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December 5, 2004
REVIEWS: I am really special!
What happens when the rebel has nothing to rebel against? It’s not a question that might result in a so-called “bestseller” read. And definitely not a page-turner autobiography either. Hal Niedzviecki’s book, Hello, I’m Special! is exactly that: neither a bestseller nor a riveting autobiography. Rather, it’s somewhere in-between and for all those who feel neither in the centre nor on the fringes of this society. But no matter where you are at, it’s worth your time.
Finding its way to the reading lists of cultural study courses in major Canadian universities and in all the indie culture stores, this book’s commentary on mass culture has become almost as important as Naomi Klein’s No Logo. Its non-academic writing style eases its readers into understanding its main point. Hal Niedzviecki has published both fiction and non-fiction and is the founder of the e-zine “Broken Pencil” (www.brokenpencil.com). His interest in mass culture appears as a constant theme throughout his work.
Coming from a rather unknown Canadian author, who has actively and consciously rebelled against anything that was mainstream, this book serves as a metaphor for what he has stood for all his life. His mid-life crisis is all about finding what he has really been rebelling against when the very act of rebellion is built into North American society; a society that takes rebellion like a rite of passage. Every single review on this book has cited the moment of self-analysis he went through on his 31st birthday when he received a Hallmark card from his parents with the words “Happy birthday to a non-conformist!” And he thought, “How can non-conformity be rebellious when a Hallmark birthday card practically begs you to go for it?”
Yet this seemingly crucial turning point in his life may or may not have contributed to the existence of this book because its inquiry stands on its own. To sum up his efforts in one sentence in his own words, “Individualism is the new conformity”, thereby leaving nothing to rebel against. The society has been made to believe by virtually all the social institutional structures that only by finding your true “special” individuality can you be worth it. It’s a deceivingly simple conclusion yet all-encompassing from a sociological perspective. A pre-packaged individuality is now being served everywhere in the malls, in the media, through the curriculum and all in the name of restoring your inner harmony. Wherever mass media exists, mass-man does, that is precisely the message of this book.
And so even rebellion is a way of finding that individuality, claiming it and making one feel special and so it becomes okay to rebel. So, believing in the old values of family, work and religion is simply not enough and one doesn’t become an individual until one has found really what makes one “special”. He cites examples from the mass-produced products, movies, music, literature, boy-bands, Internet televised boxing championships, celebrity culture, all catering to the individual yet all conforming to the same ideal. All are an attempt towards making us feel special yet all succumb to the pre-established ways of expression and exist within pre-existing structures.
This book argues that we live in a paradoxically challenged world. And it appears that Pakistan is not immune to it either. With the advent of mass consumerism and mass media in recent years, the marketing of individualism will be inevitable. We are already beginning to see some effects in big cities like Karachi, for instance, in the ways pop music is and how the cricket World Cup is marketed to the children. That everyone can be a musician or a cricketer is a futile dream to make our children strive for. But as long as it sells, why not? (Pun intended!)
Niedzviecki tends to get repetitive after a while and there are some attempts to make the book theoretically charged as well as interdisciplinary in order to appeal to a wider audience. In addition, there is a lot of cultural trivia that may make the reading slightly cumbersome for some readers. Yet the simplicity of his writing and research makes the book a smooth read.
Hello, I’m Special: How Individuality Became The New Conformity
By Hal Niedzviecki
Penguin, Canada
ISBN 0-14-301365-3
254pp. Can$ 25.00
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