ROSS’ RANTS: Love thy self(ie)

Let the odds be ever in your image

Nathan Ross

Web Editor

There’s a special competition in 2014 that has been building for years. Now, competitors from all around the world are sending in their best efforts to compete in the Olympics. But these are not the games I’m referring to.

The first major viral trend of 2014 is the Selfie Olympics. There are several Twitter and Instagram accounts claiming to be the original, but no matter who lit the ceremonial selfie torch, the Games are going strong.

A compilation of staff selfies

This is a notable pushback at a time where it seems as though people that take selfies are becoming Public Enemy #1 on and off the Internet. Just recently, former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin went on the record saying she believes that “this world would be better off if we had more young women holding a fish in a picture than holding their camera in front of a bathroom mirror, taking a selfie.”

That doesn’t even compare to the amount of cyberbullying and backlash that folks – mostly women – are receiving for taking several pictures of themselves. The insults “vain”, “insecure” and “narcissistic” are being tossed around at full force, and those are only the broad comments that aren’t intended to rip apart specific people or photos.

In a time where the issue of cyberbullying is becoming all too familiar, the Selfie Olympics are a welcomed sight. People are allowed, and encouraged, to have an outlet where they can show how much they love themselves, or how creative they are, or whatever.

While we are seeing a lot of bathroom pictures with incredible amounts of creativity put into them, the core selfie – which was Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year for 2013 – is still just someone taking a picture of themselves for the world to see. And this isn’t really a new practice. Every portrait that our ancestors ever commissioned of themselves was in reality a selfie, minus the mirror and the camera.

Now, with it being a contest instead of just a fun way of showing the world you feel good about yourself, the smartphone generation is being encouraged to “up their selfie game,” and we should embrace this wholeheartedly.

Enough bashing other people who are brave enough to constantly put themselves out there; they have nothing to prove to you and don’t have to stand for your hateful whining.

If you’re the kind of person who gets angry at selfies, ask yourself if you’re the kind of person who really needs to get upset at things which affect your life none whatsoever. The Selfie Olympics prove that this is an act which is here to stay, and if it helps boost the confidence of our younger generation, then I’m all for it.