A message to all the losers out there..

It's prom night for the global school clique. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are taking their rightful place as prom king and queen, and all the cliquey gossips and popular cool kids are lining up courtside to take their rank. Some with genuine glee, others feigning their praise to elbow themselves ever up the social totem pole.

You though, you're on the outside. A loser. Watching on. Repulsed by the fakes and make-up and pretensions ..but maybe, if you're being honest, slightly jealous too. Why are these vacuous frauds so powerful and you so disenfranchised? You think to yourself that you'd never want to be like those people; that you've chosen your pious loserdom. Yet you also partly suspect that they'd never let you sit with the cool kids anyway. Even if you supressed every moral, bent every knee and faked it to your absolute limit.

..and this is thing. The point of this post. It's always been like this. Yes, things are bad, but no more bad than they've always been.

Normality has returned. It feels slightly crushing and terrifying, but these last four years have really been an aberration. A glorious one, but an aberration. It's amazing it even happened, and now it has happened it can never be taken away. It'll become gilded, like a summer memory. Preserved in amber, framed in gold.

Again, it feels bad that the standard superficial high school order has returned, but we've had this all our lives. It's always been this way. It's nothing we can't deal with. We're used to being losers.

So don't worry too much. Your Facebook friends have always been sheep-like. The media has always been sentimental mush. These people have always been in charge. Remember?

Plus, now these chauffeured brats have gotten their own way again perhaps they'll lay off us all for a bit. They've really thrown the kitchen sink at us all over these last four years. Especially this last year. In fact, it's been one long spoilt tantrum. A historic hissy fit. That we had the temerity to insist that the DJ play some of our songs for a time. They just couldn't tolerate it.

The privileged outrage at the fact that they weren't running the show. Their hysteric and wild-eyed attempts to restore themselves to the "popularity" apex. The sheer depths they went to. It's been fascinating and disturbing to watch. They just can't cope with being losers like we can.

They were literally prepared to destroy everything if they couldn't get their own way.

So maybe now they have got their own way again they'll stop the tears and boot-stamping, and return to bitchily clawing at each other as they scramble for social clout. Instead of aiming their hatred and ire at us. Maybe things might calm down a bit.

Of course it's not fair, it never was, but maybe this is the only way the drama will end. Let them have their victory, however they won it, and with angelic calm we can patiently take a longer view.

We've done okay. In fact, we've done pretty good. So just keep on keeping on.

We're Sleepwalking into a Mental Health Crisis

It's been a common refrain over recent months; "Lockdowns are causing a mental health crisis."

This in turn has led to calls for more help and funding. Whenever I see this debate appear I always wonder though; just where are we heading as a society?

Obviously people require help for emotional and mental problems, so I would never argue against it. Who would? However, I still nevertheless fear that as a society we may be making a rod for our own back.

For a start I'm uncomfortable with the way we're medicalising what are often simply normal human emotions.

As humans we feel the full spectrum of emotions. From euphoria to depression. For all manner of reasons. It's what we would call the human condition. Life is complex and so are we.

(a cheeky chimp ..swinging

happily in the trees)

In days gone by most people would eschew being labelled as having a "mental health" condition. Not wanting to be attached to the negative connotations that such a label would bring. These days however people embrace such labels. You only need to look at people's Twitter bios to see countless examples.

I'm not against this per se. Or against people discussing their fears and problems openly. In fact, as stated above, I think it's perfectly natural for humans to have such experiences and to discuss them. Life can be a rollercoaster. I just fear that we're medicalising the human experience in a way that will ultimately dehumanise us. I also worry that such mislabelling will lead to problems simply not being solved.

For instance, return to the problems caused by lockdowns. If you're depressed or anxious because you've had your freedoms curtailed is this a problem of your brain and body? Or is the issue the circumstances you are in?

If you're labelled with "depression" this implies that the problem lies with you. Since this problem is within yourself then it's you that needs the counselling, medication and whatever else is offered as a solution. However, if the root cause of the depression is the circumstances in which you're living then the problem can only truly be solved by changing or improving those circumstances.

It's like if you take a wild mouse and put it in a cage. If the mouse starts becoming withdrawn and behaving erratically when placed in this captivity is the problem the mouse, or is the problem the cage?

You can perhaps medicate or train the mouse to cope with being caged, but it'll always be a poor and clumsy attempt at making a bad situation more bearable.

Of course, the causes of mental and emotional problems are often a fine tapestry, but still, I feel this is what we're essentially doing to ourselves. Tailoring the human spirit to fit poor circumstances. Instead of tailoring the circumstances to better fit the people. In the process relegating what once would've been viewed as deep spiritual and philosophical experiences to something akin to a medical ailment.

In many ways we're doing a similar thing with lockdowns now. Instead of tailoring health care to fit a free society we're tailoring society (along with its joys and freedoms) to accommodate a health care system.

