Has it always been like this and I just didn't notice, or is it, as I
suspect, only within the last ten years that everything that made society
worthwhile has collapsed?
The rise of the political gossip magazine in the place of the newspaper
appears to have ruined all political debate. It has reduced democracy to a
three issue argument. Every election there are three things picked over and
bickered about rather than a real statement of intent being given by all
political parties in an attempt to win an election for ones principles.
Instead it has turned into another pageant where we look and think 'hmm,
that one is flashy' then get a little talent contest of 'we can run the
health service'
'well we can crack down on crime'
then the bitching comes with 'no you can't'
'no you cant'
then we are given a little spiel about the hopes and aspirations of the
party leader, which all sound suspiciously like platitudes.
This comes over the backdrop of 'ooooh, Mr Blair and Mr. Bush are wearing
new ties to their meetings, this shows that they want to impress.' In other
words politics has become a way of trivialising life in favour of a
show.
The free press has died. Every newspaper is part of a larger conglomerate
with its own political agenda and spin that works towards the aims of its
owner rather than the people whom the press is supposed to serve. I am
sure that I remember the honest reporting of the Times being worth reading,
rather than a Gossip Rag about David Beckham, and although the Torygraph
has always been rabidly right wing it used to make right wing points like
'hang the poor' instead of sleaze-slinging 'Blair's No. 1 man had an
affair' Newspapers have become bitches.
For this I blame the television. Almost all of the creativity has been
drained from programming. We are treated to season 25 of sex in the city
instead of season 1 of something fresh, interesting and entertaining.
Because, as with the newspapers, nobody is prepared to take a risk on
something that may not be lapped up by an eager herd. Why do we need to see
how breast implants are done more than once a week? There was a day, within
my memory, when you would only ever see one thing on cosmetic surgery
within a year, and that would be a one off documentary, not a 12 part
series of freakshows. And then there is Big Brother and Jerry
Springer....
They exist because we have become a world obsessed with inconsequential and
pointless celebrity. Because we are forced to see so much of each of them
the celebrities with a reason, such as sports stars, film stars and
musicians, quickly bore us. We now demand that WE TOO can be in a fashion
magazine. Whether the public love or hate this years Celebrity creating
sideshow, like Pop Idle [mis-spelling intended], they will still be in the
public eye. Much like an over-protesting athiest creates his own God to
protest against. Merely by saying 'Oh, John from Love Island pisses me off,
the way he is in the paper all the time' ligitimises his celebrity by
acknowledging it. It is a trap.
A trap much like the death of true protest. Because nike, 'gothic clothing'
companies and the like can commercialise a rebellion within weeks a
counter-culture becomes filled instantly with the 'me too'-ers who have no
concept of why they wear a red bracelet, but have been told that that is
what to wear. A movement can gain no momentum becuase the inertia of all
of the dead weight holds it back and makes a mockery of the original
protest, rebellion or whatever. It is the true genius of commercialism that
any anti-comercialism can be immediately absorbed and intergrated into a
commercial.
'I don't buy it because I am told to, I buy it because its the best' Says
the man drinking Pepsi.
As I say, It may have always been like this, but I am certain that I have
seen an acceleration of all of the above effects within the space of time
that...........the proliferation of the internet has taken place. Yes,
thats right folks. I am honestly saying that the internet has played a
contributing role in this. Because it is now so very easy to track, ask
for, or buy peoples habits, tastes and beleifs over the internet market
research has become so effective that it has now actually outgrown itself
and creates tastes instead of measuring and recording them. Creativity has
been stagnated because it is no longer necessary for success, and is far
more difficult to find. Market research will find, I beleive, more and more
that what people want is 'another one just like the first one but a little
smaller, a little faster and with a brighter screen.' Similarly the
political stagnation of our respective countries (I refer here to America
as most here are US, and Britain, because it is my country) owes an awful
lot to the computerisation of the polling processes. It is now so easy to
find accurate data on each and every person's political bent that politics
are being tailored to win power by promising what the opposition want to
bring them around to your side, which is why you would no longer be able to
tell the difference between Republican and Democrat, Conservative or
Labour, if it wasn't for th personalities involved and....what colour
ribbon they wear.
All is not lost just yet. The internet holds some great white hopes but
they are not the point of this diatribe.
Is it just me? or does all of this ring true for others also?
____________________ Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum.
And the third angel sounded, and a troll army did descend upon the world.
WestOfTheDawn
Coward
Posts: 7 Registered: 23/5/2005 Status: Offline
posted on 26/5/2005 at 12:22 PM
I’ll readily admit to the fact that I am not a political person, and for no
good reason. I believe I poses the intelligence and ability to understand
as to process the information; I’m conscious enough of my beliefs to
recognize when an issue is in line with them or not, and for what reason.
