A friend just wrote to me asking why I have, yet again, stopped blogging.
Have I finally got round to starting that novel?
No
Have I gone back to work?
Nope
It’s the same reason as usual. I’m hacked off with the same old things and don’t like repeating myself. A record needle stuck in the same old groove, going round and around and around.
Like some demented student activist, I’m blind to what I see as trivial and am hacked off that people aren’t as angry as I am.
And, as I’ve said before, therein lies the path to becoming a really boring tit.
Having said all that, I’m not totally closed to the trivial and the bizarrely irrelevant. Just a little more resistant than usual. That’s all
And what am I angry about? The obvious stuff; The War in Iraq, The ‘War’ on ‘Terror’, erosion of civil liberties, political deceit and corruption and the all embracing sense of apathy that blankets this land.
America seems to be in the grip of the same disease.
And, worst of all, with the exception of a few US-based Internet loonies, nobody seems really angry about all this stuff.
The majority of people are apparently blind to just how sh*t life in this country has become and the wickedness that has been done over the last few years – they are told sh*t, live like sh*t, buy sh*t, watch sh*t and eat sh*t. They are blind to all of this because, we are told, the economy is strong and people are feeling prosperous.
How can you feel prosperous doing insecure, sh*t jobs and sitting on a pile of personal debt the size of Everest?
I live in a country managed by a government that includes ministers for "Anti-Social Behaviour, Community Safety and Active Citizenship" and Gambling, populated by people working in superstores selling Chinese made goods, fining each other or sitting at PCs, all waiting for the inevitable reckoning.
The cloud of bullshit that has settled on British daily life is palpable.
My personal transition is complete. I have become, not a butterfly, but a fully blown misanthrope. Aside from wondering how best to fill the time between the present and my eventual demise, I have given up on my fellow creatures. By and large, they’re thick as pigshit and eat, bleat and trot off for shearing or slaughter when they’re told to.
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I went out for a beer with an old work chum a little while ago. He’s currently the man in charge of Corporate Responsibility in his company, a hot new topic in the world of British Business. Corporate Responsibility is all about monitoring and reporting a company’s ethical and environmental behaviour. Amongst many other interesting tasks, my friend’s responsibilities include estimating the waste outputs of the Head Office building; including solid refuse and anything that goes into the drains.
My friend works in the City and earns a fair chunk of money accounting for piss.
He’s not actually doing anything to stem the flow of piss out of his Corporate HQ. He’s just assessing the volume generated.
Call me old-fashioned but it’s hard to conceive of a nation maintaining its' standard of living and global competitiveness by monitoring its' own urine.
7 comments:
perhaps the man in the picture above, reading a book whilst clearly on company time, is reviewing the latest draft of his own first novel ?
There is hope for all of us in that case.
Angry? Considering this country now has virtually the highest cost of living in the world, highest fuel prices, probably the worst public transport (certainly compared to anywhere else I've been), highest house prices and overpopulation threatening to turn half the urban population into murderers, just where does this 'The economy is doing well' crap come from the government turn out at every possible opportunity?
The similarities between pre-war Germany and 2005 Britain may be closer than people realise, but then who would be Hitler?
I'll be Hitler!
"rahid hitler" has a nice ring to it i'm thinking.
@rahid: You seem like far too a nice person to do the job, there are plenty of much more qualified individuals out there ...
I nominate Ken Livingstone!
(any students out there who would like to do a thesis comparing the similarities would be greatly appreciated).
Great post - have just quoted you and linked to your site.
A week or so ago I wrote about the overrrated value placed on 'maturity' and hesitantly raised a flag for anger and bafflement. I think I was saying something similar to you. But not as well.
@foucault: thanks for the plug and, yes, I think we're in the same ballpark but it's such a very large ballpark there are many different ways to express the anger - not better just different
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