Frank Sinatra sang, “When I was 35, it was a very good year.” Can’t relate, bro. I’ve been 35 for just over a week and I can confidently write off the next 51. I’m reminded of one of “Murphy’s Laws”: Things will get worse before they get better, but who said they’ll get better?
Now, I write this from the air-conditioned office of my flat in sunny Durban, South Africa. For all intents and purposes, my life is pretty deec. I mean, I’m not exactly thriving, but I know that 16-year-old me would look up to current me in awe. Kinda like how William Miller would look at Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. It took some growing up for me to realise that they’re the same character. But, I digress.
So, why are things so bad? I dunno, have you read the news lately? Ya, exactly. It turns out The Sword of Damocles is actually The Sword of One-Damn-Thing-After-Another. Modern life means our small comforts and joys come with the anxiety of knowing that it’s all hanging together by a horse’s hair. So, while my life is not too shabby at the moment, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like Dread and I have become besties.
In box office news, Cold War 2: Global Warming dropped on streaming platforms and TV stations across the world last week and everyone is glued to their screens. I guess it’s a welcome distraction to South Africa’s own problems. Naturally, this will be short-lived as we will no doubt get fucked over in the fall-out. While we’re currently captivated by the spectacle playing out through back-lit glass, soon, watching screens will be all we can afford to do when petrol is R25 a litre. As recent history has shown: when global powers sneeze, everyone catches a cold.
We like to tell ourselves that we’re watching and reading to stay informed but we’ll never get any closer to actually knowing what’s happening and why. It’s propaganda all the way down. Depending on where you are in the world and the media you consume, the stories you’re hearing and sharing are vastly different. But, at least we can have “informed” opinions about THE NEWS. More importantly, it’s an opportunity to witness the blatant hypocrisy inherent in news media. Remember folks, it’s only wrong when other people do it and it’s only tragedy when it happens to people who look like us.
Still, none of this stops me from logging on to Twitter to either share viewpoints and information I agree with or dunk on viewpoints I don’t. Why? Because in the words of TLC, “You know that I’m gonna need some attention.”
Thanks for giving me yours.
Stay safe/sane.
Cheers,
Bob.
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