Monday, June 18, 2012

The Rant Returns

There is so much bullshit going on in the world right now!  People would have you think that there is more of this crap happening now than ever before - you know, part of that whole "None of this ever happened in my day" kind of reminiscence.  Problem is, we just hear about more of it than ever before.  Social media, instant news, mobile miniaturised communications.  We get instant delivery of micro-thoughts from rock stars, sportsmen, 'commentators' and any other fame-aspirants, as if they are the profound murmurings of prophets - when all they really are are the un-edited ravings of glorified salespeople.  Yes, it's all getting dumbed down.  We know that.  We see it every day.  We rail against the retardation of our culture, we protest against consumerism and capitalism and yet we still demand more iPads, freedom in Syria (without US military intervention), abolition of carbon taxation, restricted trade of coal and steel with China, lower interest rates, more affordable housing, smaller NASA budgets, reductions in social spending, insisting evolution be taught alongside superstition, the list goes on.  People are now seen in a different light.  They are mere 'voters'.  They are 'clients'.  Education has become a consumer item.  Institutions and educators need to be sold, marketed.  Education is a modern commodity that needs to make a profit.  The one thing missing from the Debate On Everything is true common sense.  There is no perspective on any political issue, only interests.  Speeches are reduced to mere strung-together sound bites.  Logic is exorcised, repetitive sloganism is the norm.  The good old Bush II mentality of 'with us or against us' was no more banished from the global geopolitical landscape after the military victory in Iraq than pre-bail-out spending was after Obama came to power.  The great legacies of the Baby Boom are financial crises and reality television.  The world is no safer after 9/11.  We have sacrificed freedom for the illusion of safety.  We have a cynical political machine, a monsterous free market and a colluding Fourth Estate that each conspire in their own fetishistic and self-interested ways to make us more immune to their drivel and to crave more of the same.  Put simply, the system is falling apart and there is nothing we can do about it.

Please!  Neil deGrasse Tyson!  Save us!