What's wrong with us? Where have our brains and our discernment gone? Is it too much work to create a life of our own instead of dwelling on the foibles of others? Isn't your own life more interesting, more satisfying, more challenging than that of some TV this or magazine that? And if life is a serious challenge (it is, of course), then mental and physical health allowing, isn't it preferable to deal with our stuff, try and make things better in our own way than wishing we were a wag or a bag or a lag?
I picked up a discarded copy of Closer & OK! on the train and flicked through. I hadn't realised (how naive) the extent to which it's all material that soils the soul, the heart and the mind. Utter detritus, utterly boring, utterly malignant, utterly dismal, depressing. A vile slur on the positivity of human nature and self realisation (and now I sound like some psycho-pseud).
I want to shout - "Girls! Women! Get a life! Pull those nifty socks up! Create your own future. It's hard, but it can be fun and it's all YOURS. Don't watch it happening from the outside. Think of yourself at seventy - how do you want to feel about yourself then? What do you want out of life? Dying with a flash bag and some designer label shoes by your bedside and a head full of others' dreams will not be adequate reward".
Did feminism die whilst I looked the other way?
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5 comments:
This is something I have long thought and at times I also despair about the cult of celebrity which has grown up in our society. The tabloid press have driven this frenzy. As you suggest, this obsession with other people's lives diminishes our own lives and makes them appear somehow less interesting, less meaningful. But how is it possible to fight back? Perhaps a beginning is sharing thoughts like these and creating debates with friends and family - the people who really matter.
Oh I so agree Mopsa. I've just interviewed the Fisherman's Friends (see current post) and what was so heartening was meeting real people who arent obsessed with themselves, fame or fortune or what they look like. They have fun! Thank God for them.
We fight back YP by not buying the trash that's produced, but it has far too many people in its thrall and I can't see for the life of me why, and I don't know how we get THEM to fight back.
I'll pop across FPot!
I couldn't agree with you more without being you. Trash: sad, dull and apparently seducing young women into living a life vicariously. Just get out there and do it all yourself. Truly, it is wonderful.
Thank you elizabethm - nice to know I'm not alone in this.
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