Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?: The Encyclopedia of Modern Life

Yes this is the title of a new book now out, that gives a commentary on Modern Life. I've not ready it yet but I will probably peruse it very soon.

I heartily agree with the title. I made the mistake of buying the Sunday Times at the weekend (free Donnie Darko DVD) and for the first time in months, sat and read the paper. How f*cking depressed was I when I'd finished. Every page was crammed with stories on corruption, cheating, murder, shady Govts, America and it's dirty dealings, money being spent on the silliest of things, compensation cases and sue sue sue stories, Iraq, more Iraq, the ice caps melting and disrupting the Gulf Stream (next ice age is coming within my lifetime ARGH), stories of layred bureacracy within the BBC costing us upwards of £70k per day, of their paid-for trips to the World Cup for staff, commentators and all their hangers-on, that 27 year old who gunned down his family in the US then decided to fly home to see his mum "to ask what he should do" (FFS!), then of course, bird flu BIRD FLU BIRD FLU IS COMING WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE MASS HYSTERIA PANIC OH NO MEDIA GLORIFICATION! FFS if we just treated our animals PROPERLY then these diseases would not manifest themselves. If this wipes us all out (which I don't believe it will at all) then we thoroughly deserve it.

I spent the rest of the day trying to concentrate on positive things about our world - the (unspoiled) breathtaking countryside, rivers and scenery throughout the world (that has yet to be logged, farmed, polluted, stolen, fought over, or built on), the stillness of a misty morning lake as the sun rises, the beauty of music that can reduce the most hardened person to tears, the wonder of art (not the modern crap), an act of kindness to a stranger (that isn't followed by abuse or criticism or suspicion of being mugged), the feeling of being in the company of good friends, the fantastic buzz of driving a car around the a racetrack, the wonderful fizzy feeling inside you when you first kiss someone you are crazy about, scuba diving and seeing the beauty of the fragile world under our seas (again, before it is farmed, polluted, overfished and over-dived).

After all those thoughts had gone through my head I still found myself feeling very depressed about the way the world I live in is going. Because beautiful countryside, first kisses, good friends, and morning misty lakes will never change the rampant greed, corruption and consumerism that is devouring our sick and dying world. What hope have we got??? I'm rapidly rapidly losing faith. I also don't want to read a newspaper again for quite a while.