Concerning yourself with other people’s shortcomings is far easier than addressing your own. That’s why people go into politics, journalism, medicine and the law. That’s why society is defined by gossip and fast judgements, why tabloids outsell broadsheets, why we salivate over shots of celebrity cellulite and lap up “Real Life” features (“I married my brother’s killer”, “My wedding day botox hell”).
Which is not to say it’s always a bad thing. You could even say that sometimes it’s one of the best things. If it leads some people to self-righteousness, snobbery and snitching, it leads others to play the Good Samaritan, to cover for, look out for, lend a hand to their fellow human beings. But perhaps we should remember that if we’re going to concern ourselves with the lives of others, we best do so remembering that we too are riddled with faults and flaws, we too have weaknesses and secrets and failings. By all means help others, heal others – but do so without judgement, lest you be judged yourself.
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This is the age of the slogan, the soundbite, the snappy phrase in place of considered argument. Thought is dying; reason’s gone critical. In bookshops and magazine racks we’re told only what we want to hear: we’re told it in neat, bullet-pointed affirmations of our own worth.
No more. This is the fightback. The resuscitation. This is the slogan as explainer of the world. One a day for a year. Three hundred and sixty five phrases, soundbites and bullet points with which to make sense of the way things are now and point to how things could be tomorrow. Read them and weep.
Defining the age through a slogan a day
This is the age of the slogan, the soundbite, the snappy phrase in place of considered argument. Thought is dying; reason’s gone critical. In bookshops and magazine racks we’re told only what we want to hear: we’re told it in neat, bullet-pointed affirmations of our own worth.
No more. This is the fightback. The resuscitation. This is the slogan as explainer of the world. One a day for a year. Three hundred and sixty five phrases, soundbites and bullet points with which to make sense of the way things are now and point to how things could be tomorrow. Read them and weep.
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