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 11th 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
