The Devloution of Human Culture

So yeah, in general, I blame people being insecure and seeing what goes on in TV/other parts of the world as well as people who complain about everything new.

Well said. The two elements of your statement are beautiful:

• The insecurity of the general populace is (and honestly, has always been) atrocious. In other words, the vast majority always operates as a group of lemmings, or sheep in a herd, blindly following the one thing, person, or trend that has enough support and influence to garner their attention. People don't choose for themselves because they're too preoccupied with what everyone else might think of them. This goes for anyone in any social group, because any social group is defined by some sort of identifying standard(s) which are recognizable in its members.
  
  Now this isn't to say general insecurity is inevitably paralyzing, but that it is inevitable. It's possible, therefore, to produce the "wildly new and insanely great" and have it become popular and successful, provided enough of the general majority is willing to take off their blindfolds and confidently support what they enjoy (so in that sense, sorry Rick, but love my Gaga).
  
  
• Oh people who complain about the new. Definitely one of my biggest pet peeves. Will explain more below.
  

People complaining about the "new" is what we've already had in half this thread, and is definitely one of the strongest counter-forces against progress. Rick, this is where I'll have to disagree with your post as an specific example of what I'm trying to say in general.

Can anyone provide us with solid, irrefutable evidence that every public aspect of Lady Gaga's existence is done merely as a "shock value desperate plea for attention?" I feel that's quite the daunting task, given the fact that none of you are Lady Gaga/are close enough with her to be privy to her private thoughts and feelings.

Now that's a pomegranatety argument. Regardless of proof none of us can determine the true intentions behind everything Gaga does. What is a good argument is that none of that matters. Gaga is a prime example of the avant-garde, an artist creating for her vision of the future world, not for anyone or anything in the present. The key idea here is that the avant-garde artists create within the scope of their futuristic predictions; their works reflecting what they believe as the end result of the direction of the world.

So how are we to receive their art? With open minds, critical perspectives, yet above all, humble appreciation. Rick, you call Gaga garbage, and after talking with you personally about her, I know your critiques are justified. I like her, and can also provide critiques that are justified. But what I think we should all do, regardless of whether you like the avant-garde or not, is to respect that they created it in the first place. Where would our world be without their contributions? It was the work of the avant-garde in the past century that helped create the modern and post-modern movements. It was the work of the avant-garde that allowed us to question our preconceived notions about everything.

Oye. If you chose to read that or not, here's the tl;dr:

Whether you like an avant-garde artist and/or the works they produce or not, appreciate and respect the fact that they created them in the first place. Without the works of the avant-garde our contemporary world would not have developed the way it has, and will not proceed along a path of true, original innovation.

Final comment: to those who say things like "why does this all even matter," "our appearances don't matter," etc.: you all have personalized avatars and signatures. If appearances don't matter, why have them in the first place? You clearly care about the individual customization you can make to your online profile, so there's one appearance that matters.