What's wrong with this world?

Li Yuxuan
Dec 1, 2016
4 min read

From the crazy fame brought by the Gangnam Style, to the recent ridiculous imitation of the PPAP, the people's minds are just becoming more and more inscrutable and the definition behind the word "popularity" is becoming vaguer and vaguer.

Yes, Gangnam Style is still acceptable, at least the guy could write out this kind of popular rhythm and beats and make this song very easy to follow, but what about PPAP? It is not even a song. Just a few lines talking about nonsense and then, it went viral on the Internet! Perhaps it is because I don't really know the true background behind all these, but I really cannot take in the fact that a song like PPAP can actually go crazy all over the world. No, I am not blaming the song itself. I mean it is okay for us to do some crazy things right? What I cannot understand is the behaviour of the people nowadays, specifically, those people who went crazy after this kind of fame with almost zero value in it.

It triggers me to ask this question: what makes a person popular? Well, the simplest answer I guess would be to become adored by the majority of people. But how? If I am not wrong, the most logical thinking would be to do something great first, and then people start to appreciate your dedication and efforts and start to admire you. Throughout the history, there are plenty of famous folks who were renowned because they were respected and admired by the people. Of course, on the contrary, there is another group of people who got famous or rather, got remembered by the people because they did something detestable. In other words, the most common two reasons for being popular are being famous or being infamous. However, what about PPAP? Do people admire what the singer did? I don't think so. Do people hate him so much because he came out with these few lines? Obviously not. So what? PPAP became popular just because it is funny and hilarious? If yes, what is wrong with nowadays people's preference and perception?

One single evidence of PPAP cannot justify my belief. In fact, a lot of TV programs have been affected by this peculiar and pathological phenomenon as well. I would like to call this phenomenon "blind herding". Yes, in this case, people who follow the fame without even thinking about whether it is worthwhile or meaningful are deemed blind. They are not physically blind. They are mentally blind. They have lost their basic mental judgements and thus can be easily entertained by any low-level jokes. However, this phenomenon does not do any good to our society. On the flip side, it is the back-alley culprit behind the corrosion of our culture.

In other words, those followers are like the puppets under the control of the media. They are being manipulated so much so that they themselves do not know about it. The media, for example, the TV station, wants to generate more revenue by getting higher audience rating, of course it would cater to the interest of the majority of people and think of as many ways as it can to publicise the stuff they like to see. This is how PPAP got viral. Once the media saw the potential in this video clip, it started to broadcast it crazily all over the world. What the followers see from the video may be just the enjoyment of imitation, but what the media actually see is a precious source of revenue.

Besides the medium through which PPAP became popular, another important reason undoubtedly lies on the audience. I think if I am to do a survey among those people to investigate the reason why they imitate the video and post it everywhere, the majority of their answers would be to get popular. Same reason as the intention of the inventor of the song, isn't it? It is undeniable that most people want to get famous, because becoming famous equals to more money. I always say that people are actually lonely beings by nature. Inside our hearts there is always a voice yearning for other people's attention. Hence, in order to attract attention from their fellows and become popular in their own social circles, people start to emulate the video and make it as cute or as funny as possible so that their videos may have a chance to be liked by more people in the public and then be spotted by huge media companies as another source of revenue.

Therefore, we cannot push all our criticism towards the song itself. There is nothing wrong about publishing a song without a melody. What's really wrong is the changing mindsets of the audience. So now you may ask, is there a remedy for this blind herding problem? Well, personally I think it is just like our habits. Once formed, they die really really hard. Perhaps one possible and gentler method is through public education and the injection of more meaningful and valuable contents. In the long run, through gradual influence, hopefully the minds of the people could revert back to normal.