In memory of Originality

I got an email this morning, one of those for which I probably need to add a category to my list of emails I hate to get. It starts of quite innocently with these pics of a local airline’s plane (known for their innovative and funny ads).

So far so good.

But then the “creator” of this little piece decided to spice it up. Some funny quotes had to be added, only this schmuck did not have anything original to add, so something was plagiarised. I know this because despite this “creator” going to the effort of changing airline names and flight numbers, possibly even <wait for it> adding  a flight number or city name, I remember most of it, except with other airline names. I can paste any sentence in Google and come up with the same list of witticisms, only with other airline names in it.

And to be fair, these reportedly true comments from all the other sites at best probably originated as one liner bar jokes. I’ll put my money of only a handful being actual comments by airline personnel. I’m sure of this because fun has long been legislated out of the workplace, and most of these comments are risque enough by today’s standards to quite possibly be the last that that person made while in the employ of said airline.

The same goes for music these days. The better you know some of the older tunes the less likely you are to hear a “new” one.

I’ve often wondered who these people are, these people that purposely dilute original creations. The ones who insist on telling you where <wait for it> the punchline in the joke is. The ones who <this is the best part> would not allow you to decide for yourself which is the best part of the joke is without first letting you which part they think it is. The ones who subtly changes original jokes to make it “new”, as if it’s like recycling raw materials. Except it’s not like that, not at all.

Somewhere the line Originality is dying, subdued by laziness and slowly being beaten to death by mediocrity. Eventually it will lie in an unmarked grave where the sun probably does not shine.

Tags: Rant