Thinking
WELCOME TO THE MEDIA DARK AGE
04/08/2009
We live in a dark age of constant and persistent downpour of bad news. Terror attacks, solders falling daily in faraway lands, planes crashing, scores of people joining a massive jobless brigade, another summer vanishing in rain and swine flu descending upon us like a post-modern Black Death; just to mention a few. Is this just a media bad-news-sell-the-paper-hype or is this really the world we live in?
I wake up with a slight sore throat and sneeze a couple of times and start sweating with panic. We used to fight off colds and flus gulping down a couple of paracetamols and lying in bed for a few days. I somehow doubt it is going to be like that this time around. Even if the flu doesn’t kill us, the fear and hysteria will. And, if you are pregnant – please lock yourself away in a nuclear bunker.
Recession is dictating our habits. On Saturday night I headed for one of my favourite restaurants and it was completely empty. Three of us were whispering in a corner and getting an exclusive service. At the end of the evening the chef – a rotund and talkative lady smelling of scrumptious aubergine and lamb dishes - was wondering where all her regulars have gone. They seem to have deserted an authentic taverna in favour of voucher-pizzas and Chinese take-aways.
Buying new clothes? No chance; I rather recycle my old Eastern European off-the-peg stuff that has not seen the light of the day in a decade. Ethnic embroidery smelling of patina is always in – isn’t it?
It worries me that there is no cheerful news to report, no human-interest stories about courage and passion or recommendations about how to survive this devastating crisis with a smile. Even TV programs and dramas – except the beautifully escapist Hotel Babylon that makes my week – are reflecting the Zeitgeist and showing horror stories about people losing their jobs and jumping from bridges.
Despair and anxiety are settling in our lives like unwelcome lodgers we are incapable of chucking out. We need some hopefulness to regain faith in the world order, modern society, governments and banks. I am just desperate for a piece of good news; to glimpse the first shy green shoots of optimism and to awaken from this apocalyptic nightmare. Is this a media campaign to make us all miserable and disillusioned, or is this really the world of 2009? Or – is it only me?
I wake up with a slight sore throat and sneeze a couple of times and start sweating with panic. We used to fight off colds and flus gulping down a couple of paracetamols and lying in bed for a few days. I somehow doubt it is going to be like that this time around. Even if the flu doesn’t kill us, the fear and hysteria will. And, if you are pregnant – please lock yourself away in a nuclear bunker.
Recession is dictating our habits. On Saturday night I headed for one of my favourite restaurants and it was completely empty. Three of us were whispering in a corner and getting an exclusive service. At the end of the evening the chef – a rotund and talkative lady smelling of scrumptious aubergine and lamb dishes - was wondering where all her regulars have gone. They seem to have deserted an authentic taverna in favour of voucher-pizzas and Chinese take-aways.
Buying new clothes? No chance; I rather recycle my old Eastern European off-the-peg stuff that has not seen the light of the day in a decade. Ethnic embroidery smelling of patina is always in – isn’t it?
It worries me that there is no cheerful news to report, no human-interest stories about courage and passion or recommendations about how to survive this devastating crisis with a smile. Even TV programs and dramas – except the beautifully escapist Hotel Babylon that makes my week – are reflecting the Zeitgeist and showing horror stories about people losing their jobs and jumping from bridges.
Despair and anxiety are settling in our lives like unwelcome lodgers we are incapable of chucking out. We need some hopefulness to regain faith in the world order, modern society, governments and banks. I am just desperate for a piece of good news; to glimpse the first shy green shoots of optimism and to awaken from this apocalyptic nightmare. Is this a media campaign to make us all miserable and disillusioned, or is this really the world of 2009? Or – is it only me?