http://360.yahoo.com/profile-XAosWEE7RKGOqenS2nhZubQ-?cq=1 I attempt the email
augmentation of the Blogg.
Purely as an experiment at this stage.
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Days later....
In deference to Gibbo of
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-XAosWEE7RKGOqenS2nhZubQ-?cq=1 I attempt the email
augmentation of the Blogg.
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-XAosWEE7RKGOqenS2nhZubQ-?cq=1 I attempt the email
augmentation of the Blogg.
Friday, 9 February 2007
REFLECTION - Airheads
[AS PUBLISHED IN A RECENT FANZINE]
I have recently finished reading “Triumph of the Airheads” by Shelley Gare (ISBN 1-876624-54-X) - a book as humorous as it is troubling.
It is a hard book to put into a nutshell - I suggest you read it yourself. Basically it is about how, in contemporary society, we have somehow come to value the spectacle over the substance, novelty over value, the trend over the insight, and the celebrity over the sage.
As a result “surface people” with no depths, who can “speak the bleeding-edge lingo” - brimming with self-confidence and eyes fixed firmly on the “now” have triumphed.
The airheads have triumphed. It is an age, for the mega-wealthy and the mega-famous, of a super-hedonism - and far too many of us worship them for it!
It is an age which has turned its back on the past, and come to celebrate the “new.”
Two thoughts:
The world in which the airheads have triumphed, though, is coming to an end. Climate change, war, pollution, and rising energy prices mean that the lifestyle of conspicuous consumption is unsustainable.
The problems that are emerging into the light of day (after being deliberately ignored by so many) won't be going away. No amount of silly laughter and parties and new trinkets to buy will fix these problems.
Now the world is growing more serious. We cannot follow lighthearted frolicking child-adults, we have to be lead by grown-ups!
In order to survive on this planet we are going to have to change almost everything about how we live. Tough choices are unavoidable.
The Age of the Airhead will come to an end, probably sooner than we think.
The world as it is now screams out for wisdom, compassion, ingenuity, kindness, imagination and leadership.
I have recently finished reading “Triumph of the Airheads” by Shelley Gare (ISBN 1-876624-54-X) - a book as humorous as it is troubling.
It is a hard book to put into a nutshell - I suggest you read it yourself. Basically it is about how, in contemporary society, we have somehow come to value the spectacle over the substance, novelty over value, the trend over the insight, and the celebrity over the sage.
As a result “surface people” with no depths, who can “speak the bleeding-edge lingo” - brimming with self-confidence and eyes fixed firmly on the “now” have triumphed.
The airheads have triumphed. It is an age, for the mega-wealthy and the mega-famous, of a super-hedonism - and far too many of us worship them for it!
It is an age which has turned its back on the past, and come to celebrate the “new.”
Two thoughts:
People are willing to pay Paris Hilton up to US$500,000 to attend one of their parties. Why? She is a celebrity (God knows why!) - and they can afford it! (One of the few condolences of the “poor” is that they can “rip-off” the rich!)
In The Age Drive supplement for January 13th I read about the new BMW M6 Convertible. ($295,000 + on road costs and it's yours!) It has a 5.0 litre V10 engine, and eats up 15.2 litres of premium unleaded every 100 kms. (That's 15.5 mpg!) Why with petrol prices going up and up would anyone in their right mind buy such a car? But then I realised - it is short term. They'd replace the car in a year or two. (No long term investment - no vehicle purchased with an intention of keeping it for 10, maybe 15 years.)
The world in which the airheads have triumphed, though, is coming to an end. Climate change, war, pollution, and rising energy prices mean that the lifestyle of conspicuous consumption is unsustainable.
The problems that are emerging into the light of day (after being deliberately ignored by so many) won't be going away. No amount of silly laughter and parties and new trinkets to buy will fix these problems.
Now the world is growing more serious. We cannot follow lighthearted frolicking child-adults, we have to be lead by grown-ups!
In order to survive on this planet we are going to have to change almost everything about how we live. Tough choices are unavoidable.
The Age of the Airhead will come to an end, probably sooner than we think.
The world as it is now screams out for wisdom, compassion, ingenuity, kindness, imagination and leadership.
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