Selfies and advertising.

I'll admit, I have never taken a selfie.

But I can't help but think that selfie culture has taken over lives.

This is a mindset that puts the self at the center of all things.

The self is larger, greater and more important.

You need only walk through Times' Square to see evidence of this.

Everything is all about us.

I think the reductio ad absurdum of this is the putative candidacy of Donald Trump. And his proclamation that he'd like Sarah Palin in his Cabinet.

This is the apotheosis of selfie-ism.

Politics, in this case, is no longer about the country or the greater good.

It's about aggrandizement.

Of course, in advertising we are not immune.

No, we are also playing the selfie game.

Putting our own selves above the needs of our clients.

A mad dash for awards even if it means lying and cheating.

Agencies are no longer known by the brands they've built but by the Lions they've cadged.

That's a selfie.

If selfies are our measure of success, our measure of accomplishment, our measure of a glamorous life, then we are all doomed.

Our industry will shrink even more.

Our solipsism will consume us.

We're doing it to ourselves.