When it comes down to it I’m a student of history, and I don’t see how much
has changed. Ok our ethos has evolved, we don’t keep slaves anymore, and we
don’t believe it’s ok to march to war for the SOLE reason of gain, so we
dress it up with a call to freedom and the spread of democracy. Our toys
have gotten cooler; we have cruise missiles instead of trebuchets. Rather
then being entertained by a man locked in the stocks or convicted criminals
fighting in the coliseum, now we watch what would normally be decent human
beings (ok, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch) turn into snide, catty,
cutthroat, attention whores an Elima-Date, or (Do I really need to put
demeaning adjectives here?) Real TV. We flaunt our superiority, comfortable
in our self-righteousness, in our progress, but the mob addressed today by
George W. Bush is the same mob to which Julius Caesar catered. The stage
has been redressed, the budget upped, the actors are bigger, but the
characters, the story, hasn’t changed.
KittyGoesMrow
Fanatic
Posts: 218 Registered: 30/4/2003 Status: Offline
posted on 26/5/2005 at 03:14 PM
Hey... I'm moving to Finland... hoping to go unnoticed for a bit longer
than the rest of the world. Though Russia could pose another problem if
another world war broke out...
____________________ Anata ga sabishii toki, bokumo sabishii n da yo
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 26/5/2005 at 06:00 PM
I think it's painfully unfortunate to see the world in the condition it is
today. What ever happened to the under dog? Major monopolies have taken
over. The only place you can find good old fashioned home grown hang picked
anything is in your backyard or local farmers market. What happened to the
local soap box stand for the man with an opinion. He has been replaced by a
news team reporting about what box office hit made more than the other and
what is fashionable to wear for the summer.
What has become of ous. We have all been striped of our privileges. Land of
the free? Hardly. Land of the fucked. To be rash about it.
____________________ fucking classy.
WestOfTheDawn
Coward
Posts: 7 Registered: 23/5/2005 Status: Offline
posted on 27/5/2005 at 05:39 PM
We haven’t been striped of anything. Let’s be honest, Wal-Mart didn’t put
mom and pop out of business, we did, when we decided we’d rather pay $ 0.50
less for a box of rubbers then we would from a local pharmacy. I’m as
guilty as anybody on this. I love the look, the feel, and the smell of an
old family owned bookstore, but when it’s time to pull the wallet out, I
know Barnes & Noble is more likely to have what I want and cheaper. We
hate what big business does to us, but we love what it does for us. Any
smokers, drinkers, drug users, sex addicts, masochists, or fried food
fanatics out there able to empathise with that?
The soapbox hasn’t disappeared either, it’s been replaced. Now we have
sites like this. The truth is if you post an article here you’re likely to
reach more people then standing on a street corner in 1920. Even back then
no one paid attention to the guy on the soapbox, they were to distracted by
the guy bandstand.
____________________ To stand on the shoulders of giants only requires the strength to climb.
every generation says the same thing... i said it 10 years ago
____________________ The earth turns on a tilted axis - just doing the best it can.
Hohenheim of Light~Full Metal Alchemist
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 28/5/2005 at 10:51 AM
But it hasn't been replaced. on sights like this it's likely to reach
people of similar opinion or people who are to stubborn to accept it.
____________________ fucking classy.
Merry_Widow
Fanatic
Posts: 598 Registered: 24/8/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 28/5/2005 at 01:08 PM
I'm reminded of this short story I read years ago. Can't remember too many
details, but the basic idea was that there was this hard-core, everything
sucks, death metal band with a fairly decent following. It goes into their
lives together, and the groups slow realization that they are actually
happy, and that things aren't as bad as their music says it is. In the
final scene, in front of this huge, pissy, angsty crowd, they suddenly
start playing "you are my sunshine," or something along those lines. Funny
story, by any measure.
Wormwood this would have made a fine front page article, I wish you'd have
submitted it there. It's fine here, but with frontpage so limited lately
it would have been a welcome sight.
I do agree and see what you're saying, especially being an american and
living in one of the most materialistic, panic stricken, paranoid,
consumeristic, disposable everything, get rich quick, who's screwing who
and is it on tv and can I get the whole season on DVD nation on EARTH. The
sensationalism of "real tv" is a another facet of mass control of the
population, second only to Fear. They (ie: the govt, the news companies,
the drug manufacturers with their ads of 'is this you?') scare the major
population shitless with terror alerts because it's a holiday weekend and
terrorists hate holidays, with tales of brown men on airplanes looking at
people funny, with the dangers of escalators, dolls that malfunction and
eat fingers (this actually happened with cabbage patch HOW can we trust
plastic toys ever again?! This coming from the generation that invented
Lawn Darts), one wonder drug turning deadly after another, and when they've
got us hyped up beyond control they deftly distract us with the Paris
Hilton sex tape, a new episode of The Surreal Life, a full magazine devoted
to whether or not the president inhaled in the '60's, how to get a bikini
body in 6 days. Who the hell has the TIME to think for themselves, the
TIME to protest, the TIME to care about the state of the world and what the
high ups are doing when HOLY CHRIST Paris Hilton cut her hair and Christina
Ricci has a new boyfriend and Brittany Spears is getting FAT!! Who needs
subliminal control, all we have to do is turn on the television! Hell, *I*
could be on "who wants to be a millionaire"! I'll have to watch for
further instructions....
