Finding Common Cause
Do you remember the last BIG THING?
The creation of an object/media that we all shared in?
Rubiks Cube, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon, Star Wars, Titanic, The Matrix.
Can you remember anything in the last few years that has had that sort of impact?
Music now has more new artists every week than I could imagine in a year, Movies last in cinemas maybe two weeks, Television gives you a choice of thousands of programs, some might be called “Must See” but will fade away in the next few years.
Our culture has reached a pivotal point, where it has diversified so greatly that all messages, from the trivial to the terrifying get lost in the static of Cable, YouTube, Myspace, Digg!, TV, Radio, Cinema, DVD, Torrents and the like. People can now set themselves on fire in protest and it doesn’t make a blip on our culture.
Is there a common point left, a communal space where all and sundry will hear the call? A psychological well from which we draw that can be tapped to change the world? Many used to think so, back before the Internet was let loose by ARPA, back before CD’s became so common that they can be used as coasters. Back before “sending a message” was more important than doing the humane thing.
But now, how could you tell?
We have thousands of groups all clamouring to be heard, all telling us it is someone else’s fault that things are the way they are (usually one of the other groups) and that only they can fix it. Of course most of the more reasonable of these groups have had their chance in the last few decades, and that’s how the same problems have never been addressed.
We have so many questions, so many purported answers, but I’m afraid no real solutions.
And yet, so many of us, live our lives thinking of the weekend, the next party, or how we will buy that new TV, that new thing our consumption of goods deems necessary.
There are those that still hold onto the spirit of hope for mankind, but there isn’t any real profit in it. Weapons, technology, pharmaceuticals, that’s where the real money is to be made. And capitalism is built on one thing, profit.
I might just be looking for some sort of common link with mankind these days, some hope that the fear and ignorance that causes so much devastation in our world might be reduced one little bit more.
A little “Damage Control” if you will.
Maybe it comes down to the age old question those who feel alone against all that would prevail against them ask into the dark night:-
“Is there anybody out there?”
The creation of an object/media that we all shared in?
Rubiks Cube, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon, Star Wars, Titanic, The Matrix.
Can you remember anything in the last few years that has had that sort of impact?
Music now has more new artists every week than I could imagine in a year, Movies last in cinemas maybe two weeks, Television gives you a choice of thousands of programs, some might be called “Must See” but will fade away in the next few years.
Our culture has reached a pivotal point, where it has diversified so greatly that all messages, from the trivial to the terrifying get lost in the static of Cable, YouTube, Myspace, Digg!, TV, Radio, Cinema, DVD, Torrents and the like. People can now set themselves on fire in protest and it doesn’t make a blip on our culture.
Is there a common point left, a communal space where all and sundry will hear the call? A psychological well from which we draw that can be tapped to change the world? Many used to think so, back before the Internet was let loose by ARPA, back before CD’s became so common that they can be used as coasters. Back before “sending a message” was more important than doing the humane thing.
But now, how could you tell?
We have thousands of groups all clamouring to be heard, all telling us it is someone else’s fault that things are the way they are (usually one of the other groups) and that only they can fix it. Of course most of the more reasonable of these groups have had their chance in the last few decades, and that’s how the same problems have never been addressed.
We have so many questions, so many purported answers, but I’m afraid no real solutions.
And yet, so many of us, live our lives thinking of the weekend, the next party, or how we will buy that new TV, that new thing our consumption of goods deems necessary.
There are those that still hold onto the spirit of hope for mankind, but there isn’t any real profit in it. Weapons, technology, pharmaceuticals, that’s where the real money is to be made. And capitalism is built on one thing, profit.
I might just be looking for some sort of common link with mankind these days, some hope that the fear and ignorance that causes so much devastation in our world might be reduced one little bit more.
A little “Damage Control” if you will.
Maybe it comes down to the age old question those who feel alone against all that would prevail against them ask into the dark night:-
“Is there anybody out there?”
posted by DC at 4:16 AM
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