I don't want to wait for 2068
I'm not sure that this is the right place to post this, but I can't think of anywhere else where it might be more fitting. In a sense I guess you could argue that this has plagued my mind since yesterday afternoon.
I had art class yesterday afternoon, and since there was a soccer-tournament in school, we were all of three people, besides our teacher. In any case, we talked about developments in the 20th century in painting and architecture for the first hour and then I talked to her about growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. Playing games like “Such den bösen Staatspolizist”, which translates to “look for the bad policeman”, at demonstrations. It's a shame that sort of thing doesn't work anymore, since now we have CCTV and digital “security”.
But all together I guess it's not just a shame we can't play games at demonstrations, at least they wouldn't be so obvious. I was actually talking to a friend of mine last Sunday as well, it's not like there's less around to be mad about. If I think about there's more to be mad about, they've actually tricked us into thinking that we've achieved something. I'm not playing down anything now, I'm just saying that if you compare what was demanded to what was granted, you'll see that it seems ridiculous that my generation is in a state of almost complete apathy.
We're practically fed satisfaction in every aspect of life, and I for one begin to find this more and more sickening. I get so worked up walking down the shopping street in Linz because people seem to have detached themselves completely from reality and seriously believe that that's what it means to be peaceful. It just means that people that are not quite so horribly susceptible to bright lights and tacky music are provoked more and more. Movies and TV-programs, obviously are made that way, but they're so cleverly made that even if you realize what they are trying to get at, you still think they're a good laugh. They are actually made so that they break down a thinking person from the level of reading Naomi Klein down to not reading at all.
And because that's what one does, people my age go out drinking every weekend and pretend they're little plastic world doesn't exist once they drink enough. I just like the company of my friends, yet still when I go out to meet them and have a beer I'm put exactly in the same drawer. Then once we have finished the “training-camp” they like to call school we enter the “real world” where we are confronted with problems like finding a job, earning money, keeping money, finding a spouse, having children, getting the children through school so they can enter the same cycle.
I'm not sure but when I read about the time 40 years ago, wasn't that mentality exactly what people were so angry about? Wasn't that why people went demonstrating? My art teacher told me that that's true, but that's because the childhood in my generation was so much easier, because growing up was so much easier. We were never confronted with what our parents revolted against so we are perceptible to it. A generation of so-called hippies was not followed by more hippies or by people that would continue their train of thought, instead we have pulled the hand-break and are going in the opposite direction, back to where they came from singing songs.
She also told me that that's because they had less to be afraid about. In Austria we're in a position that even with our diploma and a master's degree in something or another we have to look hard for work. She said they were sure something'll work out. I'm not sure to what extent I can agree with her on that, I think that we must realize that there are more important things in life than working, sleeping, eating and drinking. We must realize that fearing the future will not make it go away, we can only try to better it and up-holding the status quo is no use. Why be so bent on repeating mistakes? If it's obvious that something doesn't work and leaves thousands home-less, hungry and often dead then why be so bent on privatizing emergency response, for example.
I'm not quite sure how to end this, so I think I shall end by quoting a line from a song by a friend of mine.
Des anzige wos hüft is da rode knopf (The only thing that helps is the red button)
I had art class yesterday afternoon, and since there was a soccer-tournament in school, we were all of three people, besides our teacher. In any case, we talked about developments in the 20th century in painting and architecture for the first hour and then I talked to her about growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. Playing games like “Such den bösen Staatspolizist”, which translates to “look for the bad policeman”, at demonstrations. It's a shame that sort of thing doesn't work anymore, since now we have CCTV and digital “security”.
But all together I guess it's not just a shame we can't play games at demonstrations, at least they wouldn't be so obvious. I was actually talking to a friend of mine last Sunday as well, it's not like there's less around to be mad about. If I think about there's more to be mad about, they've actually tricked us into thinking that we've achieved something. I'm not playing down anything now, I'm just saying that if you compare what was demanded to what was granted, you'll see that it seems ridiculous that my generation is in a state of almost complete apathy.
We're practically fed satisfaction in every aspect of life, and I for one begin to find this more and more sickening. I get so worked up walking down the shopping street in Linz because people seem to have detached themselves completely from reality and seriously believe that that's what it means to be peaceful. It just means that people that are not quite so horribly susceptible to bright lights and tacky music are provoked more and more. Movies and TV-programs, obviously are made that way, but they're so cleverly made that even if you realize what they are trying to get at, you still think they're a good laugh. They are actually made so that they break down a thinking person from the level of reading Naomi Klein down to not reading at all.
And because that's what one does, people my age go out drinking every weekend and pretend they're little plastic world doesn't exist once they drink enough. I just like the company of my friends, yet still when I go out to meet them and have a beer I'm put exactly in the same drawer. Then once we have finished the “training-camp” they like to call school we enter the “real world” where we are confronted with problems like finding a job, earning money, keeping money, finding a spouse, having children, getting the children through school so they can enter the same cycle.
I'm not sure but when I read about the time 40 years ago, wasn't that mentality exactly what people were so angry about? Wasn't that why people went demonstrating? My art teacher told me that that's true, but that's because the childhood in my generation was so much easier, because growing up was so much easier. We were never confronted with what our parents revolted against so we are perceptible to it. A generation of so-called hippies was not followed by more hippies or by people that would continue their train of thought, instead we have pulled the hand-break and are going in the opposite direction, back to where they came from singing songs.
She also told me that that's because they had less to be afraid about. In Austria we're in a position that even with our diploma and a master's degree in something or another we have to look hard for work. She said they were sure something'll work out. I'm not sure to what extent I can agree with her on that, I think that we must realize that there are more important things in life than working, sleeping, eating and drinking. We must realize that fearing the future will not make it go away, we can only try to better it and up-holding the status quo is no use. Why be so bent on repeating mistakes? If it's obvious that something doesn't work and leaves thousands home-less, hungry and often dead then why be so bent on privatizing emergency response, for example.
I'm not quite sure how to end this, so I think I shall end by quoting a line from a song by a friend of mine.
Des anzige wos hüft is da rode knopf (The only thing that helps is the red button)
posted by Selbstlaut at Friday, December 19, 2008
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