Belatedly, I am here to say something nice.
Disaster Notes has kicked ass ever since its inception and I think the slightly broader themes engaged with there versus the author's old blog has improved the consistency of the writing.
At some point I may take a stab at writing something more substantive regarding this post, but, for now, just read it and take it as an invitation to examine your own relations with other people. I know I need to.
__________________________
I know mine have suffered recently. In the same way that the economic crisis has not resulted in a new creativiy in music, it has not resulted in a new solidarity in relations. How many people do I know who are intelligent, broke, hopeless and alienated? When I get together with them, when they get together with each other, at best, commiseration. It doesn't help that we are correct in our dim view of the present and severely outnumbered! I oscillate between acquiescence and escapism. But there's enough of us out there to try other things. To build or destroy. Subvert. Prank.
I don't want to sit and talk about sadness in half-empty bars. Let's go to the bottle service clubs and chain clothing shops and gastro-pubs and the soulless cafes where nobody talks to each other and return our miseries to the senders.
Disaster Notes has kicked ass ever since its inception and I think the slightly broader themes engaged with there versus the author's old blog has improved the consistency of the writing.
At some point I may take a stab at writing something more substantive regarding this post, but, for now, just read it and take it as an invitation to examine your own relations with other people. I know I need to.
__________________________
I know mine have suffered recently. In the same way that the economic crisis has not resulted in a new creativiy in music, it has not resulted in a new solidarity in relations. How many people do I know who are intelligent, broke, hopeless and alienated? When I get together with them, when they get together with each other, at best, commiseration. It doesn't help that we are correct in our dim view of the present and severely outnumbered! I oscillate between acquiescence and escapism. But there's enough of us out there to try other things. To build or destroy. Subvert. Prank.
I don't want to sit and talk about sadness in half-empty bars. Let's go to the bottle service clubs and chain clothing shops and gastro-pubs and the soulless cafes where nobody talks to each other and return our miseries to the senders.
3 comments:
Shakeskpeare:
"The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers."
Ochstradt:
"The first thing we do is destroy the cell phones and other handheld data tools."
As one who has used its socializing features for 2 decades, I can say with confidence that the Internet is not real life. Instead it is where people go to "live" the life they wish they had in "meatspace." Instead of talking face-to-face, people now talk to a handheld data device -- sometimes, as a speakerphone, as if to show they're a Powerful Boss Barking Orders at Slaves.
Willie the Spear-Shaker was correct: the whole fucking world is a stage. Nobody's real, and they want their fantasy to be their reality.
Suicide is easy to comprehend when life is viewed from that perspective.
To be fair to this thing I think the Internet only became loathable sometime over the last seven or eight years. In the 90s I remember the Internet as being a somewhat helpful adjunct to life instead of a replacement for it. It wasn't as mediating. There is a big difference beetween downloading a discography of a favorite record label and then hunting the records down compared to just downloading them all and listening to them distractedly while updating Facebook.
There have always been a lot of bullshit people but there is something about technology nowadays that really allows them to become fully themselves.
Pere Lebrun sez (via email):
Maybe people turn to the internet because of gaping holes in everyday life, and not the other way round? I picked up my internet habits from dull jobs. I've never been sure if it's chicken or egg, to be honest. People who find 'online life' unhealthy seem to watch an awful lot of TV anyway.
Even relatively trivial stuff like discussing bands etc. - you're unlikely to get that talk at the water cooler. And it's unlikely discussing Frederic Jameson will get much mileage over a beer - even in college.
Post a Comment