The freedom to decent from orthodoxy has nearly vanished completely from public life, the idea of having ideas the chance to be different to think out of the box to be individual has all but disappeared, to be replaced by corporate appeasement and the medias inability to reconcile diversity of opinion, has brought in the new age, an age of submission, mono culture, a tide of poverty of the human spirit and the loss of humanity to robots leading to dehumanization.
Everything is so politically correct – so boring – so expected. Flamboyant freedom, unfettered spontaneity and a lack of taboos is what propels creativity and an interesting diverse and exciting place/society not over regulation, this creates instead a stifled and stagnant environment in which there is a lack of nuance. The liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience is true freedom.
Conformity is the enemy of freedom and the death of ideas, culture, history, diversity, the ability to be individual and to create freely and without boundaries. Conformity, a nowhere land utopia!.. The individual is the ultimate minority.
Imagine, instead of the carbon copy identikit drivel that comprises most media and corporate thinking, which is largely sanitized and devoid of any heart or spirit. Imagine for example instead a shift to clothes and other products being produced closer to home, more sustainable and usually not mass produced, special one off pieces, that you save for all fall in love with and that display quality, good workmanship, made with heart, soul and passion. Space to think and a chance to get things wrong.
Modern work life is a greedy rush through time, a loss of personal identity, through technological dependency, globalization and homogenized lifestyles. Today you see young people crowded in groups.. staring at mobiles instead of talking to each other and exchanging ideas being creative and playing. The result often being that childhood obesity and health issues arise and the ability to think out of the box and to be critical, often there is a lack of discourse in conversation and no chance to digest before responding. The technological age has introduced a time of no mystery or secrets, no surprises, and the loss of the ability to be inquisitive, humans are curious by nature.
Text /Copyright Shirley Aug 2020
Photo Copyright Michael Heissner 2019