Lately, I have been having this odd feeling. When I read the headlines or ride the train.
Things appear the same but not the same if you know what I mean.
To give one mundane example:
Today when I dropped in at Starbucks for my morning coffee a woman was waiting for her drink:
‘I am going to need more milk than that’, she politely said.
From behind the plate of plexiglass:
‘I can’t hear you’, the barista barked and then ‘I will have to charge you more for that’
I stood there flabbergasted. I wanted to come to her defense:
‘Hey she likes milk, give her a break’
I, however, said nothing. The scene was petty enough already.
Extra? Was this some kind of unwritten new milk mandate being imposed by Starbucks and the bossy sounding girl behind the counter?
I get the same uneasy feeling on the train. It is still my favorite past time. But when I look around at the other passengers glued to their smart phones like zombies I get queasy.
Necks craned down, fingers flipping they look somehow sub-human, like the incubated in The Matrix.
Speaking of The Matrix yesterday I thought my God! when was the last time I saw a movie? I couldn’t remember.
I wanted to run to the theatre. But had no idea what was playing.
Then I recalled that The Matrix Resurrections had come out a couple of months ago.
The first one blew my mind. But was this new one any good?
I checked the reviews but they were completely useless: half the viewers gave it five stars and the other half gave it only one star.
Was this new Matrix a case of things looking the same but not actually being the same?
And only half the viewers noticed?!
When I read the newspapers, I get this same odd feeling that something is off. On the surface everything appears the same.
Something, however, is definitely missing.
I used to wait anxiously for Friday when The Guardian Weekly would come out.
Flipping through its pages from front to back was a joy to me.
There were some good, some very good and even some great stories inside.
Now when I go to The Guardian website it is completely unsatisfying.
None of the articles seem worth a read. The articles are bland, cookie cutter stuff. Totally joyless reading.
What used to be known as propaganda in the old Soviet Union.
You can’t even use your imagination to read between the lines with today’s media: the propaganda is too obvious.
Making matters worse are the paywalls of the New York Times, The Globe and Mail and even the Vancouver Sun.
Just one example:
For two weeks now all the lead stories have been about Russia’s supposed invasion of Ukraine. Every single day.
It’s like some kind of deranged no mask, no service military mandate that the West will keep repeating in the hopes that Russia actually invades.
And speaking of mask mandates, does it not occur to anyone that it is absurd to make people wear a mask when they enter a coffee shop only to take it off only when they buy something?
Or does it already seem natural to you to be told where to stand, what inoculations to take and how much milk to put in your coffee?
If it does welcome to the new world: one that looks the same but isn’t.