The essay focuses on the idea that everyone is a specialist and that every person is good at everything, which is false because if everyone were specialists, then your own voice would be depressed. Bret Easton Elis, the author, says, “All we’re doing is setting ourselves up to be sold to — to be branded, targeted and data-mined.” Society wants us to be the same and to accomplish this, they make us believe we are all special. Then, if everyone is special, no one is. We are taught to think and express ourselves in ways that won’t offend anyone since that takes away another’s specialty. Then Elis throws in a twist, “Now all of us are used to rating movies, restaurants, books, even doctors, and we give out mostly positive reviews because, really, who wants to look like a hater? But increasingly, services are also rating us. Companies in the sharing economy, like Uber and Airbnb, rate their customers and shun those who don’t make the grade.” What Elis is saying, is that not only are we comparing ourselves to others and companies to other companies, but …show more content…
Bret Easton Elis says, “All we’re doing is setting ourselves up to be sold to — to be branded, targeted and data-mined.” Society wants us to be the same and to accomplish this, they make us believe we are all special. Then, if everyone is special, no one is. We are taught to think and express ourselves in ways that won’t offend anyone since that takes away another’s specialty. Our freedom of speech is being stripped away in certain aspects. We are not allowed to say anything offensive, but we can say whatever nice things we