I love a story like this. On my initial read, I simply laughed out loud at what I feel is ridiculous behavior by yet another ‘influencer.’ Then I thought about this more and it got my dander up.
Last year, TikToker Antonia Freya Lydia (@turnttoni) stood on a busy London Underground having video and pictures taken of while she tried to model a strappy black feathery dress. Along with the screen capture attempts, she wrote: Taking an aesthetic video in London Underground be like,” but added. “Like, can you wait just one sec,sir.”
At the time of her posting and comments a spirited debate began over whether Lydia had chosen the best place and time for her “influencing.”
The reason we hear about this story again is that over the weekend, Lydia’s video was reposted (which is, I guess, what an influencer wants most, right?). It reignited the debate over whether actions like this, in public, really test the bounds of civility. Not that we learned anything about manners in the year that passed, but what I love about this (and admit to not even hearing about any of this silliness when it first happened) is that there were/are people defending Lydia’s unabashed show of narcissism, a narcissism born and bred by social media, the most insidious epidemic we have ever faced (COVISS doesn’t even come close…and yeah, I know I spelled it wrong)
The Twitter user who just reposted the video has this to say:
“When you see someone recording, just walk behind the camera or wait literally ten seconds; if you can’t do this, then you don’t deserve to be part of a civilized society.”
The irony of this idiot using the word ‘civilized,’ is just too perfect. But overall, their comment
is what I feel is wrong with the world presently.
Luckily, the criticism leveled at poor, clueless Lydia gives me hope:
“Some people actually use the station to get to places instead of taking insta photos crazy right?!?”
“GIRL IT’S A TRAIN STATION—”
“You know people have to go to work and they’re not going to stop their lives for you. Don’t want people around, go someplace private.”
Applaud, applaud, applaud.
I know there is a whole generation of people (yeah, I said ‘generation,’ sue me!) who feel stopping crowds to shoot a video, retarding cashing me out at the store to check their phone while manning a register or driving while texting infinitum is normal behavior.
Jeez…is it me?
Then there are the idiots that alter their surroundings because they have the money to do so but do so at the risk to others.
Once again, we are talking about an influencer here, but here’s the latest story:
Bridget Bahl, the influencer in question, founder of fashion label The Bar, and her husband, plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Chiodo, seem to have enough cash to have taken New York City by storm for their wedding and rehearsal. By all accounts and posted pics and video (the event in question does not happen, of course, without posted pics and video), revealed a stellar, high-end, dreamy occasion: wedding party’s double-decker bus ride through the city, rooftop wedding ceremony under skyscrapers, and rehearsal dinner of candlelit tables strewn across cobblestone Soho streets. But it was at this dinner that Bahl drew criticism, I question her smarts (or narcissism).
Wherever they were around her this special day, Bahl covered all red exit signs. As she proudly posted on TikTok
“Covered all of the ugly red exit signs to save the wedding photos.” Adding, because she obviously knew what she was doing was a no no: “Probably not up to code.”
In fairness, she did cover some signs with a copper plaque, spelling out the word “exit” in cutouts.
Anti-Bahl comments were fast and furious, with one perfectly mirroring my thoughts:
“Close and lock all the exits, too, for better lighting,”
How far do we go to wrestle the world to our need, as much in the face of civility as safety? And is our narcissism such now that even though we know our actions might indeed be holding up another person’s day, and maybe even possibly criminal, we still march forward with what we want?
Get out there and influence, you slug. It’s what matters most.
