Wednesday 16 November 2011

Tomorrow is a ride that goes nowhere...

Another week, another story in the papers about how so many children are born to disadvantaged (alcoholic, poor, junkie) parents/how many people fall through the net of social services/how many 16-17 year olds have been excluded from new government employment scheme. And the answer to all these problems seems to be - give them more money. Bah!

Is there yet not enough people in this country who feel like they should be getting something for nothing all their lives? Has not enough helplessness been already created by giving and giving and giving, money, houses and child benefit? How many more children will be taught it is all right to expect someone else to sort out your life?

This nanny state is going way too far right now, turning healthy young people with ambition into helpless and crippled creatures. Provide basic shelter, food and healthcare, yes. Give people a chance to live the life they want to live, yes. Give people opportunities to learn the skills they will need to do so, yes. Invest in people who will then start companies, create workplaces, pay taxes and give back what they received, yes. Take this money and redirect it into the void made of these who will never, ever work and be a full member of the society, no. Waste what someone else worked for on ambitionless with no idea what to do with their lives, no. Teach people that it will be ok, you will always have enough for Sky package, iPod and two bedroom flat, no!

There was another story in the paper not that long ago. Apparently, in the age of global village, lightning speed communication, open borders, accessible education and free exchange of ideas there is still as little upward mobility between social classes as there was two-three hundred years ago.

Way to go, nanny state.

Friday 11 November 2011

Hello? Can you hear my thoughts?

~~Hello, I'm your mind giving you someone to talk to, hello...~~

Have you noticed how much time we all spend inside our heads these days? Facebook in the morning, mp3 player on the bus, writing emails at the same time, then there's a blog to update, some texts to answer, a discussion on a forum you have neglected, so it's time to say hello to everybody and catch up with the topics of interest, Twit some twitterish, tweak your profile here and there, Kindle on a train and MSN - like communication after dinner.

For the first time in history you don't have to speak to talk to people, we all turned into bloody telepaths and nobody even noticed!

It is the age of silence (I don't mean artificial noise we make to drown out the loneliness of our monkey genes). I'm sitting here and the only thing I hear is the click clack of the keyboard and the rain outside and I didn't say a word for at least two hours and I don't feel like speaking. Is this what the future holds? Cubicles of people with atrophied tongues and vocal cords furiously typing with multijointed fingers on more than one keyboard to feel alive in the world of digital words. Oh, no, of course not, we are heading towards a brilliant future of space travel and global village and lots and lots of closeness and monkey chatter, right?

~~Hello I'm the lie living for you so you can hide, hello...