Originally posted by MKP
On a slightly more serious note, what the fuck can we do to stop the relentless collapse of our society into a consuming mass of people who replace life with things and action for passive “entertainment”?
well the only thing I can think off is keep doing free parties, underground art and alternative multimedia – at least technology is advancing so quickly its becoming easier and easier (for instance all PCs sold now can edit digital video, only 5 years ago you needed a top of the range one to get enough processing power)
I worked in the TV industry for a few years as an engineer and saw it destroying itself; the crap on the screen now doesn’t get half as many viewers as it used to, most people are going on the internet instead or selecting their own content via DVD’s etc
it is admittedly difficult to “re-programme” people away from passive consumption of media though; for instance about 300 people check this board every day (mostly for the party listings) but only a few become regular posters – (this may be because some people reading do not speak English as their first language; but post away anyway! It is not like college where you are marked for spelling and grammar here 🙂 )
There is a trend on message boards for people to flock to the threads with the most conflict rather than the most co-operation (even on here this happens!) – I think this is stirred up via “debate” shows on TV where confrontation is emphasised (one notorious one in the now defunct Central TV studioes regularly ended up in fights and the Police attending the studio!)
but I think with our kind of underground art and media once people realise that they can contribute as well as just passively watch it can encourage people to do things for themselves..
