With the undeniable success of FMyLife and Texts From Last Night, and the newcomer DumbStatus joining the ranks in a series of websites playing to the carnal pleasure of other's stupidity/poor luck/drunkenness, two inevitable questions arise- when, if ever, will it end? Or more likely, where is it headed next?

From a conceptual standpoint, such entertainment is nothing new-- humans have been laughing at one another's misfortune for centuries "before the internet was created" (quotations express disbelief that such a time ever actually exited). From traveling freak shows to Jerry Springer, there has consistently been a medium for these fantastically enjoyable charades. Yet with the passing of time, so progresses two factors that could tip us off to where these trends are going next-- speed of entertainment and connection with reality.

When cross comparing cultural phenomenons between generations, a reasonable, somewhat predictable, and very annoying conclusion to draw is the factor of 'instant gratification'. Initially you had to go out to attend the freak show and you stayed for hours to look at the three-beasted women and 'colored' people they had rounded up. Next, you had to watch Maury or Jerry at a specific time when it aired on TV and you dedicated a solid half an hour to an hour for their programming and advertising. Now, you go on these sites at your leisure, get exactly what you want in seconds, and leave. With this knowledge at hand we progress under the assumption that whatever comes next must somehow be faster, more instantly gratifying, and as non-committal as possible.

While anonymity of enjoyment has been a factor since the television stage, now the ability to contribute anonymously is introduced as well via these websites (if you were on Jerry Springer, e'rybody in the trailer park knew who you was). With FMYLife we see these benefits play the strongest in serving a highly self-loathing public. We experience the results of a victim-happy culture that extends out from a need to link your roots to some form of larger oppression (poor immigrant ancestry, slavery, genocide, etc). This need now manifests itself in everyday mishaps that one can flaunt in hopes of gaining acknowledgment from thousands of internet users confirming that yes, in fact, their life does really suck.

It is through this desire to overplay the reality of the situation that we find this latest step in the 'freak' entertainment sector to be truly unique and somewhat disturbing-- it is the 'connection to reality' factor, or more accurately, the disconnection. In the freak show we gain enjoyment through distance-- I have regular operating body parts, I am not this freak, therefore I can enjoy this... yum, schadenfreude. On Jerry Springer we can do the same-- this TV didn't cost me my life savings, I'm not married to my cousin, look at those rednecks go! Yet on these new sites, two unsettling things occur-- firstly they are meant to reflect the life that we everyday people lead, and secondly they are completely exaggerated in doing so.

These are the status updates of our supposed 'friends' who we are mocking, these are the texts of those who trust us in confidence who we flaunt, and these are our own lives that we deem 'fucked'. And while they are meant to reflect reality, reality is, of course, not good enough. If they reflected reality then every post on DumbStatus would read, "sleep then work tomorrow, hates my life!" every text on TFLN would say, "what are you up to tonight?" or "laiwejf mdrunk amwlo" and every entry on FML would actually just be from My Life is Average. Yet for some reason we want to convince ourselves that these wild exaggerations reflect our daily existence on the internet, on the phone, and in everyday life.

Every time you read an FML it is a little victory for us wonderfully comfortable upper middle class folk. Linking back to the struggles of our ancestors is getting a bit tired and all this mess of hearing about people starving and dying of disease is starting to make us feel bad again. But hey, what if, while I was having sex with my wife, she yelled out 'Brian' in the middle of it, and my name is Phil?! FML! Now we've got something we can feel bad about to make us feel good.

Self-gratification through over-exaggerated self-deprecation is the new freak show.

-Jeff Luppino-Esposito

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