A very modern world.
I'm not going to write much but this afternoon came the breaking news that Peaches Geldof died at 25. It was all over social media and began the rolling news feeding frenzy that a celebrity death sparks.
I'm not one to speculate, hysterically offer my grieving wishes to someone I didn't know, read, observe or follow. I'm also not one to provide advice or theories about her death.
She was someone's mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend. She was a human being. She died. She was 25. That is sad. It is tragic when anyone dies, let alone someone so young. So of course as a fellow human being you don't want people to suffer.
What has struck me today is the reaction has just shown what weird modern times we live in. Here is a 'celebrity', famous for being the daughter of 2 famous parents who lived a life through modern media channels (TV presenter, columnist in magazines) on social media (Instagram Life) who died suddenly which was reported on social media and rolling news channels.
I watched endless 'showbiz editors' being interviewed or 'media experts' about her, her life and death. They all said the same thing. "She was troubled, but she turned her life around, was clearly devoted to her children and seemed happy in her life' - most of this was surmised through watching her Tweets and Instagram pictures. Not from real life. Does it get any more modern than that?
We live in strange times. Where culture is reduced to a sound-bite or image. Where news is amplified into being something bigger than it is. Social media sends it around the world. Fuelling people's appetites for it. Rolling news channels provide even more opportunities for meaningless comment. Nothing interesting is ever said.
Is it any coincidence this happened on the same day that an interview with a retired 89 year old art teacher called Sue was published about her assisted Suicide because she despaired of modern life?
It is ironic these two news events collided on the same day. Essentially Anne's health was failing and she could see the quality of her life diminishing, so she chose to end it whilst she could remember it. It also gave her a chance to go out with a bang and the kind of social commentary that deserves respect;
The 89-year-old retired art teacher, named only as Anne, could not keep up with technology and said computers and TV had created a “lack of humanity”.
Shortly before her death from a fatal dose of drugs, she had claimed people were addicted to gadgets.
She said: “Why do so many people spend their lives sitting in front of a computer or television?
“I have never had a television. People are becoming more and more remote. We are becoming robots. It is this lack of humanity.”
She added: “I find myself swimming against the current, and you can’t do that. If you can’t join them, get off.”
She took a lethal overdoes of barbiturates, saying she wanted to go out with a bang, not a whimper. What a girl. If only the 25 year old Peaches had that choice.
I admire those sentiments and to some extent agree. Having said that, I'm a massive culprit. If Anne had her way I wouldn't be writing this blog and you wouldn't be reading it. I suppose in my own way I'm trying to connect and communicate. At least I tell myself that. Perhaps I'm trying to appease my conscience as perhaps I've become one of those people Anne so despaired of.
I'm not so sure, but I do know she had some excellent points. The world today is insane. Commentators queueing up to talk about Peaches based upon what they saw on social media. That's madness. But we lap it up.
Social media has shortened everything to such an extent now. Do you think my timeline is a true reflection of my life? Of course it isn't. I don't even put any effort into making it looking amazing. Some people do. But you know the worse thing. It's not those who do it, it's those of us who believe it!! Look under the surface. Don't believe the shiny outside.
In the old days people would read something in the paper, decide it's true and then gossip, 'apparently so and so did XYZ'
Its exactly like that on social Media, except it's a bigger audience and the lies get spread quicker. Then we have no idea of what is real or isn't. In fact the truth doesn't matter now. Nobody's interested in it anyway.
I despair too Anne but I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to continue writing this in my own little world on my gadget I'm addicted too with my sore neck that gets worse because I spend too long sat down hunched over a laptop whilst listening to endless loops of news about the same story with different guests saying the same inane platitudes over and over again.
A very curious modern world we live in don't we?
Together We Are Stronger
NE
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/teacher-committed-suicide-dignitas-after-
No comments:
Post a Comment