Embrace Tradition, Reject Modernality.
Not only is Big Tech taking everything from us, we're gladly handing it over.
From physical keys to printed books and magazines we no longer own anything tangible. I feel that when you “own” something digitally you don’t truly own it. Just simply holding accessing it for the time being. One push of a button (or one failed payment) or failed internet connection and you no longer have access to your purchase.
For some strange reason people are convinced People have been convinced by these greedy, conniving, money hungry corporations that “owning” things digitally, in some cloud is just as good, if not better, than having the tangible item in their possession. Stuffing an imaginary cloud with gigabytes, while the physical world around them empties and desolates. Modernism is just another tool of not only colonialism, but oppression as well. Technology (the way it has been and is used and implemented by the state as well as throughout history) and fascism go hand in hand. With the push of a button or the (planned or unplanned) destruction of your connection to internet, you own nothing.
You have nothing.
Cable has been deemed “obsolete” just for us to turn around and pay several different monthly subscriptions (I may or my not encourage piracy) to watch networks and channels that we already had access to and consolidated conveniently in one place via cable. Countless family favorites television shows and movies existence at the mercy of today’s streaming services.
Side note:
& another thing
Art is not being produced with enjoyment and artistic expression as the forefront thought, but more so an afterthought. Money is the only motive and the way streaming services (which are strictly for profit) have become a sort of guardian of which shows and films live on or die says a lot. The replacement of humans for AI and other technology taking a toll on the quality of today’s art that is being produced. Why did we allow it to get here? Classic films and shows, television that has transcended generations being purged to make room for new, adulterated, corny, poorly written generated films and shows.
It’s sad.
Not only can access to digital possessions be blocked and cut off at any given point in time, but modernity is taking the little inconveniences pleasures that makes the human experience the human experience. Quilling you with insignificant, meaningless intangible nothings.
The smell of a new book.
Your fingers gliding across the glossy pages of a magazine (the scratch and sniff pages was peak print).
Physically turning the page of a book.
Stepping outside in the morning to find the news of your community already at your fingertips (or maybe to find that the paper is late today).
Blindly trying a new restaurant without any preconceived notions or expectations (garnered from social media)
Asking your neighbor for a cup of sugar.
Living in the present moment and not behind a camera to “relive” later
Waiting on a restaurant menu and holding it as you read it, taking in the aesthetic of the fonts and images curated just for you.
Jotting a phone number in your phonebook (or on the hand of an attractive stranger).
Having no ties to the internet once logged out of your desktop or closing your laptop.
The excitement of waiting outside for a CD or sneaker release (a chance to meet like minded people, and leave with a sneaker and/or a cool story/memory to tell)
Hanging up a poster that came along with your CD purchase.
The personality and character that a handwritten note exudes.
Physical concert tickets.
Polaroid pictures
Tangible photobooks/ scrapbooks.
AUTHENTICITY
Because society has surpassed a need for that Because it’s not profitable to be content and satisfied. Modernize this, modernize that. More, more, more.
The idea of manifest destiny always went beyond the physicality of land. People way too enamored in their iPhones the other pathetic, mind numbing, destructive technological “advancements” that will one day be used is used against us and aids in our oppression. Technology is inevitably used to either aid in the expansion of police and capitalism. The sophistication of oppression right before our eyes, packaged in a more palpable and unsuspecting way; modernity. Our life sustaining resources (the ones they lied and told you were renewable? Yea, at the rate we’re using them at they are far form renewable!) are being depleted and polluted by Big Tech. You (we) should be very concerned…
. . .
Don’t get me wrong. I love indoor plumbing and being able to buy a pair of Giuseppe Zanotti’s online! I also know nothing is stopping me from doing all the "premodern” activities myself!
What I am saying is we (as a whole, as a society) need to be quicker to embrace and hold onto tradition, than we are to ditch what we’ve known and has yet to fail us for empty, shallow, unbacked promises of a better and “convenient” tomorrow. “Better and convenient for whom?” is a question worth looking into. Convenience always has a cost whether it’s time, quality (of life, often times), environmental, societal, etc. We (a lot of us unknowingly) give up and relinquish so much for the sake of modernity. Culture being a big one.
Why do we need to incorporate AI into every sector of our life/human interaction? We don’t. I can’t even make a Google search without the harassment of AI (Google has stopped being a reliable source for (unbiased) information years ago, but I digress).
. . . .
Brick and mortar needs to remain the standard, fuck digital.
Not everybody has access or means (whether cognitively or financially) to access this digital realm and yet here we here as a society jumping for joy at the thought of digital money, digital stores, digital restaurant menus (I think we can all agree that we hate digital menus) etc. (this lack of accessibility consideration is not a coincidence by the way). Modernity rarely (if ever) acknowledges the existence of disabled people (both mental and physical) or old people. Many of us will grow old (or hope to at least) one day, and experience both cognitive and physical decline. Hopefully we aren’t selfish enough to sit around and wait for the problem to hit our doorstep, before we collectively even think to give a damn.
Before you buy whatever “new” iPhone is being advertised or any other useless technological advancement they’re pushing today, ask yourself…
“Why am I buying this?”
”How will this purchase improve my quality of life?”
”Who (or what entities/corporations) is funding and pushing this new technology?”
”What is the agenda (is there an ulterior agenda)?”
”Why am I being encouraged to spend my money on this?”
”Whose pockets will my purchase line?”
”How does the company spend the profits?”
“Why does anybody need a cellphone that scans, maps and stores their face and fingerprint in order to unlock a cellphone?” (the government stole Americans’ privacy citing 9/11 as the reason and it has been false senses of privacy constantly being sold back to us ever since LMAO)
”Where is the data this technology is compiling from its users/citizens going/being stored?
“Why the hell would I need a digital lock when a physical key and lock works 100% of the time?”
”Why would I physically sit in a restaurant to enjoy an intimate meal just to have to take out my cellphone to pull up a digital menu?”
I know this ramble may seem scattered, but literally everything is so connected it’s hard to touch on one thing and not the others when they all intersect.
I say a lot of things about Americans. One thing that I will say (that’s pertinent to this article) is that Americans have almost always been skeptical. Skeptical of government, skeptical of medical professionals, skeptical of "(“progressive”) laws. Although, a lot of times that skepticism stems from ignorance, but none the less it’s good to questions things (as long as you’re be open to being proved wrong, and accepting that you don’t know everything). So, why don’t Americans question all these technological advancements, and the way we are being forced to integrate technology into our everyday lives? Do we not recognize the danger and ethical issues that can arise, or do we just ignorantly believe that we will never be on the receiving ends of those woes? Not everything needs to be consumed or engaged with. It’s okay to opt out and not partake. We as a society must practice discernment. Earth will continue to sustain itself however it sees fit like it always has…… As for humans?
What are your thoughts?
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love love love LOVE! the italicized list of visceral experiences almost read like a bucket list to me -- going to try to do some of those this weekend!