The Uncomfortable Truth
Humanity — something that is the opposite of selfishness; which goes beyond “I". The lack of, couldn’t be more evident in today’s world. Empathy, compassion, and understanding are words limited to corporate functions like UI/UX; to be able to get more clients by tricking them into believing they are cared for, through an interface. A devious trap. But the victims to a great extent are also complicit.
I was watching the much acclaimed Korean series, Squid Games on Netflix recently. Though far more exaggerated, it was a reflection of the world we live in. Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction. The economic and work conditions we are subjected to are as horrifying as the show. What is capitalism if not a series of eliminations…
- How many make it to the top?
- How many end their tenure truly happy and satisfied?
- How many have their hands clean?
- Isn’t it all a whirlpool of endless greed?
- Do you need all that money to live?
- Is this the slow death of all values — you lie in the interviews, you cheat to get ahead, lying is normalized, no place for ethics — maybe this marks the excruciating death of everything real.
Religion, these days has nothing to do with values. The books are only opened and applied on Sundays and even the so-called devout doesn’t bat an eyelid before lying. The sheer lack of integrity and flakiness in today’s society is characteristic of its crumbling. No religion preaches greed and yet we have a country full of the devout and faithful caught in the circle of greed. It does not emanate solely from individuals but is also because of the expectation that she is burdened with.
Another word doing the rounds is “manifestation". If you want it, manifest it, hustle, and get it — that’s how it goes. Making people feel the need to buy things they don’t need to reach a state of “happiness" that is unreal, is loosely unethical. That’s the foundation of capitalism. People have dumbed down to a level where now they refuse to think or question things. This is the first sign of slavery.
Numbness is what we all have collectively transcended into.
For me, this is just the beginning of lifelong alienation. But we all are alienated from the realities of life, and me, the world.
There is something liberating about opening your eyes and seeing the world for what it is rather than what you want it to be.
I thought this was just a mid-life existential crisis. But on the contrary, it is an eye-opener. I don’t think it’s a phase unless I voluntarily want to be numbed into stupidity, slavery, and mindlessness.
Corporations also feed on desperate people and often their greed. The puppeteers, if I may call them that, even in the show Squid Games, thrive on others' misery. In the context of the show, their death. It is metaphorically morbid. The rat race to get ahead, watch people lose, and claim the jackpot are really the foundations of capitalism. It teaches you to pull others down to get ahead. Artificial scarcity is created to fuel competition. Well, the competition starts in school. It’s toxic. We can flourish without it, without bringing another down. Post-agricultural revolution if there is a scarcity of food, it’s created to profiteer. That’s the kind of world we live in. A man-eat-man world.
We do get affected at a conscience level but have learned how to divert our minds with excessive TV viewing, shopping, unnecessary holidays, or mindless just social media scrolling
This so-called success and money comes at a cost. The currency here is mental peace. Your EMIs started the moment you stepped into this toxic unreal world.
