5.30.2011

Unemployment Object Memoirs: A Tribute to Facebook


I decided to write thank you notes to the various objects that are helping me get through unemployment. This edition is dedicated to Facebook.
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Dear Facebook,

I know what you’re thinking. This shirt makes me look fat. Also, you are not an object. But judging by the statistics of daily page views of you on the interwebs, Facebook, you are clearly the object of many people’s desires. Of course, this still does not mean you are a tangible object as the rest of my letters have featured. To this I say: that template makes you look fat. Now what!? Burn!

Anyway Facebook, as my perpetual vagueness may have indicated, I have been under the influence of unemployment for longer than that I would like to admit. I find this ironic, as so many people who have trouble deciphering between then v. than, their v. they’re v. howthehelldidyoupassthirdgradegrammar, and supposedly v. supposibly (not a real word), have jobs. Perhaps this is the reason that you decided to rearrange our profiles such that the interests we right write are featured much less prominently then than corporate and celebrity pages? Hippies think it’s because we’ve been taken over by “The Man,” but I know the truth. I also find it strange that hippies now use Facebook.

As having a job seems to so often preclude the ability to write, I have decided to make my profile on you, Facebook, more job friendly by instituting the following changes:

1.    I will fail to use punctuation of any kind because who needs commas and periods they are just overrated things that interrupt my idiot stream of conscious when I write my opinion on lame things
2.     In facct I think I willl stop cheking spelling two
3.     Inspired by the latest episode of “Modern Family,” I will use meaningless song quotes, such as “Don’t Stop Believin’ “ and “Get this Party Started!” whenever possible in lieu of actual thoughts.

In addition to these changes, Facebook, I will take other measures to emulate mindless profiles, including summarily barring words such as “emulate” from my vocabulary, and posting 350 pictures of me waving and eating ice cream. I will also make sure to “like” statuses that recount mundane, daily activities of my friends, and list every movie with Bradley Cooper[1] as my favorite. Oh, and Farmville. I will also make sure to show my genuine interest in fascinating games, such as Farmville.

To be fair, Facebook, I have some incredibly intelligent friends doing high quality work all around the world. Thanks to them, I believe there will be no poor people and I will be able to download iPhone applications straight to my brain by the year 2020. After a critical look through their Facebook profiles, I have come to the following conclusions:

1.     They don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook
2.     They are better than me. Sometimes in every way possible.

To alleviate this concern, Facebook, I will use the oldest tactic known to man: false self-aggrandizing. For starters, I will use the well-known strategy of listing myself as fluent in any language I have ever heard of. Didn’t know I can speak Burmese, Amharic, and Galician? Guess what? I can’t! But Facebook says I can! Second, I will say I went to an Ivy League school. I’m South Asian, this won’t be questioned. Third, I will only link articles of global importance to my profile. Acceptable subjects include macroeconomics, linguistics, Middle Eastern politics, and puppies. Yes, puppies are of global importance.

So you see, Facebook, through deliberate tinkering of my profile on you, I will convince the world that I either have no brain, or a super brain, as these seem to be the two extremes of people who are most often employed. I have yet to decide which direction to pursue, but rest assured that whichever way I go, it will be a side of me you have never seen before, because it is not true. Thank you Fakebook!

With falsity,

Mala


[1] Is this a real person? How do I even know this name?

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Unemployment Object Memoirs by Mala Kumar are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution .