Breaking Down in the City

Everything seems on the precipice of collapsing in our capital city.

Two separate stories show how close we are to this collapse. While going to work over the week I was confronted by an unusual sight. It was quite early in the morning and in the new day sun a lady sat down on one of the main thorough fares of the city. She was dressed in typical business attire and was likely on her way to work. Instead she was sitting by the road, with her head in her hands as an apparent stranger attempted to comfort her. An ambulance arrived as I passed to tend to the woman.

The second story has a similar tone. This was related to me by a friend many months ago. While on a bus, my friend saw a man, again apparently heading to work have a similar breakdown. The man was hysterically crying as he sat alone on the bus. This must have been very awkward in such a public place for both the man and the other passengers on the bus.

The identification of 'awkwardness' as the main overriding pattern in these stories may seem callous. But that is the nature of our city and our society. The city is apparently created to make our lives easier. Perhaps this is a fallacy and the convenience of the city is really just a contrived method of allowing us to survive just enough. Going to work and engaging in numbing monotony is somewhat alleviated by how easily the city facilitates these patterns. Public transport allows us to turn our brains off and ignore our natural instinct to rebel against a grey existence.

These people that broke down in the city under this strain and they will certainly not be the last to do so.

-The English Student

Pedestals

Another bizarre night in the city has lead to some bizarre conclusions.

Due to ridiculous, self-imposed factors I ended up sitting around in our capital city the other night, with nothing to do except watch people passing by for an hour and a half. I saw many things, some heart warming, some disgusting. As a woman hobbled by me, wearing one high-heel, I began to notice more people doing the same and plenty that had abandoned heels altogether in favour of walking around in their bare feet.

This would not surprise someone that wore heels and had to put up with the lack of comfort on a regular basis. It made me question why these types of shoes are actually a normality on nights out when in reality, women do not take comfort in wearing them. In a way a physical argument could be made. In the same way that women have breasts, they have support. In parallel, the average height of a woman would be slightly less than a man and so heels go towards addressing this imbalance. While this seems rational, I do think that there is a very important difference. Where brassieres create comfort, heels do not. Where brassieres were reclaimed in the 60s as an empowering symbol of femininity, heels are a subtle inequality that women feel obliged to wear.

As I sat there in the city, watching heeled women passing by I was reminded of statuesque forms standing on pedestals. They are raised up by the demands of men and placed on pedestals to be adorned or scorned. It is also worth noting the etymology of this word "pedestals" as containing the Latin "foot", further highlighting how important foot-wear actually is in our perceptions. As usual with these posts, I am certainly simplifying things and making a small observation rather than analysing an entire social issue. I do however think that this subtle form of inequality is not due to the natural differences between men and women.

They seem to be a socially imposed one that are, from this perspective, fundamentally unfair.

-The English Student

Vanilla

My taste buds seemed to have become dulled.

Food just has not tasted as vibrant as it once did. Two very obvious sources of this are my new tooth paste and mouthwash. They just seem to overpower the taste of food to some kind of extent for the whole day. I actually believe that it is directly affecting my happiness. I get less pleasure from food now. In a way, some would call this state (pardoning the pun) vanilla.

But I actually quite like the flavour of vanilla. Far from being boring, vanilla is absolutely fascinating. The plant is a strange blacky green stick that is quite sticky. The seeds inside contain the real flavour of the plant and can be mixed into just about any liquid to give it a vanilla flavour. It would also be one of my favourite types of ice-cream, up there with the top notch raspberry ripple.

So why does vanilla get a bad reputation? A colour, flavour and plant that is so bizarre that it is seen as completely normal is quite amazing. I really do find myself adding vanilla to different foods these days in an attempt to get back a bit of the flavour of food that I have missed. Maybe I am trying to restart my entire taste system by regaining a standard plateau.

But in the end, maybe normal life, normal sensations can be vivid in and of themselves.

-The English Student

Personal Isolation

Two patterns of personal, self-imposed isolation are quite obvious.

The result of both patterns is largely the same, the differences are evident in the initial feelings that create them. Arrogance is seen as a major source of such isolation. People seem to believe that they are above the opinions and help of others. They keep their own counsel as they do not value the advice of others. Even when they do deem to converse with people, they do not truly listen. They would rather wait for an opportunity to speak rather than an opportunity to listen.

A second emotion that brings out these patterns is one that is seen as a less common one. I would maintain that fear is the main source of personal isolation. Low self-esteem can easily lead to a person closeting themselves away. Whether it is out of fear of rejection or in an attempt to hide what they believe are their own flaws. In this sense low self-esteem is circular, as it festers in a person that has chosen to isolate themselves.

In either case, a lack of understanding or empathy is evident in these people. We all seek solitude at times and long for tranquil time away from others. The problem arises when this solitude becomes a substitute for human contact, rather than a break from it. To understand that you are no worse or better than other people is a fundamental need for personal development.