As for the acceleration of things, in one perhaps it is, on the other maybe
it's not, it's jsut that things have always been this "bad" but the advent
of super technological information gathering and spreading (such as the
internet) and the "global community", it's just that there is more out
there being reported, shown, blown out of porportion. Another tactic is to
overwhelm, to shock and awe, give so much horrifying information that it
overloads the listener/viewer/reader and desensitieses them much like
boiling a frog, and a general malaise sets in. There's so many problems,
so much woe, so much war, it's too much for me, it's too much for us, I
don't care. I've felt that way before. Anyone who grabs a soapbox anymore
is labeled a nut, a fanatic, a conspiracy theorist, and isolated by the
public or voluntarily drugged for their anger and dissapointment.
I don't have answers for you, I wish I did, I think it's just time that the
"higher ups" get taken down a peg or two, along with the journalists, not
on a personal level, but as in "this is your job. Present the truth, or
hit the yellow pages". No more "scandal", no more Fearmongering, no more
bullshit. It'll never happen, you know, not without system collapse. And
for the record, I LIKED Howard Dean's spunky little "We're behind but we'll
take EM! YYYEEEAAAAHHHAAA!! " as he was facing defeat. It's nice to see
a little un coreographed passion and spunk in a fucking politician once in
a goddamned while. Even creepy Al Gore laying a big wet one on his wife
made me smile. I would like to see life and people without telelprompters,
stage managers, and scripts, because nothing feels REAL anymore. I don't
think that's asking much.
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
Abbadon
Fanatic
Posts: 499 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 5/6/2005 at 03:58 PM
Couldn't be bothered to read past the first 3 lines.
Looks good though (looks long).
8 for effort.
Your medal is in the post.
Solidarity brother!
____________________ Light is changing to shadow, and casting a shroud over all we have known.
Abbadon
Fanatic
Posts: 499 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 5/6/2005 at 04:01 PM
feral: If you're interested in asserting your superiority in a childish
way: I have some ear-wax which you are almost certainly funnier than, and
which you may have commented on the decay of society before.
____________________ Light is changing to shadow, and casting a shroud over all we have known.
Well don't I feel special, you made it three lines in. I'm going to print
that and put it in my special memories box.
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
BlueLinn
Fanatic
Posts: 246 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 21/6/2005 at 03:31 PM
the condition of the world is all relative through whatever faction is
viewing it. if you are say, republican: (been listening to too much rush
and Imus) you are sick of hearing about how good the prisoners at
guantanamo (not sure of spelling) are being treated and if you are
Democrat, you are crying out about how poorly they are being treated.
.. the condition of the world, as with everything, is relative.
(this is not including the non-partisan, moderate, etc. etc. only an
example)
... or you could always toss it off to the world is going to end in 7 years
at the end of the mayan calender. but that would be if you were
appocolyptic.
[Edited on 6/21/2005 by BlueLinn]
____________________ When the world is over, will we wonder how it began?
I'm a bit bored with the mayan calendar bit, personally. Anyone ever
thought that maybe they figured that A) it'd be pointless to go any further
as they would most surely be DEAD by THEN or B) they'd get a hillarious
kick out of everyone flipping out that they didn't put it any further.
Think of it as a primitive Y2K syndrome.
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
BlueLinn
Fanatic
Posts: 246 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 22/6/2005 at 03:03 PM
probably A:.... and they were bored.....
____________________ When the world is over, will we wonder how it began?
see what we need in order to bring about unity of the global community is a
global disaster that wipes out all electric funds and debts and most of the
population so we can all just forget about the bullshit and focus on
surviving. I'm thinking Art Bell's "the coming global superstorm" type
disaster. Yes, I'm in the 100% fatality zone (up north) but eh, survival
of the fittest and all. I'll take one for the team, as long as my cats and
rats and dog are on a train to texas.
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
BlueLinn
Fanatic
Posts: 246 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 24/6/2005 at 07:32 PM
bettie, all I have to say about that is .... zombies.... lots and lots of
zombies....
____________________ When the world is over, will we wonder how it began?
Meranda_Jade
Fanatic
Posts: 511 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 24/6/2005 at 10:58 PM
Speaking of zombies... Bruce Campbell is going to be at my local Books &
Co. signing his new book this weekend, should I tell him about the campaign
to get a hollywood boulevard star, or has that been dropped?
____________________
Meranda_Jade
Fanatic
Posts: 511 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 24/6/2005 at 11:00 PM
Oh yeah.... Tinkerbell will be there too... the actress who was the model
for Disney's Peter Pan Tinkerbell.
oh lordy that totally slipped my mind! Tell him and see what he thinks,
and his wish is our command. And tell him I named my little orphan kitten
bruce, an that I have a trapdoor in my house like the one in evil dead, and
that I watch every sam raimi movie hoping to see a cameo and that The
Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was the best tv show EVER. And that he's
my favorite. YES!
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.