Notes From The Spiral
Jul. 29th, 2005 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
Has anyone ever taken a look at the world and all of its greatness and problems and decided that they were way too small? How in the world can you affect change in anything when there are billions of people who seem to be going in a completely opposite direction? Wouldn't it feel like you're a salmon swimming against current? There's no real way to rid yourself of the feeling; really, that's just a reflection of the reality of the situation. The best that can be done is to find some way to accept it.
Saw "Network" the other night, and it was extremely eerie. A surprising number of people have never seen this movie before, but then again it was made in 1975, so it shouldn't be as surprising as it is. People would think that a cynical take on the TV news scene of the era would be dated...after all it's about 30 years old. The most impressive thing about it, though, is that not only does it hold up as biting social commentary today, there are times when it's downright prophetic.
The setup goes something like this: Howard Biel, a TV news anchorman, is told he's being fired for slipping ratings and subsequently has a nervous breakdown on-air. His ranting, however, causes a spike in viewership, so the network suits decide to keep him on. It's only a matter of time before Howard becomes too much of a loose cannon, though, and the network attempts to subdue him (you'd think people would be able to figure out you can't catch lightning in a bottle) results in FUBARing the news show. This, of course, leads to the inevitable decline.
A lot of problems that Paddy Chaefsky wrote about seemed incredibly far-fetched and dismal for 1975, but nowadays they're the reality of our media. This is where "Network," even after all of this time, has its greatest effect; imagine a lone voice in the wilderness crying out for the direction of news and marketing and corporate power in the world, making warning after warning, and then waking up to find even the bleakest of his mad prophecies coming true. What would you do? What *do* we do?
This is the dilemma. Every day, we are reminded of the myriads of problems facing us; the impending oil crash, the rise in violence at home and abroad, hatred, intolerance, fear and the actions it causes in our leaders...it's clear that the current course we're on, not only as a country (because this problem goes well deeper than that), but as a capitalist society, as a distinct culture, as a global community, is unsustainable. And rather than recognize that and find a sustainable alternative, we've opted to merely sustain the unsustainable for as long as we possibly can. This only cements the crash, makes it more sudden and more harsh, makes it more difficult to recover from.
Wouldn't it make sense to use our remaining nonrenewable resources to explore and develop renewable ones? Perhaps solar power isn't going to be the thing that saves us all, but it's a lot better than tapping the world dry of fossil fuel, wrecking untouched nature reserves and promoting the Greenhouse Effect for as long as we possibly can. Really...what are we doing to ourselves?
The decay and destruction of what's been created is a fact of life. Dying is a part of living, you know. Everything, from your mother, to mine, to me and you and Western civilization, will die. This doesn't mean that death has to be unpleasant, sudden, something to be feared and avoided. Death isn't necessarily stopping (especially with civilizations...I'm still quite fuzzy on the personal aspect of it, seeing as how I've never died). It's merely change, transition. And last time I checked, change isn't *that* hard. Difficult, sure, but far better than the alternative.
It can be hard to look at the world as it is and know that it won't always be this way, that it might possibly morph drastically within our lifetimes. But it's worth knowing, and it's worth the effort to guide the change into being as easy and smooth as possible. I'm interested in doing this...but who else is? It's swimming upstream to avoid a waterfall. It makes sense, doesn't it?
It would be helpful to laugh at the situations in life where you feel the most helpless. For some people, it's pathetically easy. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gatcat, I'm looking at you.) It seems I was born, perhaps, with a bit too much earnestness. The cosmic joke that's available for everyone to see is missed. And you know, it just ruins the whole thing when someone has to *explain* it.
On a slightly related note, has anyone read "Crazy Wisdom" by Wes Nisker? Good book.
Saw "Network" the other night, and it was extremely eerie. A surprising number of people have never seen this movie before, but then again it was made in 1975, so it shouldn't be as surprising as it is. People would think that a cynical take on the TV news scene of the era would be dated...after all it's about 30 years old. The most impressive thing about it, though, is that not only does it hold up as biting social commentary today, there are times when it's downright prophetic.
The setup goes something like this: Howard Biel, a TV news anchorman, is told he's being fired for slipping ratings and subsequently has a nervous breakdown on-air. His ranting, however, causes a spike in viewership, so the network suits decide to keep him on. It's only a matter of time before Howard becomes too much of a loose cannon, though, and the network attempts to subdue him (you'd think people would be able to figure out you can't catch lightning in a bottle) results in FUBARing the news show. This, of course, leads to the inevitable decline.
A lot of problems that Paddy Chaefsky wrote about seemed incredibly far-fetched and dismal for 1975, but nowadays they're the reality of our media. This is where "Network," even after all of this time, has its greatest effect; imagine a lone voice in the wilderness crying out for the direction of news and marketing and corporate power in the world, making warning after warning, and then waking up to find even the bleakest of his mad prophecies coming true. What would you do? What *do* we do?
This is the dilemma. Every day, we are reminded of the myriads of problems facing us; the impending oil crash, the rise in violence at home and abroad, hatred, intolerance, fear and the actions it causes in our leaders...it's clear that the current course we're on, not only as a country (because this problem goes well deeper than that), but as a capitalist society, as a distinct culture, as a global community, is unsustainable. And rather than recognize that and find a sustainable alternative, we've opted to merely sustain the unsustainable for as long as we possibly can. This only cements the crash, makes it more sudden and more harsh, makes it more difficult to recover from.
Wouldn't it make sense to use our remaining nonrenewable resources to explore and develop renewable ones? Perhaps solar power isn't going to be the thing that saves us all, but it's a lot better than tapping the world dry of fossil fuel, wrecking untouched nature reserves and promoting the Greenhouse Effect for as long as we possibly can. Really...what are we doing to ourselves?
The decay and destruction of what's been created is a fact of life. Dying is a part of living, you know. Everything, from your mother, to mine, to me and you and Western civilization, will die. This doesn't mean that death has to be unpleasant, sudden, something to be feared and avoided. Death isn't necessarily stopping (especially with civilizations...I'm still quite fuzzy on the personal aspect of it, seeing as how I've never died). It's merely change, transition. And last time I checked, change isn't *that* hard. Difficult, sure, but far better than the alternative.
It can be hard to look at the world as it is and know that it won't always be this way, that it might possibly morph drastically within our lifetimes. But it's worth knowing, and it's worth the effort to guide the change into being as easy and smooth as possible. I'm interested in doing this...but who else is? It's swimming upstream to avoid a waterfall. It makes sense, doesn't it?
It would be helpful to laugh at the situations in life where you feel the most helpless. For some people, it's pathetically easy. (
gatcat, I'm looking at you.) It seems I was born, perhaps, with a bit too much earnestness. The cosmic joke that's available for everyone to see is missed. And you know, it just ruins the whole thing when someone has to *explain* it.On a slightly related note, has anyone read "Crazy Wisdom" by Wes Nisker? Good book.
