25 Things – Keeping it Real (Part 1)
Directions:
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
Forget chain letters, first it was the ‘Get a Free ____ by signing up X friends’. Now there are all sorts of ‘Notes’ on Facebook where you tag people to have them repeat it. It’s all the same.
I think things like this thrive off the Post-Modern culture. In the past, chain letters thrived with the promise of receiving luck, winning money, finding love, etc. The ’25 Thing’ Facebook note promises nothing. There’s nothing inherent to the chain that promises any gain. What is it that caused it to spread like wildfire? I think it’s because it thrives off the culture. It provides an avenue for people to ‘be real’ and accepted for who they are. It spreads by community, the fact that someone else wants to know more about you. It could be a violation of culture not to do this, ‘what do you have to hide?’ It could also be seen as a rite of passage into a community. Though it might not promise wealth or love, it promises inclusion and acceptance through the values of our culture.