Things I Read: History of Authenticity

...in the context of a highly commodified and surveilled culture where we always seem to be on stage.

everyday life, including politics, becomes a theatre for the individual’s self-creative performance

Alone in front of a computer screen, the social-media user, despite pretensions toward self-creation, is fundamentally spectatorial and passive. This is a posture not of authenticity but narcissism

The word ‘authenticity’ comes from the Greek authentes for ‘master’ or ‘one acting on his own authority’ (aut = self and hentes = making or working on/crafting).

https://aeon.co/essays/a-history-of-authenticity-from-jesus-to-self-help-and-beyond