Ok so I've been sitting here for a while. It never ceases to amaze me what length I will go to find something new to do - totally not uni-related and non-assignment-related. Like today was a perfect opportunity to get this blasted major finished, but this afternoon consisted of falling asleep amongst open library books and then rummaging through a plastic crate of high school items and reading old letters.
Now it's already Sunday night; and my word count is down from 1300 to 0. Gargh! How did that happen? Don't ask. But I'm just glad because at this time tomorrow... it'll be over. =p whooptiedoo!
Ok ok... stop procrastinating Joy!
So the crux of my argument will be found somewhere amongst this convolution:
It's no secret that Western society is being hammered with the anti-terrorism doctrine. It's all over the mass media - in our news broadcasts, radio commentaries, web sites, music, school curriculum and government policy.
But the terror that we are being told to fear and avoid is not limited to the ignorant definition of hi-jackers, suicide bombers and the over-zealous religious fundamentalist. The fear that we are being fed is the fear that drives us and our development – it’s the fear of not being good enough. We fear being ill-equipped for what is to come. We need the latest information, the latest gossip, the latest trend, the latest ideas and most importantly – the latest identity.
While some theorists will argue that technology fosters and encourages unification by transcending the barriers of space and time, I argue that technology has done more to leave individuals feeling more fragmented and confused about who we are. We are left feeling terrified that we don’t have what it takes to be ourselves.
What? Sorry? Don’t get the jist? Look around at the marketing and advertising messages that fill the margins on our web browser and the 15 minutes of “preview time” before the movie starts. Buy this brand. Purchase this phone. Try this mp3 player. If you want to be successful, you will have that. If you want to be up there with the greatest business men, then you will drive this car. If you want your life to be good, you will use this refrigerator and that flatscreen tv. Boys will come running when you adopt her style. Girls will fall for you if you wear that cologne. By having the best, we will be the best.
We are obsessed with being better than… who? What? It doesn’t really matter who the scapegoat is – we just want to be better than it.
Our sense of self and value doesn’t end at the commodities we purchase either. We make sure the world knows that we are better.
Our identity us created and manipulated, strained and changed, conjured and altered at the tips of our fingers. Who am I? Deconstruct my MSN nickname. Find me @hotmail.com. Browse through my Friendster profiles. Read the blog and testimonials. Count the friends I have and check the photos that I post. Enter my world. Enter my space. Enter my cyberspace.
We are obsessed with being connected. By sharing our thoughts, our possessions, our opinions, or photos, our ideas – we share our lives… and create them. The persona on Friendster is different to the persona @youroffice_or_employee_inbox.com. The conversation between you and the rest of the world via Blogspot.com will reveal a different persona to that found between the 1-2-1 conversation between your best friend and the you on your Nokia mobile phone. There are hundreds of different Yous. Fragments overlap, but in essence each time technology allows you to connect with someone new, a new you is created.
So which you is the real you? Or are they all real? I dunno - you tell me. Which you is the one that's good enough? Marketing and advertising will tell us that none of them are. So we try harder. Buy more things, make more "me's." In the process, what was once private becomes public and we evolve into a voyueristic society where surveillance is no longer seen as a threat, but rather a chance to display onceself under the gaze of others with a desperate hope for approval.
The fear that we are being fed is the fear that drives us and our development – it’s the fear of not being good enough.
You may think that this argument is far too cynical. Surely there are advantages to technological, communication and information development that I'm not addressing. Yes, you're right - but it doesn't change the sadness of our situation.
We will rejoice over the abundance of choice now available to us. Whether it is cars, commodities, computers or consciences... but just remember that is was free will that confused us and stuffed us up in the first place. =P
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