Monday, December 1, 2008

The burden of affluent modernity

We are aware beings. You can call the middle class soft and that's fine. And being afraid of what's out there is nothing new. But because of the instinctual sense that something is out to get you, whether it be predators, nature or death itself, we fear. In the comfort of a suburban house, an air conditioned multiplex or anywhere you would anticipate to be comfortable, it's there. Some even revel in it - disaster or apocalyptic films. Thrill rides. Sky diving. Our fear is saddled comfortably on our backs and because it has been there for so long, we think we deserve it.

"It" is what I fear is coming, though this thought is not unique to any generation. The end.

Could it be the smothering of sheltered academic ideology that impressed this theory? Paul Cook, you suck. You and your kind's puritanical influence theory. That's a symptom, not the cause. It's the fear instinct, perched on that saddle, riding behind me, unseen but present, that I cannot define that has snugged up on the reins until it owns me, leads me to the water of 'I deserve something terrible for all my time in comfort and ease' and I bend my head and drink from the poisoned water of Pepsi, so sweet and sugary, taking my medicine. I need it. I deserve this.

Soaped up and safe. Policed and free. TVed into life.