it's such an odd juxtaposition. . .here we are in an economic avalanche, and also an avalanche of time. . .and yet upscale advertisers like the new york times still proliferate ads for diamonds (are forever) and men's high-end wrist watches. I think that wrist watches are a particularly curious choice for promotion by madison avenue. (. . .it's something I watch. . .pun intended. . . ) it may show we are worried that time is out of control.
common people don't really wear watches anymore, we wear phones with digital clocks, we work inside the grinding guts of clocks. perhaps wrist watches are becoming that symbolic piece of jewelry, a social marker like a top hat or white gloves or a family crest. perhaps a 21st century wrist watch is that contemporary time machine: if you can afford a decorative $5,000 watch, you can alter the speed with which you move through time. you wear the insignia of the leisure class.
of course, anyone with willpower can alter time if they wish. . .drop outs abound on both ends of the scales.
but back to mainstream american reality. . .or gossip girls, or something. . .
I heard it said once by a shrewd single woman: the mark of a poor man is that he's rushing all the time. hmmm. there's some truth to that.
-kt
2 comments:
indeed, the leisure class...
i wonder if we'd fair better with a redistribution of labor than wealth.
it must have been easier to grabble with the ideas of necessity and needlessness as the monoliths were rising. of course, the erectors always proclaim 'necessity'. but now, such interconnected complexities...
i fear so much systemic/financial support on the backs of trinkets nobody really needs and, without the proper prodding, don't even want.
are we needlessly destroying the planet for needlessness? or is all this techno refinement necessary?!?
i think it's a spiritual question? are we becoming a new kind of animal? are we to wait for some comsmic order (or deity) to descend upon us? Or do we do our own leaping off the planet into the heavens?
Correction, i think it's a spiritual question for those with their heads in the clouds; on the ground it's a whole different ballgame!
this Bud's for you! Happy Holidays!
-bt
yes, interconnectedness. . .that is one of the reasons we're all going to have to learn how to be more disciplined, more compassionate and polite. we're effecting each other with our actions so quickly and in such seemingly tight proximity. . .consequences are ricocheting unavoidably. . .even for those who own their own islands. . .the days of operating as an industrial capitalist without the awareness of it's effect on the world are over. you might call that a kind of spiritual awakening. this is one reason why I think the wrist watch fetish is particularly piquant symbol.
I expect a sort of bifurcation of society. . .those who do not want to change from the good old materialist days and those who try to redefine what a sustainable materialism might be. and it will fall on individual lines, then gather around certain abandoned areas where change is innevitable (like new orleans) I don't expect we will withdraw from technology in any major way, in fact we need the technology we've developed to solve our problems. . .but I do think we should refine how and when we use our tech, and integrate reverence for the patterns of the Earth. . .that would be a good step for higher consciousness. . .
I'd like to see the respiritualization of our industrial society. we have to design humanity and peacefulness back into our man-handled culture. we have to be able to slow time down at will--all of us, not just the rich. we all need to occasionally rest and recuperate or we'll burn out. (that's what the seasons used to guide us to do). . .and, I think we can do this.
-kt
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