9 years on

Well this place sure is equivalent to a desolate and barren wasteland in the far corners of the internet. 

Looking back at my posts from 9 years ago, I can’t help but feel disappointed at myself. I used to be involved. I wasn’t apathetic. I wrote about things I stood up for, about climate change, about history, about politics. 

And now... I just post inane photos on Instagram. 

But suffice to say, I am deep down the same cynical critic that I was 9 years ago that wrote about how History is written by its victors, and hence not entirely accurate; about how people support “trendy” politicians for the sake of it, and how we really can’t do anything about climate change if our governments don’t give a shit. 

And 9 years on, all I can say is: the world is fucked. 

(9 years on, I probably use more profanities loosely as well)

I’m not just disappointed in myself for letting my intellectual capability rot in the hellhole of social media and instant gratification, but with the rest of society and how it’s become a breeding ground for self-centred narcissists as well as bigots and racists who cannot back their arguments up with anything substantial. 

We are also a world where we definitely do not deserve the planet that we live in - we continue to take and take and never give back to the Earth. There continues to be so much excess, so much consumerism, so much misuse of time, resources, wealth. 

The human race is, for lack of a better word, disgusting.

1. The rise of the everyday narcissist 

This is the fundamental problem with society today. Either you want to tell the world what you’ve been up to, or people want to see what you’re up to. The vicious cycle that feeds into each other. There somehow is a need to share about everything under the sun. Instagram stories make it even easier, the story is gone after 24 hours so there isn’t much to hold back while posting - leave your judgement to the next story that you scroll on to.

Eating at a fancy restaurant? Let’s take a photo of the food, what a gastronomical experience! Went to the gym? Remember to take the selfie in the mirror, otherwise the workout didn’t happen. Went to Bali? Better take a selfie on the beach. Don’t forget to hashtag #blessed and #gratitude for all the meditation you are doing while posing for the 'gram'.

Social media profiles are a careful curation to showcase a certain aspect of your life you let known to the world. What makes people think that the world is interested to know about what they are doing? How significant do we think we are, that we think people are trying to find out what skincare routine we have, or which restaurant we ate at, or how we met our significant others?

We all think we are special. And I have got news for you - we are not. 

2. The rise of “woke culture”, the hippie, and the hypocrisy of it all

Let’s have a hypothetical character and call her Jane. Jane is a middle class, educated female who is a self proclaimed yogi and “loves to travel #wanderlust”. She adores her gay buddies and believes that love is love is love and also wants to go to India because she’s heard it’s such an amazing place. She goes, and takes a nice photo of herself in front of the Taj Mahal, gazing into the distance.

Back home, she makes fun of the South Asian construction workers and avoids them at all cost. 

This is honestly, taken from a real life example.

Everyone is eager to make a statement. Everyone is going to extremes just to portray a particular image about themselves.  You speak loudly and boldly about how you want to save the earth and the environment but also order takeaways in plastic bags every day. You claim to love all cultures but you avoid people of other races. You claim to be an independent woman but you complain when the guy makes you go Dutch for a meal. Hypocrisy at its finest. 

3. Excess - we don’t deserve this earth and what it has given to us 

Everyday, we are inundated with a constant stream of content, from “targeted advertising” that promotes a certain lifestyle. We strive and yearn for the latest gadget or trend, constantly fixating on the new and not having qualms about quickly getting rid of what we already have. 

We upgrade our iPhones every time a new model is released and we fail to realise the ramifications of that - the DRC is being exploited for tin, titanium, tungsten and gold - all of which are conflict minerals that are used for our smartphones. Despite the African country containing at least US$24 million in untapped minerals the country is still living in poverty and violence, all because the supply chain processes are informal and unregulated, and funds are being used for crime organisations in the country, further exploiting the poor and contributing to violence in the country. 

Apart from exploitation and misuse of resources, I think the narrative on how we are destroying our environment and climate has been written and talked about enough - if we still fail to see it, we clearly don’t deserve to be here. 

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And that's all for my disillusionment.