A loss of Trust.
In a world were a strong enough will and/or enough money can get you pretty much anything you desire, we are severely lacking in one thing: Trust. Nobody trusts anybody any more.
We don't trust the people in the street. Those of you who have seen me (and those of you who have browsed my gallery via the handy link to the right) will know I'm hardly the most threatening looking person you'll ever encounter, but old people cross the road when I walk down the street, and I've very conscious that should I be following a woman on her own down a road (simply because we both started at one and, and the way to the place we want to be is down that road) that she is often very worried by my presence a few footsteps behind (a quickening of pace, a few anxious glances over the shoulder and a tight grip the handbag do tend to give that away). (I'm forced to almost jog to get past and put her mind at ease because I'd not tried to steal her handbag, or rape her on the way past)
We assume our governments are misleading us, our politicians are self-centred liars with personal agendas. If someone is open they're trying to cover something else up, if they aren't they're hiding something and/or "spinning" it to mislead us.
We don't trust our employers have our interests at heart (not that they're secondary to their business aims, but that they even wilfully hate their employees). We don't trust corporations in general: they're greedy bastards who are only interested in milking us for as much profit as possible, and other than a source of revenue customers are an inconvenience to be dealt with and got rid of as quickly as possible.
We don't trust our law enforcement, they're constantly one of: incompetent and unable to catch criminals, persecuting the innocent, and greedy bastards for daring to impose the correct fine on someone who has broken the law by driving too fast.
We don't trust. The only person we feel we can rely on is our self, as everyone else has a hidden agenda, is completely selfish or even actually out to get us.
And this, I feel, is a truly sad situation. I’m probably as cynical as the next person, if not more so. I see greed and selfish agendas in everything. Corruption is often synonymous in my mind with power, anyone with the latter is assumed to be the former. I think I blame the media, which pushes a strong message that the world is an evil place, and nothing and nobody can really be trusted.
Some people are undeniably undeserving of trust, however some people are, surely?
We don't trust the people in the street. Those of you who have seen me (and those of you who have browsed my gallery via the handy link to the right) will know I'm hardly the most threatening looking person you'll ever encounter, but old people cross the road when I walk down the street, and I've very conscious that should I be following a woman on her own down a road (simply because we both started at one and, and the way to the place we want to be is down that road) that she is often very worried by my presence a few footsteps behind (a quickening of pace, a few anxious glances over the shoulder and a tight grip the handbag do tend to give that away). (I'm forced to almost jog to get past and put her mind at ease because I'd not tried to steal her handbag, or rape her on the way past)
We assume our governments are misleading us, our politicians are self-centred liars with personal agendas. If someone is open they're trying to cover something else up, if they aren't they're hiding something and/or "spinning" it to mislead us.
We don't trust our employers have our interests at heart (not that they're secondary to their business aims, but that they even wilfully hate their employees). We don't trust corporations in general: they're greedy bastards who are only interested in milking us for as much profit as possible, and other than a source of revenue customers are an inconvenience to be dealt with and got rid of as quickly as possible.
We don't trust our law enforcement, they're constantly one of: incompetent and unable to catch criminals, persecuting the innocent, and greedy bastards for daring to impose the correct fine on someone who has broken the law by driving too fast.
We don't trust. The only person we feel we can rely on is our self, as everyone else has a hidden agenda, is completely selfish or even actually out to get us.
And this, I feel, is a truly sad situation. I’m probably as cynical as the next person, if not more so. I see greed and selfish agendas in everything. Corruption is often synonymous in my mind with power, anyone with the latter is assumed to be the former. I think I blame the media, which pushes a strong message that the world is an evil place, and nothing and nobody can really be trusted.
Some people are undeniably undeserving of trust, however some people are, surely?
posted by Sarum at
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
1 Comments:
I'm not sure that running up past a girl who is clearly concerned about someone going the same direction is the best thing to do. I would generally cross to the other side of the road, so that I dont walk past them directly.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home