Mediated

Tonight in the bath when PJ got home from work, he at one end me at the other, I finished reading this book - a chance find in a good book shop.

I say: READ THIS BOOK.

De Zengotita says: The issue is no longer representation versus reality, phony versus authentic, artificial versus natural . . . there is no going back to reality. . . . We have been consigned to a new plane of being engendered by mediating representations of fabulous quality and inescapable ubiquity, a place where everything is addressed to us, everything is for us, and nothing is beyond us anymore.

This notion of being perpetually addressed is the framework that cities are based on, De Zengotita says. Whereas nature on the other hand, doesn't address you or flatter you, it ignores you, which is why humanity no longer cares for nature, because, “the flattered self is spoiled. It never gets enough. It feels unappreciated. It whines a lot. It wants attention.”

So we ignore nature back, we control it and use what we can get for our own advantage. And because we are so disconnected from the natural world, so wrapped up in our busyness and shopping and blockbusters, we forget what's really important.

We make placards and take to the streets to protest when governments threaten our entertainment, yet we do nothing when they sell off our natural resources, put chemicals in our food, force us into war, put taxes on what's rightfully ours, stick their noses into our sex lives, hop into bed with corporations and prioritise economics over wellbeing.