Dystopia

March 19, 2020:

We live in a dystopian society. I know, that’s not a great way to open up a blog post. It’s not cheerful or sunny, but it doesn’t take a whole lot to see just how desensitized and irrational people can be given a certain set of parameters. I’m not so sure that I’m excluding myself from this nonsensical assertion, at least not the desensitized part anyway, but when you’re watching people push/pulling two overloaded carts at a time to the checkout counter at 9 o’clock in the morning on a weekday while walking by Seal Team Six enforcement guarding the doors, you have to wonder just what in the fuck is going on?

I had a conversation with my son the other day, who is in his graduating year of high school, about what it is that we can all do to help mitigate the propagation of this Covid 19 virus. Things like washing your hands regularly, not touching your face, perhaps limiting or not bringing friends over to the house and socializing in small groups.

Newscasters are throwing around terminology like Social Distancing, Flattening the Curve, Self-Isolation and No Hoarding as though they’re whimsically delighted to finally say something that doesn’t have the word Trump in it somewhere. Sometimes though, we just don’t always act accordingly.

As adults, I know for me anyways, I’ve been calloused over the years by the daily drudgery of life and its responsibilities. Baggage and obligations that anyone my age should never expect anyone of my sons age to have to understand or fully appreciate, but when first a planned spring break vacation is cancelled, and then what should have been a pivotal school year suddenly abandoned (barring any miracle cures), how in the hell does a parent tell their seventeen year old that through no fault of their own, they’re going to be completely and utterly ripped off of one of the most important moments of their lives and that “They’re just going to have to suck it up”?

Yes, first world problems to be sure, but as I am certain any parent who has a teen going through this in their graduating year can relate, it’s so easy to forget what it was like to be them, but when you put yourself in their shoes (if only for a moment) it’s heart wrenching. Maybe, I learned something from my Foundations class after all (which, by the way, got cancelled).

Speaking of flattening the curve, I’m pretty sure that I’ve been behind the curve from the very beginning. Blogging, when maybe instead I should be vlogging, or podcasting. I’m being told, mostly by Millennials and Gen Z’s (and that’s not fake news), that in today’s day and age people don’t like to read. They want entertainment delivered quickly and without any effort on their part.

I see and hear about pictures and memes going viral, “UTubers” making millions off of some short one-to-two-minute video clip, Instagram and TikTok being regularly used by celebrities or trust fund kids to further their brand and attempt to stay, or be relevant, which usually involves some kind of skin exposure.

As someone who I consider to still be relatively young (that’s me I’m talking about), I nevertheless continue to struggle with the rapid changes that technology brings and the way in which it is used to deliver whatever product is on the docket. Whether it be a celebrity (wanna be), the runners that they are wearing, or the gin that they’re drinking. We place power and influence on those we don’t even know just by clicking on their site.

“Am I jealous?” You’re fucking rights I am, and I’m not going to lie about it either. Being a social media influencer seems like a pretty decent gig (especially from the comfort of one’s own home). So, maybe while I’m on this viral lockdown (the era of the Corona Virus), it’s time to post a few pictures of my bare ass (shaved, shopped and brushed, of course. In fact, it’ll probably be a body double), while holding a tumbler of my favorite alcoholic beverage and winking with a smile that says, “Hey, I’ve arrived. Now click here.” Is that desensitized enough?

Entertainment, much like rock and roll, is a vicious game.

Until next time.

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