I’m living in a world heritage site called Saltaire built by Titus Salt a Victorian mill owner. The workers houses, church, park and hospital were all built from the profits of weaving cloth. A kind of utopian Bangladesh with Orwellian overtones. The model village is now dominated by Pace a company that weaves cables around the earth to bring us broadband and connectivity so our media, social or otherwise can reach us quickly. In the spirit of the age I type away on my new super-fast Apple Macbook Pro and I‘ve joined Facebook to connect with the Hairspray bubble (I’m touring in a musical) so I can connect with the 50 or so people I’m working with. My bad timing to discover research that claims it makes you depressed as other peoples online fantasy lives are better than yours.
Hairspray is set in Baltimore in the 60’s where the descendants of the white settlers were having to live with the descendants of black slaves and as we know from the drama The Wire inequality is still rife. However the 60’s was when the phrase control freak was conjured. It meant it was not ‘cool’ to control other peoples lives and thoughts, live and let live was the motto. This passive-aggressive mantra was just another way to to create a style of existence away from the mainstream. The truth is that if we are not loved, fed, fulfilled and free-thinking we homo sapiens are disruptive. Revolution historically has led to war, famine and chaos and even the reptilian capitalists don’t want that.
The point I am striving to make is that we are already knee deep in Orwell’s nightmare which is to create a passive society awash in consumerism. The more we are surveyed and doped up with box sets our human algorithms will diminish.
I am enjoying the smell and feel of this Autumn, perhaps as I realise I am in the Autumn of life. It’s not depressing more a realisation of time and space in relation to my existence. No matter that the earth is one degree hotter and has probably sealed its fate. To be is a celebration.