Egocentrism

The genesis of this web site was in a press release put out by Madonna, or John Lithgow, or Martin Sheen, or some other celebrity. I forget the topic, but I remember thinking that it was bizarre that someone like that should put out a press release letting us all know what they thought about something.

So I decided to recast the old Tino website into one composed solely of press releases. I didn't continue along that path; I think that the only press-release-styled page on here is this one, announcing the launch of Tinotopia Mobile Edition. I don't recommend that you visit the Mobile Edition; part of the joke is that it's close to useless, and that it's never updated.

I gave it up because it's almost impossible to write anything of substance and still maintain the tone and style of an authentic press release. Most press releases are full of breathless marketing spew, and putting any actual information in there just ruins the whole illusion.

So instead of press releases, I modeled it more on general celebrity websites. You can see this most easily in the early pages, like the FAQ. Originally the goal was for the entire website to be written in the third person, by the minions of Tino. (The original inspiration for this was an answering machine message a friend of mine used to have that said, "Thank you for calling Eric. All of our representatives are currently busy. We at Eric value your call, so please leave a message etc., etc." It was the "We at Eric" construction that I thought was funny.)

This was also difficult to sustain. I don't think there are any third-person pages left on the site today.

Anyway, from that I went on to the general style I use to this day, which is a combination of my real opinions and an affectation of incredible arrogance and self-importance. I assure you, I am not this arrogant and self-aggrandizing in real life. And anyone who tells you otherwise is a fucking moron.

The idea was to make something like a Tino parallel to this monstrosity.

But the egocentric Tino character presented here isn't totally out of whack with the Real Tino.

If you hold an opinion or belief, while you hold it it seems only logical that you should believe it to be correct.

If your opinion is correct, then it follows that any contradictory opinions must be incorrect, and that any differing opinions must be at least less correct than the one you hold.

After all, if your opinion isn't the right one, why do you hold it and not another?

You are the absolute center of your universe, and there's nothing wrong with that. I've never understood why telling someone that that act as if they're the 'center of the universe' is seen as a bad thing. Everyone is the center of their own universe, and everyone is the most important person in their world. The world *does* revolve around you, and things are *only* important to the degree to which they effect you personally.

Now, this doesn't mean that the egocentric universe is totally lacking in empathy. Most people don't like to see their friends or loved ones (or anyone, usually) in distress. But they don't like this because it causes them personal stress/anguish/whatever. John Donne said "Any man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind." I agree with that, though I'd like to point out that *my* death would diminish me a good deal more than anyone else's. In any case I think that Donne's statement expresses pretty well how empathy fits into egocentrism.

This is what all the egomaniacal bluster of the Tinotopia website is about, in part. Tinotopia is the name I've given to the Tinocentric world. (I've never really planned this out as such, but there it is.) It's also easier to write complaints with the Tinotopian Tino character's arrogance to fall back on.