail (dot) com. And check out Jesse's sincerely awesome radio show, The Sound of Young America every week - upcoming guests include Henry Rollins and Nic Harcourt.

In the meantime, Be More Awesome, and have Maximum Fun while doing it.