In case anyone didn’t notice, last week was “Doppelganger Week” on Facebook. “Doppelganger” means a look-alike. The word has German origins, with a hint of spiritual or ghostly references.

What this means for Facebook is that most of your friends changed their profile pictures to celebrities that they either (a) actually resemble or (b) wish they resembled. In most cases, there are enough similarities for the choice to carry legitimacy.

However, in a few circumstances, when even squinting has failed, the choices are blatantly mistaken and you begin to question their selection process. Does this guy really think he looks like Justin Timberlake? Or does he just wish he looked like Justin Timberlake? And what is with this seemingly inherent desire to look like someone else?

As I browsed my Mini-Feed, I couldn’t help but notice the flood of doppelganger garbage: boasts of carbon copy jaw lines, demands for celebrities that remotely resemble friends, groups dedicated to easing the search for monotony, and depressing pleas for comments reinforcing facial uniformity. The social phenomenon that is “Doppelganger Week” – or more realistically, “Doppelganger Month” – raises a lot of cultural concerns.

The simple act of changing our profile pictures to celebrities we vaguely resemble is further reinforcing society’s desire for all normal people to emulate the elite. Social critic extraordinaire Thorstein Veblen is best known for highlighting this dire need for mimicking.

Whether it is values or political positions, fashion or rhetoric, the lifestyles of the rich and famous are constantly seen to trickle down the social ladder. This fabrication of one’s true self has become the crux of our culture, as no one is considered good enough, successful enough, or famous enough within the confines of the contemporary social order. How many more stories of “get rich or die trying” are we willing to endure as a collective without questioning their consequences?

Let’s be honest. Isn’t this idea of mass conformity getting to be pretty ridiculous?

Personally, I am not interested in waking “up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.” Nor am I interested in wearing a literal hairbow because Lady GaGa got away with it in her “Poker Face” video.

What I would like to see is a bit more authenticity. It’s time to drop the act and embrace what makes us unique.

So humor me and please change back your profile pictures.
 

Logan Masters is a junior sociology major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].