Information Age

As a society, we do not live in a "time". At certain points in history, civilizations have had tiny revolutions on all aspects of life. Wagner had his romantic period, where the arts, politics, philosophy, architecture and design reflect the importance of emotion and aesthetic experience. Societies accomplishments produced at this time are timeless, with beautiful churches, breathtaking symphonies and lip-trembling paintings to leave behind. This could often be explained by their furious love for God and unnatural fear of hell, but at least this created something beautiful (not forgetting the many people who died as a cause of this irreverent 'piety'). When we make things today, we are far more concerned with profit and increased consumption to make things we are proud of, or things which last, which is a great shame. In this sense, the fear of hell is sometimes the only incentive powerful enough for us to surpass wealth in order to create beauty (this shows a lot about the human condition).

The differences brought about by these movements are subtle, often beautiful (excl. post-modernism's ghastly city center concrete jungles!) and always lasting. The problem is, triggering this type of mini social revolution involves effort and that is the key thing us Brits lack.
Things are obviously wrong in our country - noted by the familiar upturn in power of the extreme right wing often associated with recessions we have seen recently - why do we not demand change?
Sound moral thinkers and passionate human beings have stopped expressing themselves, potential Dali's and Oscar Wildes are convinced that art is not a proper career, the outlook is bleak. The only abundance there is, is that of information. Money is scarce, resources are scarce(or made to seem scarce for our own 'good'), but the amount of information is growing exponentially.
Use this information, learn, better ourselves and help fix what our fathers have fucked up.
Thankyou.

Numero dos

A lot of learning has taken place over the past month or so. I should really be trying to internalize pointless knowledge for college at the moment. Exams encroaching in single figure days. I think the comprehensive education system in this country is so out of touch with reality it borders on lunacy. My experience of it is timed exams, where knowledge is to be memorized and then regurgitated. A uniform set of rules which renders any slightly creative and reflective person utterly useless, writing is for jumping hoops and "signposting", not expression and understanding. I have realized why I fail to succeed in my more recent exams, I start off with an initial plan, but my wandering, tangential mind has a plan of it's own.

Here is my problem:
When handwriting an essay, the initial vision we start off with seems unchangeable and precise. Although the act of pen on paper in itself changes this vision, clouding the previously clear path and gently stratifying the novices from the Wordsworths. It is the difficulty of this process which I respect most about writers, how close they can get their finished product to the initial cognition they once had. It is this very skill I am incapable of. Typing on computers is easy, you can delete, add, format and consolidate, but writing is beautifully different. The restrictions of pen and paper make each passage unique and personal. I lust after the ability to write, and I am so intrigued by language, but my new found love of literature seems too little, too late. My writing technique is now part of me and seems uneager to change. Woe is me!