This leads me nicely to my final point of concern, and that's what happens once such a system of mental health care is fully in place. Over the last year we've seen coercion used and basic rights overturned in the quest for public health and safety. Will we eventually see similar things in the quest for mental hygiene? When we have an army of well-funded 'professionals' ready to safeguard our mental health will we see the communal mind being cleansed with a similar zeal?

..and more to the point what happens if individuals want to refuse or opt out of such 'help'.

This returns us to the labels that people are so readily accepting at present. There may be benefits to accepting such labels, but what about the potential drawbacks? What if such labels are used against a person?

What happens if such a system of psychiatric intrusion becomes a tool of the state, or of a certain political faction? Or if society en masse simply becomes zealous and hysterical? What are the safeguards to stop things from going too far?

Though it's obviously wrong, mean and immoral to label an enemy or opponent as "mad" it is nevertheless quite common. To paint someone as 'mentally unfit' is a well used and effective tactic. If you've already self-certified yourself as having mental issues then it would no doubt make it even easier for an opponent to do this.

What if people are wrongly barred from certain professions or activities because of such labelling? Or worse still what if someone is wrongly sectioned or forcibly medicated?

You'd like to think such things would be highly, highly unlikely, but that likeliness is only proportional to our continued vigilance ultimately. History shows us this.

When the Coronavirus Act was passed last year that contained changes which meant only one doctor's signature would be needed to detain a person under the Mental Health Act. Instead of the usual two.

This is mildly concerning. Normally in a free society a person's liberty can only be removed in a courtroom before a jury. So sectioning in of itself is an aberration from this process. Making such a thing easier and less accountable should therefore be a worry to most people.

Once again, it obviously goes without saying there are people out there with serious mental issues that require serious help and treatment. So I don't want to downplay the problem, nor doubt the intentions of anyone pushing for solutions. It is potentially a very slippery slope though. Especially given how mechanical and materialistic our view of human life has now become.

Things once deemed of the spirit and soul. The rainbow-like range of human thoughts and emotions. All reduced to mundane labels with bullet-pointed remedies.

Are we sleepwalking dimly into dystopia.

(..not as colourful as the monkey,

but perhaps more relevant)

The Democracy of Crossing The Road

Have you ever been in that situation where you're waiting to cross the road and it's taking a really long time? Perhaps the traffic lights are going slowly, or maybe they're broken altogether. As you're waiting that judgement presents itself. Do you patiently wait for the road to become completely clear of cars? Or do you perhaps make a run for it when you spot a smaller gap?

Of course, it's always sensible to wait until you know it's safe to cross. After all, you're just squishy flesh and blood, and they're hunking great machines. Though if you're really in a rush, or you're a particularly rash individual you may take the risk. Either way you're the one that has to avoid the cars. The onus is on you to keep out of their way. As they're an overwhelming force that you're powerless to stop.

When there's a few more people waiting to cross the road it's a slightly different situation. Again, the people are still just squishy flesh, and the cars remain dangerous obstacles. However, suddenly there's a tiny bit of strength in numbers.

The solid cars can still mow down the soft people, but the balance has shifted slightly.

It's difficult to say at what point the balance tips fully. It completely depends upon the situation I guess. You'll no doubt have experienced such a circumstance yourself though at some point;

There are perhaps now 10 or 20 people waiting at the traffic lights. All becoming increasingly impatient to cross the road. The impatience builds. A few eager feet edge ever-closer to the tarmac of the road. One guy, perhaps a slither more rash than the others, makes a move. Everyone else, like a flock of starlings, instinctively follows. The annoyed drivers having to slow down and stop with frustration as this herd of people then bustle across to the other side of the street.

A collective decision that happens almost telepathically. The subtle cues of body language. The building group impatience. The overall circumstances of the situation. That very minor rush of leadership. All rising to a crescendo of; "Yeah, we're all crossing this road now, damn it!"

Of course, it doesn't always work out like this. Sometimes a hothead may make a rush to step out and the others may think "I'm not following that idiot." Again, the circumstances are always unique to the moment. That potential tipping of the scales is clear enough to see though. An extreme example would perhaps be when thousands of football fans spill out of a stadium. As this throng of supporters floods army-like onto the street the cars are powerless in their wake. Having to wait like pedestrians until this force of nature passes. The sheer numbers, and the mood of those people making up the numbers, dictating the outcome.

Anyway, this 'crossing the road' phenomena always makes me think: democracy.

It reminds me that even in an absolute dictatorship there still remains this natural democracy. Ready to reach a tipping point when all these subtle cues and feelings coalesce to an apogee.

Many others before me have pointed out how 'democracy of the ballot' is essentially a sensible and more civilised substitute for this democracy of nature. A substitute for war, or other physical conflations. Where we can judge who has the greater numbers or force of passion on their side, without having to go through the storm of physical battle.

It also makes me wonder if great leadership comes in having the ability to read these great forces, or indeed in having the ability to conduct the feelings that lead to such tempests.

(This image I knocked up recently has little

to do with crossing the road, but it's vaguely 'roady',

and I guess it adds some colour. Mountain Stars.)