The Myth That Defines Our Age

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/opinion/power-is-myth.html

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A myth, if widely accepted enough, can become real.

Those few myths that spread tend to define our reality, although that reality remains fleeting as our collective memory ebbs and flows. The only constant myth in the world is that of our individual personalities. We each concoct our own myth — that of who we are.

Today’s internet generations have been graced with equity at birth, in that they have the means to create power for themselves, even if they do not start out with it. In the digital world, the myth of power persists as a construct. To believe that you have power is to have it.

Platforms of self-generated media are home to these new generations, whose self-earned influence has given birth to a new species of power that has less to do with silver spoons or nepotism, and everything to do with the numbers that quantify influence.

In our modern renaissance, “power” means nothing unless the myth remains real.

Virgil Abloh (@virgilabloh) is the founder, creative director and C.E.O. of the fashion label Off-White and has been the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear collection since March 2018.

Now in print: “Modern Ethics in 77 Arguments,” and “The Stone Reader: Modern Philosophy in 133 Arguments,” with essays from the series, edited by Peter Catapano and Simon Critchley, published by Liveright Books.

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