Bad things I see (2013)

A slack, lumpen confederacy of the powerless, tweeting madly.

A diet that's one-quarter sugar.

We are suspicious & cynical of media, and yet we're *in* media 24/7. Cat videos and Downfall memes. The meme is now what we used to call 'culture'.

Lied to and manipulated, yet very nearly entertained to death. I see politicians using shiny-bauble arguments to distract us from real human issues.

Major (ongoing) human disasters & slaughters sit right next to glossy food pron.

We have all the information but no meaning. Content is a con - and mostly a commercial way to sell something.

You are not your brand or your social media presence or your gadgets or your likes. Or suckers for hype.

If there was a coherent rallying-cry we'd realise that we've been lost for a long time.

'Society' is being rewritten by the digital. Rights and civic awareness and citizenship are trumped by consumerism and the sale of privacy and spying.

There are few counterbalancing forces against the cynicism and suspicion - but they are mostly offline.

I want to see greater accountability, and greater awareness of responsibility; which makes me sound incredibly old.

I want more art, more beauty in our lives; and more coherent humanity. I want to defuse my default cynical reaction to so much these days: I hope this cynicism is the flipside of a sincere hunger for change.

Write your life