Unfortunately it is not so easy to understand this need and as a result, many will suffer alone.

-The English Student

International Isolation

There seems to be two main schools of thought when it comes to policies of international isolation.

With various elections closing in around the world, the topic of immigration and isolation is once again up for debate. This is a major issue in the upcoming British election with the debate bringing into question the position of the United Kingdom within Europe and the wider world. The fear of immigration in this country seems to stem from a theory that the people of these islands are a 'pure' race of some sort that is losing their birth right of land to outside forces. Indeed, many people that are seemingly tolerant of immigration believe that they are doing a favour to people that arrive from other countries and that they owe a debt.

The United States of America highlights another perspective on isolation. A major turning point in the history of the United States of America undoubtedly came at the point that Roosevelt forced the country to enter the wider world. Ever since this time, citizens of the country and citizens of other countries have debated the actual effects that these policies have created. Indeed, to be elected president of the USA, a by-line relating to how the country will lead the world in some respect always plays well. But as this policies continued they seemed to have become far more self-interested. That is not to say that they are any more or less selfish than the initial decision to enter World War 2. The most prevalent world view is now that this country gets involved for their own benefit and no others. In this sense the USA is just as isolated as any anti-immigration leaning government.

In both of these cases, very rigid lines are drawn up in relation to isolation. It must be stressed that countless people in these countries do not follow these extremely simplified patterns. The important point is that their governments are frequently perceived to behave in this way. Unfortunately this has the effect of painting all citizens of the country with the same brush. This dehumanises countless people as I believe the main effect of isolationist policies is to undermine the common connection we all have.

To block people from entering a country or to offer help only when it helps a certain country is to emphasise man-made borders and to undermine real, border-less connections.

-The English Student

Funny Musicians

It really is a shame when a band or musicians tries to do something that is simply beyond them.

Comedy is generally the areas where these people tragically fall down. How many truly awful music videos have we seen? The type where a band will film some kind of 'mockumentary' about their lives on the road. Or the videos that have poorly placed celebrities interacting and poking fun at the band. Or, worst of all, when a musician will dress up as another and parody them. Surely all real musicians should strive to move away from Weird Al Yankovic's 'music' videos. That said, I can understand the reasoning behind many of these videos. Frequently a band's message is very heavy and morbid and so to lighten the tension and make fun of themselves they wil ladd some comedy to their videos.

While this is rarely successful, it is at least more understandable than when a band tries to be funny live. I was forced to listen to a band recently that really believed they were the funniest comedians on the planet. A group of people that thought their music was so amazing that they should do the audience yet another service and bestow their whimsical humour upon them. It is a real shame, however, that every word out of their mouth was utter tripe. How many times does a joke have to land flat before a band will get the message that either they are not funny or that people do not want to hear their 'humour'.

In music videos these bands have a small chance at making fun at themselves. In this live situation I felt that the band was making fun of the audience. In actuality they were not trying to impress the audience with their humour or how cutting their wit was. They were trying to disguise their poor performance and lacklustre song writing. While comedy is a wonderful thing when done well it is absolutely disastrous when an artist dives into it instead of focusing on improving their craft.

Do not get me wrong though, people can be brilliant musicians and brilliant comedians at the same time. The problem is, that most are awful at both.

-The English Student

Virtual Blood on my Hands

Finding some time to play video games has been therapeutic lately, though I do feel that there is a bit too much virtual blood on my hands.

The last three games that I have submerged myself into have certainly been on the violent side. Assassins Creed II in particular has highlighted the prevalence of such violence. The name gives it away, but for people unaware of the volume of violence a quick summary will suffice. You play an assassin that is free to kill countless people using various types of sharp or bludgeoning weapons. Particularly vicious scenes are slowed down and emphasised by the game mechanics, glorifying in the violence. Of course, I play these games for fun.

But at times it seems like this fun could be negatively affecting me in other ways. The desensitization argument has been frequently trod in recent history and video game legislation. The fact of the matter is that video games frequently encourage us to escape into a fantasy world by encouraging us to take the part of a character. In many cases, these characters commit heinous acts.By proxy we are encouraged to imagine us committing these acts. How can this not have some sort of effect on us?

This violent side is attractive because it is taboo in ordinary life and yet acceptable in games and indeed films. So while we do imagine acts of depravity in these games perhaps it is best that some sort of outlet is used for these human desires. The danger only really comes when a person is unable to distinguish between the rules of a game and the rules of reality. This is exactly the reason that games have certified age ratings. An adult should have a better concept of reality (or at least a better concept of the rules of society) than a child and as such, should be more capable of using this outlet.

While there may be virtual blood on my hands, that realisation allows me to keep my real hands clean.

-The English Student