Wednesday, August 11, 2010

heads up

i haven't done this in a while. i guess i haven't had the time. i've been growing increasingly uneasy with the what i see around me. things seem to be changing quite rapidly in the world. governments are becoming hastier and hastier with the decisions they make. our consumer based culture is beginning to mutate to a point where it doesn't even seem possible that the people selling our highly recommended commodities designed to fulfill a seemingly unquenchable satisfaction even believe what they're so violently cramming down our throats. cities are ugly now. littered with forced advertisements and giant billboards featuring the most expensive vehicles. those of which only the smallest percentage of people in the world can actually afford.

And yet an overwhelming complacency sweeps in from every direction. Maybe its just because i'm busy with work and a family and trying to make all the aspects in my shitstorm of a life work at the same time that i don't have the energy to pursue this feeling that something is terribly wrong with everything around me. has anyone else noticed a serious decline in literacy and social standards of communication? All the debilitations of facebook aside, bbm has a new slogan "if you can't say it on here, you can't say it anywhere" and verizon's "scream at the top of your lungs without making a sound". As if we are being encouraged to stop talking to people face to face. openly encouraged to abandon our ability to actually express how we feel in real time. things are changing everywhere. and its hardly a good thing.

what the fuck is this??? that is considered a "carb-conscious" meal in america!! this should not be okay. it is banned in canada due to health concerns alone. with an anorexic economy and less jobs by the day people can't afford to spend as much on eating out anymore. the solution? a full course meal for under $10. doesn't anybody want to know what's in their food anymore? there's that apathy, swallowing up your desire to give a shit i guess.

i guess that's where they've got us. we can't afford to give a shit anymore. mom's working two jobs cause dad's factory closed down. the middle class is dead. and in its place a growing gap between the filthy rich and the desperately poor. somehow we've all been misdirected. someone along the way told us we'd be happy if we had that new dress, or that that cellphone is all you'll ever need. somewhere along the lines our pursuit for happiness became a scramble for a flatscreen. all the while completely missing the fucking point and being left with a big gaping hole where your true sense of fulfillment should be.

i had some time to kill in san diego today and went to the craziest mall i've ever seen. a western consumer mecca. it was outdoors but exactly like an indoor mall. and my worst fears were confirmed. there are way more people in the world not giving a fuck about it than i thought. people seemed more than content to just peruse their local overpriced merchants for the latest in feckless costume consumption. like nothing was wrong with the world. when in fact, its falling apart at the seams.

i'm not comfortable with how competitive life has gotten. i'm not happy with how easy it is for people to judge each other on some of the most fickle bullshit. its heartbreaking. all it makes me want to do is give up on this world. i have little urge to make things better and every desire to pack up all my shit and move into the mountains and kiss electricity and the monotonous hum of the daily grind goodbye. its not that i don't like working hard. its just that i don't like doing it for nothing.

i refuse to define my sense of happiness by what i own or what i consume. the worst part is when i focus on what truly makes me happy i feel like i'm just ignoring all the horrible atrocities taking place in this world every day. and that just makes me feel like a dick. is the secret sticking some starving kid you sponsor on your fridge to remind yourself you give a shit? is that all it takes? i don't want to wander through life pursuing my trivial endeavors and completely missing the point. but maybe if i had a day job bore the shit out of me i'd have the motivation to make a conscious difference. for now i'll just spend my spare 15 minutes at the airport reading about people who still think its okay to beat the shit out of women and hate the fact that i am rendered almost entirely helpless.

"the world is in bad shape. its fucked. and there's nothing i can do about it. check out my new iphone app!"

a friend of mine the other day showed me an application on his ipad mini that shows you how to tie every single kind of knot. this is a delightful idea. i asked him how to tie a bowline. he proceeded to look it up on his phone. just because you have the information stored doesn't mean you know shit. all this does is breed a sense of dependance unrivaled in this technological era. these fucking things are full of mindless games and entertainment option for the understimulated elite. this is bad. and it's only getting worse. they might as well just advertise the slogen. "iPhone. You Aren't Jack Shit Without It."


to the insolent jackass sitting in a public area blaring inaudible music from their obnoxious media device, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? do you actually think everyone around you wants to hear your garbage music? life is not a telecommunications commercial. nobody is going to get up and start dancing. you are an inconsiderate dick. do you even know what a bird sounds like?

i don't know. i'm getting mighty tired of the average perception of standards of living. i'm pretty sure we've got it wrong. something's got to give if all these drugs are taking. quality of life is dwindling rapidly. teen pregnancy is up. literacy is dead. poverty is soaring. american idol is on its landmark 10th season. the general health of our population is dilapidating.

this might seem negative. this all might be quite the downer. but people seem all too willing these days to ignore the inevitabilities of what's actually happening around them. my life isn't that bad. i love my job. i love my family. i work hard and i have a great fucking time. but i can't help but think about the future and how it will affect not just me, but my kids, and their kids one day. if we're not already living under a satellite dish with 3 ears.

does anybody even wonder how they would survive without the daily conventions of convenience they have come to so desperately depend on? answer this one question: What would you do if the government shut deactivated every cell phone and debit/credit card on the continent?

just remember. there are no apps for when the world ends

stay tuned