“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening- everything must be said again.” Andre Gide (1869-1951)
The philosopher, writer/critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) wrote about the passage of time in his essay- On the Concept of History (1942). The past reveals itself to “the angel of history” as a series of catastrophes- “wreckage upon wreckage- hurled at the angel's feet.” The angel would like to stay and awaken the dead to make whole all that has been smashed. However- “A storm is blowing that propels the angel into the future- and the angel cannot stop to repair the damage. This storm is what we call progress.”
Those of us who choose to remain engaged with the world (What is “progress”? What is “time”?) welcome Benjamin’s enlightened impressions. They lay dormant in most and bristle in the few as American culture traverses its bumpy relationship with time/progress. 2024 sees the U.S. of A. “overcorrecting” as it censors the past and present reaching for some unknowable perfection- a sort of perverse obsession with an infallibility that never has- never will exist- brushing aside reason, logic and science in favor of conspiracies and other morbid, paradoxical inaccuracies. Our fantastic wishful thinking breeds confusion, revulsion, panic and dread. I recently saw a movie with these bits/pieces swarming around its narrative; Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis (2024)- a story about navigating human error while dreaming of utopia. Coppola’s movie opened recently to empty theatres and dismissive criticism.
In my life (I turned 50 a few months ago)- I've watched advertising (specifically- commercials) go from mildly nerve-jostling departures from reality/soliciting mindless consumption- to ferociously manipulative, astutely produced, weapons of propaganda demanding your attention. The idea that time/progress could be hapless phantoms (or an abused “Angel of History”)- crazed and hungry- spinning forward through the fickle corridors of the “American Experiment”- shoving us nearer and nearer to some kind of unknown territory- well- yes and certainly. What person would deny that the majority of what we see and hear is contradictory and devoid of recognizable heroics? Well- people are scared. The collective sub-conscious is cloaked in alarm. Many reasons for this. 1st- there are more people on Earth than ever before- thus- more to experience fear. 2nd- we’re facing existential demands (not threats- demands) that are not without precedent (planets transform era after era)- but entirely foreign to us. Which is to say- this current grouping of multi-generational, multi-ethnic planetary inhabitants have no handbook for the doom/gloom wrapped in this particular 21st century bow. 3rd- technology checks boxes that are sheer mysteries. We neglect to ask the correct questions before deploying every tech innovation we stumble upon. And there has never been a time (to my knowledge) in human history where climate dangers (Earth's natural process- ridding itself of toxins) is advertised, ingested, interpreted, misinterpreted and mostly ignored- with such proficiency and neglect.
Being at odds with current events- less than thrilled about the state of things- it has forever been up to the common citizen to interrupt these “storms” of progress by reaching full consciousness in the present (giving full/proper meaning to the past- as T.S. Eliot said- “We shall not cease from exploration- and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started- and know the place for the first time.”). Karl Marx said revolts are the locomotives of world history. So revolutions are the wild-eyed passengers on the train attempting to deploy an emergency brake. The fury and fragmentation assaulting our country's central nervous system is a call for an awakening that far surpasses the childishness of being “woke.” It seeks a tranquility that can only be gleaned from incontestable awareness (like the Buddha said- “The Awakened One”- not “The Woke One”). Americans whoosh along on a bullet train with no functional brake apparatus. We relish speed. We worship wealth and power. We overlook the passing landscape (“wreckage upon wreckage…”). We resent those who decry our refusal to survey progress. After all- life is way more than short. There’s too much to do- so much to think- lots to experience. And we loathe feeling bad. We seek pleasure- not pain.
They say you’ll be free the moment you realize your prison is weak and escapable in its composition of thoughts. But how can one be free of “thoughts” in a world where they’re shoveled down your gullet and plastered across your brain on a merciless 24/7 cycle (tech). There are roughly 800 hundred people in this world who can contribute to the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence research/development. They alone participate in the work, monetize, commercialize and sloganize the whole bloody Frankenstein. The other 8 billion 150 million humans are merely impacted by these actions/decisions. We watch, wait, wonder, wish- then dutifully purchase, consume and suffer the consequences (inevitably sprinkled with some pleasant perks).
So what the Fuck is happening?
The Middle East pulsates with biblical angst and violence in real time. Russia hammers away at Ukraine. America flirts with dictatorships. Western civilization wheezing again- the far east- taking note from a confident distance. Autocracy on the upswing. Fascism is the ruling class demonstrating its inability to suppress popular disillusionment. America is disillusioned. We have the rumblings of those who believe it's simply our turn to experience a mangled democracy ripe for loud-mouth leaders with autocratic leanings- and those who think “it could never happen here.” America is the youngest civilization in the history of notable civilizations. Youth lacks wisdom and hindsight.
The leviathan institutions and criminal entities that seek to enforce the fate of mankind utilize whatever progress and time hands them. They wage constant war on our senses. I frequently marvel when I find a fellow citizen reading a book (in public). The individual reading a book has one foot in this world and one foot in the next (is this not mandatory- to effectively survive this world?). Something better must be possible (as Coppola’s new movie insists). But power discourages inquisition. Books- an active way of acquiring information- are now replaced by reading on computers- an activity passive and riddled with pleas for your attention and money. Everyone who is anyone knows people are reading less and less. They prefer to execute inordinate, precious amounts of time feasting on generous portions of misinformation (overwhelmingly- other people's opinions) fed to them by a tiny lit screen. This info-tainment invades the brain on a superficial level- gob-smacks the aura like television's virginity did in the late 1940's- early 50's. Holding a book and reading it is to be magically- perfectly grounded. Safe from the storm. Reading on a computer screen is playing host to illusory factoids of digitized, intangible half-truths. Words as bits of dimensional pokes. A sea fog drifting over your famished 3rd eye.
“The Overview Effect.” It’s what astronauts feel when they view Earth from space. They see the vulnerability of their home. The scale and the profundity of which alters their presumptions. In assessing where one is at any given moment in time and space- at any interval of your limited lifetime- a safe bet is to repel velocity in favor of a serene devotion to stillness. As time is ghostly and free of perfect explanation- and progress remains undetermined and untethered- both anticipating another one of humanity’s slick answers.
And in this age- A. I. births bots, “fake news”, social disengagement- and other savage circumcisions of the intellect- prepped and doled out like poison pellets for the new breed of rat. You can literally see people being swallowed by the tech gadgets they’re devoted to (a tenet of the Industrial Revolution- “To replace man with machine.”). The “Breaking News!” washes over us daily (much like Orwell's “2-minutes of hate” gatherings in his cautionary novel; 1984- the point; to antagonize.). These hollow blasts of depressing lies and accidental accuracies serve only the entities that monetize the platforms. The demeaned husks are expected to feast on the cavalcade- and lose the world- just a little- in bits and pieces- slowly and surely- every time we gaze into our unexamined creations- alone- all of us- proving our mediocrity with every meticulously administered dopamine hit.
What harm is there in recognizing fragility? Or- slowness. When did this become a flaw in the American character? And how can anyone disagree with the fact that our evolved acceptance of that which we know to be harmful (permanent surveillance comes to mind) threatens to be our only honest claim to the future?
My late father used to say; “I sure don’t know where all this is heading, son.” Neither do I, dad. Neither do I. I mostly manage to convince myself it will be a place I wish to be.