This short prologue serves as an introduction to what I'm going to tell you about my Purim this year. It began with an office party, held at the the VIP section of Monochrome, a mega rave that is set up every year at the Yarkon Park.
There were more gorgeous women per square meter than in a Brazilian beach. Booze of all stripes and flavors were covered. I was in good company and Israel’s most popular singer, Eyal Golan, was also at the table behind mine. But, despite all of this, I felt like I was surrounded by vanity and superficiality. Rows of overdressed people came to look at each other in silent evaluation. The deafening techno beat avoided verbal communication between the participants so one could only measure his or her peers by their appearance. People were not able to focus or think making, drinking and taking poor decisions, more likely. I felt the irony of my fox costume being too cunning for the surroundings. It all seemed like everyone was trying and failing to have fun. I felt bored. I thought it was just the rave thing.
I went to Teder after the office party. I had the exact same feeling as I listened to Reggae music. People were just drinking themselves into a torpor that justified their celebration.
I had a couple of other parties this weekend, and I couldn’t help but feeling like a librarian in an orgy, intellectualizing and being unable to relate to the other participants.
I already mentioned this in a previous article but in the Purim of 2017 I had a revelation during the party I attended in Ramat Gan dressed like a Pizza. Everyone was listening to rock classics from the 90’s and getting drunk for the sake of it, like I did in high school. My point is that the way people amuse themselves hasn’t changed in the last 20 years. I had to explain to my parents how I was having fun in a different way they did. Now I have a feeling that my kids will have to explain to me how they are having fun the same way my parents did. In fact we are regressing to 90’s concepts like techno and binge drinking that should have gone to the ashtray of entertainment. This kind of parties in Israel look like the parties I had in high school. They are a walk down memory lane. And what a long ugly lane it is, one I am afraid might once again be Penny Lane.
Why are people trying so hard to have fun? And why are they doing it the same way they did 20 years ago?
For me 90’s party methods blend right in with the social media age we are living in where you can take a picture, post it and tell the community that follows you that you are having fun even if you are not. The more people around you in the pictures the better, because it makes the people following you feel like they are missing out on something, even if they are missing out on being bored beyond their wildest nightmares. Social media has also made it easy to get a sex partner, so you don’t need to go to parties in search of a partner. Tinder and Ok Cupid get you the partner. You already have a partner so why try to sound interesting? Besides people can’t even listen to what you are saying anyway.