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The Virtual Rambler
Number fifty one 19th August 2014
Socially Mediated
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If we use the term Mass Consumption to characterise the motor of present-day Western society , it’s not because we consume more than ever before , nor is it because buying
and selling are our central activities. It's not because we absorb more images and messages than any previous generation and it’s not because we have an ever-expanding galaxy of
Apps and gadgets at our disposal. These are all the preconditions of Mass Consumption , best defined as the aggressive marketing of objects , services and messages to
engender an all-pervading pressure on our pockets and patience alike. There must be no limits to Consumption , the engine of all Economic well-being. It must keep surpassing
itself in order to remain what it has become , namely a reason for living.
Eighty years ago George Orwell wrote of the privateness of our typical spare-time occupations. “We are a nation of flower-lovers , of stamp-collectors , pigeon-fanciers ,
amateur carpenters , coupon-snippers , crossword-puzzle fans.” When we use the term ‘leisure hours’ nowadays we are indicating time which is not occupied by work but even when the
spell of the work-ethic is relaxed , its compulsions are smuggled into the realm of those hours of leisure. Many people are aware of their alloted role when they are at work. It’s a
voiceless , compliant role. When the social media sites were developed , they seemed like a gift from the gods. Here one had an opportunity to raise your voice as often as you liked.
What was the abiding tone of the subscriber’s voice ? It was the soliloquy. From their niche pulpit these seafaring white collar workers are on an intimate “journey” with their
shipmates who are themselves “holistically” committed to their own platforms. The private person had become an anachronism.
Charles Pooter parodied social media over a century ago in The Diary of a Nobody : “Why should
I not publish my diary ? I have often seen reminiscences of people I’ve never heard of and I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a Somebody - why my diary should not be
interesting.” In the Me forum , published daily in an edition of one , you can go public with your private marginalia. That’s you down at the Lightnin’ Bar , hanging out with the
Backsliders (Hey ! Great gig , guys !). In The Daily Me there are larky holiday snaps , goofy or salacious poses , a torrent of greeting card treacle. And here comes another
heart’s-in-the-right-place tirade about Big Business (Hey dudes , what are they doing to our world ?) In the muted , pop-up world of Windows , amid the insulated murmurs of
point-and-click transactions , there’s neither weight nor limit. It’s a featherweight world in every sense , light and airy with low gravity and God (or Bill Gates) knows , there's
an infinity of stuff out there. So much in fact that you resign yourself to missing out on great swathes of it. But no sweat - nothing’s that much more interesting
than anything else on the virtual highway. Let’s all just plunge into that quagmire of options with minds as blank as an empty word file.
Omnivorous capitalism spotted , then exploited , a demographic who imagined themselves to be independent individualists , each one searching for their unique authenticity. All are
potential celebrities in a digitised world. Many of them dabble in the arts - photography’s always an easy favourite - and they pose on their home page as non-conformists , while
off it they’re consumers par excellence. Stalin coined a term for Western apologists for his Soviet regime : useful idiots. The overwhelming impression gained by a newcomer
to Facebook (for instance) is of many , many rigmaroles of miniscule moment being endlessly exchanged in some sort of collective voodoo. Here are the fellow-travellers of global
consumerism , serving a need for newer takes and edgier riffs in its colonisation of every sensibility under the sun. All they require of us is that we remain connected as often
as possible. The purpose of Facebook is to harvest , organise and store as much personal information as they can , to be sold on ready-sifted to advertisers. They are the
ones the company provides a lucrative service to. The ‘users’ for whom it purports to provide an ostensibly free platform aren’t its actual customers. They are its product
. Next year Facebook expects its profits to exceed £500m.
Wig
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Archive
Virtual rambler #1 – Posturing, 9th March 2010
Virtual rambler #2 – Managerialism, 17th March 2010
Virtual rambler #3 – Nostalgia, 27th March 2010
Virtual rambler #4 – The Alpha Male, 13th April 2010
Virtual rambler #5 – General Elections, 3rd May 2010
Virtual rambler #6 – The Leisure Industry, 15th May 2010
Virtual rambler #7 – Guide to The World Cup, 15th June 2010
Virtual rambler #8 – Human Nature, 12th July 2010
Virtual rambler #9 – Communities, 13th August 2010
Virtual rambler #10 – Worlds Apart, 6th October 2010
Virtual rambler #11 – Dawdling, 22nd November 2010
Virtual rambler #12 – ELVIS, 24th December 2010
Virtual rambler #13 – Transience, 4th February 2011
Virtual rambler #14 – Regional Accents, 15th April 2011
Virtual rambler #15 – The Afterlife, 21st July 2011
Virtual rambler #16 – Bizspeak, 27th August 2011
Virtual rambler #17 – Night Walks, 3rd October 2011
Virtual rambler #18 – Bob Dylan and Charles Dickens, 8th November 2011
Virtual rambler #19 – Another Nutty Professor, 16th December 2011
Virtual rambler #20 – Customer Choice, 16th January 2012
Virtual rambler #21 – Wearing Shorts, 18th February 2012
Virtual rambler #22 – A Brief History of Progress, 17th March 2012
Virtual rambler #23 – The Myth of Sisyphus, 16th April 2012
Virtual rambler #24 – Natural History, 20th May 2012
Virtual rambler #25 – European Self Importance, 26th June 2012
Virtual rambler #26 – Sweet Dreams, 25th July 2012
Virtual rambler #27 – Excess, 17th August 2012
Virtual rambler #28 – In Denial, 20th September 2012
Virtual rambler #29 – The Way, 21st October 2012
Virtual rambler #30 – On Rambling, 14th November 2012
Virtual rambler #31 – Gazing Into The Abyss, 18th December 2012
Virtual rambler #32 – Intellectual Gloom, 25th January 2013
Virtual rambler #33 – Great Human Achievements, 20th February 2013
Virtual rambler #34 – Autobiography, 20th March 2013
Virtual rambler #35 – Your Good Health, 21st April 2013
Virtual rambler #36 – Deconstruction, 20th May 2013
Virtual rambler #37 – My Home Town, 19th June 2013
Virtual rambler #38 – Ancient History, 21st July 2013
Virtual rambler #39 – Possessions, 20th August 2013
Virtual rambler #40 – Sporting Stoics, 20th September 2013
Virtual rambler #41 – Free Time, 20th October 2013
Virtual rambler #42 – Ewan Don't Allow, 20th November 2013
Virtual rambler #43 – A Literary Nexus, 20th December 2013
Virtual rambler #44 – Taking Liberties, 16th January 2014
Virtual rambler #45 – More or Less, 20th February 2014
Virtual rambler #46 – Under Control, 20th March 2014
Virtual rambler #47 – Waiting, 20th April 2014
Virtual rambler #48 – They Rose Without Trace, 20th May 2014
Virtual rambler #49 – Bigger Impression , Smaller Footprint, 20th June 2014
Virtual rambler #50 – Terpsichorean Instrumentations, 18th July 2014
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