reading: a heartbreaking work of staggering genius

[...] "Because we've grown up thinking of ourselves in relation to the political-media-entertainment ephemera, in our safe and comfortable homes, given the time to think about how we would fit into this or that band or TV show or movies, and how we would look doing it. These people are for whom the idea of anonymity is existentially irrational, indefensible. [...] Environmentally reinforced solipsism."
"Solipsism?"
"Of course. It's inevitable, it's ubiquitous. You see it, right?" [...]

[...] "But what about privacy?"
"Cheap, overabundant, easily gotten, lost, regained, bought, sold."

"But what about exploitation? Exhibitionism?"
"Are you Catholic?"
"No."
"Then why are you talking about exhibitionism? It's a ridiculous term. Someone wants to celebrate their existence and you call it exhibitionism. It's niggardly. If you don't want anyone to know about your existence, you might as well kill yourself. You're taking up space, air."

"What about dignity?"
"You will die, and when you die, you will know a profound lack of it. It's never dignified, always brutal. What's dignified about dying? It's never dignified. And in obscurity? Offensive. Dignity is an affectation, cute but eccentric, like learning French or collecting scarves. And it's fleeting and incredibly mercurial. And subjective. So fuck it." [...]

Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Have you seen Eggers's TED talk? He has won a TED prize this year for Once Upon a School.