Of course, I view it very much from a buyers' market perspective. I'm a consumer, and I'm paying, and people like me ultimately decide whether firms make it in their competitive environment, or not. In a sense, despite what Thatcherites and Cameronites and Romneyites say, I am the market, along with MY fellow, paying consumers. We have money, knowledge AND experience. We are the new baby-boomers. However, we are also generation X. We will, we will fuck you.
We look like our parents' generation - we can talk like them, say good morning and make meaningless small-talk like them. But this is only so long as we're getting, by the minute, what we want, what we've paid for, and what we feel we are owed.
What is the big difference between us and our parents?
Some American sociologists suggest it's all about Watergate. Born around 1970, apparently every waking moment of ours has been overshadowed by us and our world being seen to be suddenly fucked-over by the Nixonites.
I don't know whether Nixon the scumbag really reflected that much on our lives where I grew up. I doubt it.
However, we have experienced on a national scale of our own watergate-type fucking overs.
Certainly, nearly every promise, value or ideal we were presented with has certainly been overturned by unscrupulous people who were supposed to be taking care of us and what's important to us.
I was talking with Kimono at breakfast. I just floated the idea of going self-sufficient.
An idea occured to me yesterday as I walked through my countryside neighbourhood. I thought it would be good to grow our own food, generate our own power, produce our own bio-fuel.
I know if national disaster struck, the army would be out shooting at us and the backboneless, capitalist scum running the coalition government would all be giving each other backrubs in their heavily-fortified bunkers. I'd probably be on my way to Alcatraz with the last copy of Fear &
Loathing in Las Vegas under my arm.
We've seen first hand since 2008 how little, real solidarity there is left in our nation. Is it anywhere? Has it ever been real? I'm not sure if it was or not, nor whether I'm just looking back with the same, heady idealism I've lived my whole life with up to now. I think it was real. I don't see it now.
The only place I see it is in my little clan. The people Leary spoke about when he told us to go and make our own communities with people who saw things the way we see them.
I'm still pressing on towards that ideal. The rest of you better watch out.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Dr Hunter S Thompson.
2 comments:
I believe once upon a time there was unity but it is no more. Divide and conquer works so well. Me standing in the public square screaming about the justices and deprivations we face will garner no attention, now throw a hundred thousand just like me in somewhere like Tahrir square and suddenly I have their attention.
If people worked together they could do anything, it will take some extraordinary event to get us all focused on one thing, and then we will move mountains, if it's not to late-Bill
I don't know that there ever was unity, really; or if there was, it didn't last long, because it is (I think) human nature to try to be better than one's neighbour, to form into packs. Even in small communities that seem, at first glance, to be working well together. Or maybe that's just me. I don't worry about these sort of things too much because sociological trends, etc are all cyclical anyway, and nothing changes. The good thing is that this post has made me want to read Fear & Loathing again :)
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