we were talking at dinner tonight about how the world has, and i write this hopefully without any hyperbole, become an orwellian place.
i guess that we had all assumed that an orwellian world would be one wherein dissent wasn’t tolerated. little did we know that in our orwellian world dissent is tolerated and ignored.
the creepiest aspects of our orwellian world are:
a-the medias ability to disregard important issues(genocide in the sudan, looming environmental crises, widespread voter fraud in the 2004 elections, etc) while focussing on irrelevant non-issues(nick and jessica, david beckham’s salary and indiscretions, janet jacksons nipple, etc).
and
b-the public’s complicity in this process.(i.e- more americans watched american idol than the presidential debates).
it’s almost as if we’ve collectively written a new cultural constitution:
‘we the people want fluff. we want light news about easy to subjects. we want friendly politics with simple cliches. we want fast graphics. we want platitudes. we want to be stroked and reassured.’
i know, i’m not the first person to write about this. but it is generally disheartening to realize that we live in an age where people have access to so much information but yet choose willful ignorance.
or willfully choose ignorance.
either one. they’re both depressing.
-moby
