Friday, July 24, 2009
This morning our journey bgean in the mean-spirited reception area cum bar cum restuarant cum lounge of the Travelodge in Sheffield we were staying in, where they had Sky news on the television screen.
As they seem to, day and night.
It was about 9.10, and some economic figures concerning GDP were going to be announced at 9.30.
So they had some wretch in a suit on screen and were paying him to talk vapidity.
It was all speculation on what the figures might tell: growth or continuing shrinkage.
And then we had the journey home, in a train that didn't have enough carriages, and where the carriages they had didn't have enough space for the luggage, and so each stop was a constant soap opera of anxiety and stress and people were standing in the aisles most of the way and there were knots of men, drinking... and I couldn't help but be struck at how terrible we have become at the collective.
When a capacity for intelligent collective action is just what we need...
And tonight on the Channel four news the story about the economy was that the figures said it is shrinking, and everyone is hoping for a return to 'normalcy' and growth. Totally ignoring the fact that we have entered a time when growth is no longer normal or desirable because it is that which is destroying the planet...
Another item was about Berlusconi... and one of the few independent newspaper editors in Itlay was explaining that Berlusconi was still in power inj spite of the increasing squalor of the scandal that surrounds him because 80% of the Itlaian population get their news solely from the TV. And Berlusconi owns the TV stations, so none of this is reported and the mass of the Italian opopulation is therefore in a state of total ignorance.
And we tut tut about Italy... unaware that we are in a similar state. Because there will be economists that have a sane view of our situation. But they are kept off of our screens; and denied access to the media.
And partly, too, I understand this is my function: to do what I can to disseminate alternate, perhaps hopefully saner, views of what is happening.
Because ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is the road to hell and ruin.
As they seem to, day and night.
It was about 9.10, and some economic figures concerning GDP were going to be announced at 9.30.
So they had some wretch in a suit on screen and were paying him to talk vapidity.
It was all speculation on what the figures might tell: growth or continuing shrinkage.
And then we had the journey home, in a train that didn't have enough carriages, and where the carriages they had didn't have enough space for the luggage, and so each stop was a constant soap opera of anxiety and stress and people were standing in the aisles most of the way and there were knots of men, drinking... and I couldn't help but be struck at how terrible we have become at the collective.
When a capacity for intelligent collective action is just what we need...
And tonight on the Channel four news the story about the economy was that the figures said it is shrinking, and everyone is hoping for a return to 'normalcy' and growth. Totally ignoring the fact that we have entered a time when growth is no longer normal or desirable because it is that which is destroying the planet...
Another item was about Berlusconi... and one of the few independent newspaper editors in Itlay was explaining that Berlusconi was still in power inj spite of the increasing squalor of the scandal that surrounds him because 80% of the Itlaian population get their news solely from the TV. And Berlusconi owns the TV stations, so none of this is reported and the mass of the Italian opopulation is therefore in a state of total ignorance.
And we tut tut about Italy... unaware that we are in a similar state. Because there will be economists that have a sane view of our situation. But they are kept off of our screens; and denied access to the media.
And partly, too, I understand this is my function: to do what I can to disseminate alternate, perhaps hopefully saner, views of what is happening.
Because ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is the road to hell and ruin.
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