on borrowed time

“The decline: Way back when, people wanted to be immortalized in God (they saw themselves going to heaven), so they made art to achieve it. Then the next generation, raised looking at that art, wanted to be immortalized as artists (they saw themselves on the walls of great museums), so they made ‘radical’ art to achieve it. The next generation, raised on ‘radical’ art, wanted to be immortalized as radicals (they saw themselves included in histories of modern art), so they started doing silly stunts to achieve it. The next generation, raised on the publicity surrounding those stunts, wanted to be immortalized as daredevils, so they tried to get themselves into the pages of the tabloids to achieve it. The next generation, raised on tabloids, wanted to be immortalized as celebrities, so they flung themselves into the party scene to achieve it. The next generation, raised on buzz from the party scene, wanted to be immortalized as the coolest party-goers ever, so they started fawning and ass-kissing the ‘right people’ to achieve it. The current generation, raised around fawning and ass-kissing, wants to be immortalized as fawning ass-kissers, so they publicly humiliated themselves to achieve it. The next generation, raised on public humiliation, will probably want to be immortalized as the most completely humiliated artists ever. There’s no telling what they’ll do to achieve it.”