Here We Are Now, Entertain Us
Sometimes we’ll have ambiguous discussions with a friend, family member, cashier, therapist or beer pourer – where both parties will distill the world’s current problems to clichéd oversimplifications. And this is the closest that the most of us come to any serious discourse. This even makes us feel a little bit more intellectual and involved because instead of spouting off about how we’re so sick of the hopeless Mets struggling to keep their head above water, we’ve gleamed topics closer to the front pages of the newspaper rather than the back.
If there were an omnipotent divinity eavesdropping on these exchanges He’d be too amused to feel disappointed that His inventions turned out to be so blind despite the lengths He supposedly went to create such complex eyes and minds. But I digress for the sake of foreshadowing future topics I might write about. So let’s get back to the point. What is the point you ask. Well, let’s go back to the beer-pourer. He might have been complaining to you that business has been slow and that, “Obama hasn’t done shit to fix this economy. None of these politicians ever do anything. They’re all the same, I’m so sick of it.”
“Yeah man,” you agree as you take another swig, “I don’t think I’m even gonna vote this year. I’m tired of all these lies and broken promises.”
Now, in that scene some valid points have been raised but not examined and they just end up serving as justifications for apathy and disappointment that end up being worn as stylish chips on the character’s shoulders. Let’s examine this further, starting with the beer that’s in the patron’s hand and fueling his animated concurrences with the guy behind the bar. Why is he drinking that beer? To arrive at a desired state no doubt. To unwind, to feel some relief. Regardless of the health consequences, ridiculous costs and much safer and more positive alternatives, he has have chosen the quickest ride to his destination.
The speed factor is at the root of a lot of our problems. Unfortunately this desire for fast results is a double edged sword and an inevitable result of progress. I do not mean progress in terms of improvement, but rather as the simple linear passage of time and circumstance. This latter definition of the term eliminates all subjectivity from the meaning which is important for this argument.
What I mean by this is simple. Over time the human condition has advanced from a state of low dependence on external tools and technology for survival, to a very complex need for external tools and technologies in order to live in a manner that is consistent with what may be deemed an acceptable and conforming standard of living. From the beginning, our intellect has enabled us to create external tools and technologies that help to make our lives easier or more comfortable in some way or another. Certain periods of time are highlighted by excitement over tremendous innovative breakthroughs that significantly alter the standard of living for several generations. Each breakthrough has a certain grace period where excitement and satisfaction with the advancement are relished and the current state is seemed as an acceptable, efficient standard of procedure. The next phase is the disenchantment with what has become the status quo with regards to that particular area of technological experience. As a matter of simple relativity what was once deemed fast and efficient is now the norm. Soon the norm becomes intolerable because we feel that we have the capability of creating and utilizing new methodologies that will surpass the current. So born out of our tremendous capability to manipulate our environment are the Siamese twins named Pioneer and Malcontent. Pioneer was named by Uncle Ingenuity and Malcontent by Uncle Impatience.
Inseparable by virtue of their attributes, their existence often lies at the core of most of what could be deemed wonderful and tragic about the human condition. From politics to leisure, the twins make their mark, but as they grow, Malcontent seems to feed off of Pioneer’s accomplishments. Pioneer’s strengths are drained from his hard work and his brother’s mooching while Malcontent is fat and well rested. He is ever growing in strength and oppresses Pioneer until Malcontent needs a change of scenery.
As a result of this all there is a seemingly parabolic increase in the influence Malcontent has over our daily lives, leading to the vast array of problems that Pioneer struggles to solve. The instant gratification culture feeds itself and makes Pioneer’s efforts either fruitless or misguided.
We often elect certain politicians because they offer us hope of quick relief from problems that couldn’t possibly be solved except through long periods of cultural adjustment and discomfort. Pioneer knows this truth but is pressured by Malcontent to develop bumper sticker solutions that are designed to appease and not really address underlying structural weaknesses.
Symptoms are treated with a new drug while diseases are left to lie festering on the back-burner because we need immediate relief and couldn’t fathom the idea of how boring and burdensome living a preventive lifestyle would be.
Entertainment is more and more shocking rather than thought provoking because the shock is more of an immediate rush and we have not the time nor the intellectual depth to appreciate more profound levels of art.
Drugs, both illegal and “legitimate” flood our society because they are instantly gratifying and numb us to the fact that Pioneer is deep inside us all, kicking and screaming to escape all of the above madness started by Malcontent.
The sad thing is that we are on some level aware of this all. In the chorus to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Kurt Cobain sings, “I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now entertain us.” This could be interpreted as struggling with the dichotomy of culturally provoked intellectual mediocrity and the need to immediately relieve of yourself from the pain of that struggle.
While in my teenage years and early twenties when I was listening to and enjoying this song under the influence of all sorts of instantly gratifying substances I had absolutely no idea what I was listening to but something resonated with me. At the time the aforementioned lyric appealed to me because, in a way, I felt that it was something outside of me that should be responsible for entertaining me. Malcontent was at full strength those days as evident through my drug use, reckless behavior and sense of entitlement. Nowadays, my own manifestations of Pioneer and Malcontent are in more of a balance and I’m comfortable with the fact that they are interdependent and can’t exist without each other.
In order for us to thrive as a species we have to find a way to monitor and control the balance between these brothers because they are both essential to the cultural course we take. Progress in the subjective sense of the word is relative and completely arbitrary. Progress in the temporal sense is inevitable.
So in searching for a solution “I found it hard, it’s hard to find, oh well, whatever nevermind.”
Eric Allen Young is a human.
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