While DZ is recovering from a trip to Liberate in Fort Lauderdale, here’s one of his favorite identity stories from Gawker, the ballad of “Nightmare Online Dater” John Fitzgerald Page, who received a wink on Match.com and promptly responded with an email laden with identity assertions, ticking off all the boxes that many of us, truthfully, would like brag about ourselves, if only we met the criteria:
I live in a 31 story high rise condominium, right in the middle of the Buckhead nightlife district. Do you ever come to this area of town to shop/go out/visit/explore?
I went to an Ivy League school – the University of Pennsylvania – for my undergraduate degree in economics and my graduate degree in management (Wharton School of Business). Where did you go to school?
What activities do you currently participate in to stay in shape? I work out 4 times a week at LA Fitness. Do you exercise regularly? I am 6 feet tall, 185 pounds – what about yourself? I am truly sorry if that sounds rude, impolite or even downright crass, but I have been deceived before by inaccurate representations so I prefer someone be upfront and honest on initial contact…
Poor John! Or as John Z. says in Grace in Addiction, “the example reveals just how, in God’s world, a strength can be a weakness.” Part of the reason this example is so funny is that everyone tries the identity-making project to an extent; we’re just more practiced at hiding it. As Ted Hughes said, “everybody develops a whole armour of secondary self, the artificially constructed being that deals with the outer world, and the crush of circumstances.” But enough with the theological commentary – the real meat is in John’s response after the woman sends him a ‘no thanks.’ It’s well-worth quoting in entirety:
I think you forgot how this works. You hit on me, and therefore have to impress ME and pass MY criteria and standards – not vice versa. 6 pictures of just your head and your inability to answer a simple question lets me know one thing. You are not in shape. I am a trainer on the side, in fact, I am heading to the gym in 26 minutes!
So next time you meet a guy of my caliber, instead of trying to turn it around, just get to the gym! I will even give you one free training session, so you don’t blow it with the next 8.9 on Hot or Not, Ivy League grad, Mensa member, can bench/squat/leg press over 1200 lbs., has had lunch with the secretary of defense, has an MBA from the top school in the country, lives in a Buckhead high rise, drives a Beemer convertible, has been in 14 major motion pictures, was in Jezebel’s Best dressed, etc. Oh, that is right, there aren’t any more of those!
Regards,
John
Again, the humor/ridiculousness speaks for itself, but the piece makes the point well that our attempts (conscious or not) to deconstruct each other’s pretensions through rejection or insult backfire – identity threats only trigger our amazingly resilient defensive systems, raising the alert from ‘red-orange’ to ‘code red.’ As the video below shows, satire and exposure don’t solve the identity problem either, though we have to admire John for his honesty and amazing ability to grasp the idea of “criteria” and “standards” that constitute so much of our experience.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NRjMmBkNY-Q&w=600]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8k6fVe25k&w=600]
COMMENTS
11 responses to “No One Knows the Law (Like John Fitzgerald Page): Buckhead Nightlife and the Search for Identity”
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Classic!
I have found this story to be the single most effective tool in getting the attention of young adults and college students in Suday School.
I’m pretty sure that I drive the same car he does
Not sure why this wasn’t linked on this page:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdjDTMSTtY&w=560&h=315%5D
I read this twice to assure myself it was not an Onion story. What’s funny is that his “Beemer convertible” is obviously several years old. If that is what makes him happy, he must have terrible anxiety to see his fellow Wharton grads in newer cars. You also have to feel a little sorry for someone who has to explain–as one can safely assume he does many times a day–that Penn is an Ivy League school.
I’ll have to read this later. I’m heading to the gym in 26 minutes.
I have to give him credit that he has not back down on his identity in himself. His conviction of himself is quite strong, though, unfortunately, built on shaky ground. I hope to latch on completely to my identity in Christ with the same level of conviction, yet, with the humility only Christ can give. 🙂
How does this guy have a “MODELING” agency in Atlanta??? Especially after being on Dr. Phil show as a Toxic Bachelor! Please do a story on that and how he hits on all the naive girls on the side. This sh&t needs to stop somewhere, right?
Doesn’t seem right …. Hell is freezing over somewhere.
Wow. The blindness is astonishing. A lot of real men, who do real honorable activities (like, say, Navy SEALS), are usually very reticent to talk let alone brag about them (and not just for security reasons), AND… for all his bodily preening, they could probably whip his butt. And still,… they won’t.
I’m no catch in the physical department, but frankly, he looks pretty plain. All of the stuff he’s worked so hard to achieve can be taken away in an instant. How can any grown person not just *know* this? An autoimmune disorder, some other illness, an accident, etc…?
I hope that when his little house of cards comes crashing down someone is there with the gospel for him though.
I knew this guy when we were kids. We grow up in a lower middle class neighborhood. We both graduated from Walnut Ridge High School in Columbus, Ohio in 1985. He was raised by a single mother. He was very intelligent, and very outgoing. Unfortunately he did get made fun of a lot. I actually almost got in fights several times trying to stand up for him. He just has his value system connected to worldly things rather than things like God, character, integrity, etc. I still love the guy, I just wish he could break out of his distorted perception what life is all about.