Don't have time to sketch this out totally, but imagine if you wanted to "fix" the cultural middle class by means of a short manifesto, or rather, a series of pledges to abstain from certain behaviours. What would you put on it? And I mean quite specific, literal pledges rather than abstract, open-to-interpretation notions. Ten Commandments type stuff. Like, "Do not tweet". The commandments are allowed to be clunky, babies are allowed to be thrown out with bathwater. They don't have to be prohibitions either, I guess you could insist that people, for example, maintain a certain proportion of serious reading to watching box sets, but that already seems to be slipping towards "self-improvement" rather than abstinence and self-negation in service of others.
The commandments have to be adopted voluntarily, so they have to resonate with people in the first instance - it's a mutual, collective exercise in self-control and self-discipline. They don't have to cover every little thing - the idea is that, once the five or ten commandments are adopted, they will serve as metaphors or principles informing all other areas of behaviour. The commandments will disrupt the fabric of an infantilised, self-obsessed culture. But they will sneak into that culture in a familiar form, like a computer virus - it will be like the 5:2 diet or "The Rules" or something. "Yes I'd love to meet for a drink, I can't drink in that pub though because the price of a pint is above the acceptable level laid out in the Commandments. Let's go to the other one, OK?".
Anyway don't have time to sketch it out, but what would go in?
Probably not what you're looking for, but a couple of ideas.
ReplyDeleteDo not take photos of abandoned rail tracks or underground stations. You may post selfies to the internet.
Less Twitter, more Facebook.
Men and women are different. Embrace that difference.
Get some fucking sun.
Dress like an adult.
Lift weights.
Do not care about others' taste.
Do not read the Guardian more than once a week.
Fight against nostalgia. No more vintage.
Only buy things you need (including in charity shops).
Do not pretend to be working class; treat working class people with respect.
ReplyDeleteTell jokes.
If you like lattes, order a latte. It's fine.
ReplyDeleteSpend no more than £6 on a burger.
You're on the right track. The ones i like best here (regardless of whether I agree with them) are the direct prohibitions and imperatives, like lift weights or only read the guardian once a week. More so than the permissions and general axioms.
ReplyDeleteJess has a good one: never walk down the street holding a takeout coffee.
Superb from jess. She should comment here. Hi Jess! Also, don't have one of those metal coffee cups you drink on your way to work.
DeleteLol Jess doesn't read this. I only mentioned I was blogging two days ago and she pretended not to hear me.
Delete