Not your problem? That is your problem

Welcome to the information society. Nothing can be verified, everything feels like propaganda to justify unjustifiable actions, truth and impartiality are on their deathbed and we are distracted by trivialities ever further from the essence of the meaning of our lives, ourselves and the true human values we should aim to live by.

The dream of the internet was great: we imagined instant access to all the information we need to make informed decisions. The reality is different: communication has been reduced from nuanced and considered journalism taking in often complex seemingly unrelated phenomena to deliver us understanding to soundbites. Headlines. Clickbait.

In the face of human catastrophes in Syria, Gaza and Ukraine we seek refuge in fluffy-but-moist perfect tasting cakes, shiny new quantified-self technology, fantasy-worlds of conspicuous consumption and reality shows modelling the least desirable human behaviours and fantastically produced “mega-epic” TV series with the production budget of a small third-world state.

News is no longer news — it has become an endless stream of psychologically manipulative hyper-selective editing, commentary and analysis with little content that elicits more complex reactions than “oh that’s terrible” or “oh that’s great” — where there was supposed to be nuance there is binary. Good or bad. Take your pick. Or perhaps disengage. Some prominent society commentators fully advocate complete disengagement with established political processes, the mainstream media and society in general. It’s seductive to imagine that we can selfishly pull-back into our hermit shells and feel safe: not my mess, not my problem — I didn’t create this and I don’t care. Whatever.

To do so is to overlook a point central to our existence — everything is connected. The fact that the agents of the super-rich could engage in dangerous financial trading that has brought the world economy to the brink of collapse and exponentially increased the chances of armed conflict IS OUR PROBLEM. We allowed policy makers to let criminals be free to endanger us all (via complete financial dergulation) worse still we allowed them to reward these people. In the UK not one banker has gone to jail. Yet the knock-on effect of their irresponsible actions is noticed by every employee, every person on benefits and every country destabilised by our arms manufacturers and secret services creating proxy-wars amongst the sea of distractions to distract from the misery at home. it’s hard to know which way to look — which opens the door to distraction and apathy.

We somehow lack the will to call enough is enough. In Iceland in 2008 the people decided otherwise and vehemently rejected the strapping of corporate debt onto the public (threw rocks at the parliament until they gave in) — that meant some hard times initially, but it is now a success story with people building their lives according to responsible economic policy and not living on pump borrowing from their children — which is why we hear nothing about this in Western Democracies.

What I am suggesting is that everything is connected, more than that that everyone is connected — so we have to vote with our wallets: think buying a cheap t-shirt produced in Bangladesh has no consequences? For the child working in a sweatshop it does. Think supporting charities that pay hundreds of executives excessive salaries and put less money than you can believe towards helping people is helpful to anything but your conscience? It’s not — we should demand far greater transparency and probity. Think that it’s ok to allow secret services to wage proxy wars in unstable regions and then have your civil liberties at home destroyed to protect against “terrorists” — those same terrorists having been trained and armed by our government bodies? It’s not — it’s a paradox and we can’t afford to be apathetic any longer. Life is too important for that. What point is there surviving in a world no longer worth living in? A world where deception and mistrust are the norm and love is directed towards fizzy drinks manufacturers and tech companies. At the risk of sounding sentimental we must choose love, but by that I mean real love — love towards everyone in our direct societies, love for people we haven’t even met, love for those affected by terrible circumstances, love for the planet and most of all for each other.

Love means fighting for what we believe in — and that may not be easy, but it’s what we have to do.