Here we go again, it’s another rant. Over the last six months I‘ve complained about the work fetish of modern society, the empty promises of career, the soullessness of conformity and you know what, it’s all fair enough. It’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to - Sucker. Questioning the reality to which you’re presented is the responsibility of every living person on the planet. I don’t mean question whether or not you agree with the congestion charge, I mean question everything. Why live in a house? Why sleep at night and be active in the day? Why abide by the laws of the land? Why resist the urge to punch slow walking people in the back of the head? “Why”, (they deserve it) that’s the key question.
I’m not here to attack or belittle anyone’s choices. The best part of living is your ability to choose. If that choice is to play the money chasing game because you like the materialistic benefits then fine. Keep on rockin’ in the free world. But I do wonder as a society how much we question anything. I constantly debate this issue with people. I argue that they’re wage slaves, playing what they perceive to be the only game in town. They argue that it’s all their well thought out choices, a magnificent example of their free will and… as I’m basically a wage slave also, I’m clearly a gobshite of the highest order, which to be frank is only a half truth.
Still, I protest. Isn’t it the most incredible coincidence that what is expected of you from the moment you are born happens to be what 99% of us do? It’s the easy option. It’s the predictable path. It’s the no brainer. Work. Financial security. Investment. Mortgage. Pension. Car. You don’t have to think about it. You can coast along, ticking the boxes as you go. You could do it with your eyes closed. Most of us do. It’s not just the ease, it’s the intoxication of these life choices being smothered in affiliation, status and peer approval. Family will applaud your growth from boy to man. Friends will envy and marvel at your financial achievements, the opposite sex will swoon at your resources and society will deem you worthy. Alain de Botton says something about this in his book Status Anxiety:
Increasingly since 1776, status in the West has been awarded in relation to financial achievement. The consequences of high status are pleasant. They include resources, freedom, space, comfort, time and, as importantly perhaps, a sense of being cared for and being thought valuable–conveyed through invitations, flattery, laughter (even when the joke lacked bite), deference and attention. High status is thought by many (but freely admitted by few) to be one of the finest of earthly goods.
For this reason, we worry whenever we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society. We worry that we may be stripped of dignity and respect, we worry that we are currently occupying too modest a rung or are about to fall to a lower one.
(I got that bit from the publishers book description. I haven’t read it yet). The point is that even if we convince ourselves that we’ve freely come to the conclusion that the optimum model of living is being a wage slave, it’s fairly likely we didn’t. You’ve been brainwashed, just like me and the rest of us. The money fetish that I’ve banged on about in previous posts is only part of the bigger picture – Everything is tuned towards conforming and chasing the dollar. It’s inescapable. We worship the business men, the Alan Sugar-ites, the CEOs and the money makers. We actively belittle “crusties”, alternative livers, or even those with a low wage, the cleaners, the check out attendants and the manual labourers without for a moment questioning whether their happy in their life and money isn’t on their radar.
To me, the conventional wage slave route is lazy. It’s dumb, predictable and most of all, it’s boring. If it were a band it’d be the Kaiser Chiefs: Obvious, pre approved shit for the masses, momentarily gratifying, sucking you in before realising it’s a crock of shite. Too late, you’ve bought the album. But at least you didn’t have to think about it. As good old Tom Hodkinson puts it:
Quitting your job, refusing to vote, not taking pharmaceutical drugs: these are not acts of apathy but of a radical re-engagement with society and with your own self. It is, in actual fact, lazy and apathetic to be employed, to vote and to take Prozac, because in doing these things we are handing control of our lives to others and implicitly accepting that we are more or less useless unless we contort our very selves to conform to a pre-planned model of how we should act. These are acts of giving up.
I berate myself daily for walking the wage slave path. The honest truth is I’m too scared to deviate from the path in case I look a fool. What if I fail? What if I end up homeless? What if I can’t afford a mobile or watch TV? We’re all attached to our materialistic goods. What we own, owns us. We’re all attached to our need for acceptance, we all crave status. We’re imprisoned by the manacles of our brainwashed minds. Sometimes I think feel I couldn’t be free no matter how hard I tried.
So where now? More moaning, more bottling? The longer the clock ticks, the longer I look like a buffoon. “You sir, are a buffoon” someone might write as a comment. Well, it’s not all doom and gloom. Life is great and choice is great. Just make sure it’s your own. Hey, even money is great, possessions are great, excellent gadgets are great, it’s just realising that ‘one’ doesn’t need them to be great. Yet dropping out is almost impossible. I’ve talked about this before. So, logically that leaves attitudinal shift. Everyone is free in their deepest thoughts and self. So I guess it’s little victories and small steps. This is the only way I can envisage. Don’t try to be something, try to do something. Surely we should all strive to make our life our art.