mikeandtim

The Post-Post

Hang with me on this one... I think I have some prophetic insight for once....if you are having a bad day or already depressed, I would recommend against reading... (Kevin Costner poster included for intentional humor, and because he is Mike's favorite actor.)

Most people would agree that we have entered a Post-Industrial Age. It has become popular to label this era of human history the Information Age. I agree- we are solidly in the Information Age. However, I think the next age will be best characterized best not by the dominant technologies available, but by the mindset of the masses.

I think the next age will be comprised of several new "posts" stemming from one main theme:

Post-Absolutes

Somewhere someone is already concocting a vodka ad to this point. (Ad agencies are notoriously quick to pick up pop culture slang, and mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com is daily becoming more influential in pop culture... or so we are told by our representatives. Post-existential vodka ads are rather predictable anyway.) Anyway... we will enter an era of Post-Absolutes, where absolutely nothing that could possibly provide pleasure will be considered dangerous or unlawful. Here are 3 other "posts" that will come about as a by-product:

1) Post-Music
2) Post-Gender
3) Post-Marriage

Many would argue that we are already in a state of Post-Marriage. (Friend of mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com, Po Bronson, recently wrote an article talking about this on Time.com) I would have to agree. If not already an absolute, the statistics regarding marriage speak to this point strongly. Most people marry because they want to spend the rest of their life with the person (love) and they want to start a family (procreation). A good marriage requires selflessness and sacrifice, however as I will soon talk about extensively in my upcoming blog about Conservatism- selfishness is the opposite of love, and you cannot have a healthy family environment without sacrificing your personal desires. In a society where EVERYTHING is about you and how you can find pleasure, it will not take too long until marriage is obsolete.

As far as gender, it has almost become meaningless in our society. That is why we will enter a period of Post-Gender. (We may already be there... I will have to consult mikeandtimblog.blogspot.com reps in San Francisco... aka my cousin, the Mao Zen Master, Michael Hart Leggett... and the future CEO of global economic juggernaut Carter and Associates, Christopher G. Carter) While I personally think that gender is vital to human identity, civilization, and existence, you have to consider the ROLE of gender. In my opinion, you have to acknowledge that human beings were created by an intelligent force in order to see any role for gender. As a Christian, I see the purpose of gender to reflect the feminine and masculine qualities of God, more specifically the feminine and masculine qualities of love. Given that people don't seem to know what they want sexually, gender becomes a non-issue. It is all a matter of what experience gives you the greatest amount of gratification with the least amount of effort. If someone can explain to me why feminine lesbians prefer masculine lesbians over masculine men, that would be interesting too. This makes no sense to me.

Finally we come to Post-Music. Many of the things that have defined music over the years- harmony, melody, rhythm, singing- are quickly being dismissed. There is no original subject matter discussed in commercial hip-hop for example. None. There is nothing poetic or artistically important about any platinum rapper in the last year- or maybe more. And this is our MOST popular style of music. Rock music has stagnated with the exception of a daring few whose declining record sales continue to remove them from popular culture. (ie: Radiohead) However sound passed off as music will continue to exist simply because of the innate carnal power of an arrangement of notes. Eventually music will solely exist as a background to sexual forays- only serving to vacillate according to the varying levels of excitement in our libido. Someone somewhere will match the beat of music to our pulse rates or hormonal release if it has not already been done. Connecting these systems, along with drug use will create the next ultimate experience. (apologies to Jimi Hendrix album of the same name) In fact, "music" will probably be tangibly interactive once someone somewhere marries a guitar or keyboard effect to the human nervous system. Music will not be appreciated on its own simply because it will be considered antiquated to appreciate music for the talent of an individual. Ironically, only collective composition efforts will be appreciated in providing individual pleasure. The quality of music will only be evaluated insofar as its ability to complement hedonistic experiences both sexual and non-sexual.

Well- feel free to comment, these are just ideas after all. And there are answers- but the World will likely continue to get worse until it gets better. The next blog will offer hope to escape these things...

posted by mikeandtim @ 1:50:00 PM