This Essay is Depressing

Reading this essay will not brighten your day.  It will not sooth away any anxious feeling or lull you off into a gentle nights sleep.  This essay is depressing, which, by the way, is a feeling that seems to be avoided at all costs in our numbed out, drugged up society, where only happy thoughts are shared lest one become a doomsayer or a mood killer.

Instead, this essay is an attempt to express the deep, deep despair I feel whenever I poke my head out of my privileged reality bubble and take a peek at the rest of the world.  When I really observe what’s going on I see a world in a dire state and although comparatively ‘safe’ in terms of wars etc. I still see a world war being waged against the minds of our species and an equally terrifying war waged against the very being that sustains us – our planet.

For example, the great barrier reef is almost dead from going through what is termed  as ‘bleaching’, a phenomenon triggered by rising sea temperatures that even the most avid eco-warrior couldn’t stand between (unless they got get their hands on a very large piece of ice).  Journalists in the US are being arrested for filming protests, and then charged with conspiracy and having their footage confiscated (search: North Dakota pipeline protests).   The pharmaceutical industry is using the public as a very lucrative science experiment causing thousands of deaths a year (note: Always ask for the Number Needed to Treat statistic whenever offered a drug.  This number will tell you how many people the drug will actually work for.  For example to NNT for statins is 300.  This means that only 1 out of 300 people will benefit from the drug.)  Our own politicians in the UK paste promises in giant letters on the sides of buses and still get away with going back on those promises after the vote (in this case I am referring to the Vote Leave campaign implying that £350 million a week would go to the NHS if we left the EU).  And Donald fucking Trump has actual a chance of being the president of the United States of America.

What state must the minds of the people be in to let and even encourage all this to happen?

One hypothesis could be that society, like most living things, has a sleep cycle. There seems to be a trend of periods of awareness followed by periods of unconsciousness.  For example, the late 60’s awakening was followed by the self-centred early 70’s which was then followed by the awakened punk era of the late 70’s and then followed by the unconscious power hungry yuppies, which was then followed by the grunge movement to be followed by the banality of the X Factor.  Our last awakening seemed to peak around 2008 when many people were wide awake to the totalitarian footwork of the established power structures (business, banks etc.)  This period of awakening most likely began with the shock of September the 11^th in 2001, when an illegal war was waged against middle eastern countries almost instantaneously before any evidence could really be established, with morning arrived around 2005 when books such as The New Pearl Harbour started filtering down to the masses and the internet was beginning to establish itself as the font of all knowledge.  By 2008 there seemed to be a mass of motivated, ‘awake’ and active participants in the movement against big business and totalitarian surveillance.  ‘Wake up!’ seemed to be the mantra of the decade and terms such as ‘sheeple’ entered into my peer group’s vocabulary.

Yet, since then, a lulling seems to have descended.  I no longer discuss the outrageous abuses against human kind and this planet with my friends, except for posting occasional half-hearted and impotent posts on Facebook.  Discussing these matters now seems like a violation of other peoples happy place, an infringement of their right to be in ignorant bliss.

But why could this be?

Perhaps, as with all abusive relationships, there comes a point when the truth is simply too painful to continue to acknowledge and denial kicks in.  And please don’t fool yourself.  Whether Illuminaté, aliens from outer space or bog standard, run of the mill human beings, we are very much being subjected to an abusive relationship.   However, unlike a personal relationship, we don’t have the option to leave (no other planets are currently hospitable).  We can run and we can hide but eventually the abuse will catch up with us because it is our very foundations, the living planet itself that is taking the brunt of this abuse.

It is entirely depressing.

I feel compelled to end this essay on a positive note, or to dismiss my feelings as ‘just one of those days’.  For my own wellbeing I will regain my positive (denial?)  attitude tomorrow.  But for today I want to look at the great big steaming pile of shit that is our current society and breath it in, and breath it in hard because without us all taking a good lung full of the crap around us we many never find the motivation to extend ourselves and stop these abusive arseholes in their tracks.

                                      

“Observation is a dying art.”

― Stanley Kubrick

14th of April 2016

...Another major world event in 2008 was the financial crisis in the US, which led to a world wide recession that parts of Europe are still recovering from.

Bascially, what I can gather from the long and detailed Wikipedia entry, is that private banks in the US decided that it would be a good idea to hand out mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, meaning that the loans could be repaid.  Then on top of that people panicked and started saving or paying off debts instead of buying things so other people began to lose their income - known as 'The Paradox of Thrift'.

In fact, you could sum up the whole Wikipedia entry as 'they fucked it'.

Personally, all I know is that I lost a huge amount of money that year which was invested in low risk shares.  When my financial advisor who helped me invest my mums money told me the news tears came to my eyes - it was that bad.

Now, we are still left with a huge gap between wages and house prices.  The average house price in London is £450,000. The AVERAGE!  There really can't be that many lawyers, or investment bankers around to buy up all those houses. 

A crash has got to happen soon.

Maybe it will be next year...

13th April 2016

...2008 was not only a significant year for me.  It was also a significant year for the world.  Huge world events happened that year that make me wonder whether the Mayans were a bit off on their dates and in fact 2008 was the real portal of change into the new age. 

One of these huge world events was the inauguration of Barack Obama, which was celebrated world-wide to be a huge leap of progress. 
However, after the disaster of the Bush Administration I was highly skeptical of the American Government and was pretty sure that other shadowy figures were in charge of the proceedings rather than the faces we saw on TV.  When Obama came in to power I didn't suddenly change my mind unlike a lot of social-activists in my circle.  In fact, if I was a criminal Mastermind Leader of the World I would most likely choose a seemly progressive president to lead the most despotic and controlling country in the western world.  The fact that his name was also uncannily close to Osama Bin Laden also tickled my conspiracy bone no end. 

The enthusiasm for Obama, it seemed, was ironically based upon the colour of his skin, even though, culturally, he was estranged from his black father and grew up in a white privileged family (he went to a private prep school then to Harvard university), America was applauded for finally overcoming its deep rooted racism.  Now if Michele Obama had become president - hers is a real 'working class black girl does good' story - that would have been a different matter.

However, skepticism aside, looking back, its undeniable that the choice of president - whether by the public or by private interests - was a clear indication that change was afoot.  In fact his whole campaign was about 'being the change'.  Things seemed to be shifting in the right direction and grass root efforts were finally being encouraged. 

That conspiracy bone still tickles me however.

When the young people of society are teetering on the cliff edge of revolution could a new elite tactic be to give us what we want in the form of political leaders?
For example, is it a coincidence that as civil unrest has been rising - especially in the UK after last years election results- socialist lefty saviours have appeared on both sides of the pond? 
I would argue that offering the public a 'socialist-saviour' figure such as Jeremy Corbyn or Bernie Grant is a safe valve where the political system, so important to the elite interests, remains while giving the angry mobs some hope of change.

It also divert attention away from important questions like: what the hell is politics anyway?  And who decided that a political system is the best way to run a country or a community in the first place.
At the moment, our 'political system' seems like a giant Eton Boys club where very immature human beings, who have been sheltered from most material hardships (although I'm sure growing up in their world is full of emotional hardships and traumas), are then left with the decision making for an entire country. 
Right now it doesn't seem to be working and all the Corbyns in the world may not change that.


N.B.  If the very real possibility of Donald Trump becoming president of the US doesn't indicate the end of the world then I don't know what does...