Streaming N’ Screaming

February 11, 2023 Jerry King Comments 0 Comment

The media is the politicians’ mirror,
developed in the political and corporate financiers interest.
It exists to sell a product.
politicians and products alike
thrive on being seen on a screen,
they crave its validation.

As a mirror it is but an image,
a self-contained world, flat,
insubstantial and brittle as glass.
The media sweeps everything before itself,
absorbing it, simulating it.

The future is one of virtual reality,
a world where people are having
unbelievably vivid and beguiling experiences,
but none of it is real.
The media forges a version of a brave new world
which is already completely forged,
a world of virtual economic recovery
and super-soaraway market confidence
trickery.

Before,
people had their own thoughts,
they made their own music,
told their own stories.
Before, we saw things for ourselves.

–excerpt, Test Card F, Television, Mythinformation and Social Control, AK Press, Edinburgh 1994

Do you know a secure harbor? Is there a method to tell the certain difference whether the discomfort that you feel is a sign that something is a bad idea, a “mistake in the making” OR whether what you are contemplating saying or doing is an expression of your mission, of your unique contribution to your place and time? Which is it? How can I know? Any thoughts about such existential discomfort?

The excerpt is from a slim book published in the last century before iphones, before Artificial Intelligence in various forms was available. The author is anonymous. At a time, which seems long ago, the writer expresses alarm that society was increasingly in thrall to spectacle, that is, a ginned up unreal edition — contrived to massage, to seduce us, en mass, to support politicians, to buy products.

By my observation and experience, the glowing screen now defines us all. The portable iphone screen conditions every relationship in entirety. How many hours every day are spent holding a phone? (There’s an app tracking my phone usage week to week) The device is a convenience and a tether: restaurant reservations, driving directions, podcasts, coaching meditation, a library of terabytes of information of every kind — and more such offerings than I could imagine…

Today is the day before Superbowl Sunday. The late afternoon event, American football will be streamed to millions here and to 130 countries. One hundred million viewers are anticipated.

The Superbowl is a virtual orgy-of-spectacle, the apotheosis of life here in the West.

Where are we? How far have we come? Are we somewhere, deep in a forest? Is the light fading? Where did we start from, and how did we get here? What matters? What is real? Can having one’s own thoughts, making one’s own music, telling one’s own stories be convenient, effortless, — like tortilla chips and a bowl of guacamole dip?

Help!

Do we not need music more than ever? Yes we do. This tune will carry us on our journey today: B. J. Thomas, The Eyes of A New York Woman, 1968.

The Eyes Of A New York Woman

By B. J. Thomas

I’ll be in New York City
When the lights shine bright tonight
Where my woman waits for me
Arms that hold me tenderly
Lips as sweet as honeycomb
Love that waits for me alone
Deep in the eyes of a New York woman

The eyes of a New York woman
Are eyes that can hold a man
She swept me off of my feet
Made my world seem so complete
I’ll never have to look for more
I found what I’ve been lookin’ for
Deep in the eyes of a New York woman

Thought I wasn’t ready
For the tie that binds
But I lost my heart to her
When her eyes met mine

Now I see her differently
I’ve got to make her mine

So I’ll make my home Fun City
And let the lights shine bright on me
East side cafés, West side plays
Uptown, downtown, I’ll be there
I’ll never have to look for more
I found what I’ve been lookin’ for
Deep in the eyes of a New York woman