better a real fake than a fake real

James writes at the Confabulum

Growing interest in cultural pursuits, diversity, authenticity and social responsibility is changing the way companies need to reach consumers, a new book argues. In the book, “RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business” (Platinum Press), Patricia Martin cites early and more recent examples, like Absolut Vodka’s advertising collaboration with Andy Warhol and Starbucks’ promotion of socially responsible practices. — The New York Times

Because nothing says authenticity and social responsibility like Andy Warhol.

Again, what's the alternative? The alternative is camp, pastiche, irony that has the gall to pretend to be sincere. The greatest threat to genuine authenticity isn't the abandonment of authenticity, as in Warhol. The greatest threat to real authenticity is fake authenticity, Norman Rockwell, paintings of covered bridges and American flags. It's art that presumes it can pull the rug over your eyes, and its authenticity is inversely proportional to the degree to which it insists it isn't knowing. Andy Warhol may have been full of shit, but he was straightforwardly, openly full of shit. There's nothing more meta, and more corrosive to the real, than what sells itself as sincere and knows it's doing it. I know people are very tired of the wink, but god, the wink is preferable than the thought that if you don't wink, you'll have people fooled.

You can't choose to be premodern! If you're choosing, by definition, you're postmodern. You have to be.