The embrace of decadence

Publicly, in society and in the media, the number one most respected and coveted aim has become to be someone who… does nothing. Nothing. Not to be an engineer, not to be a nurse, or a doctor, or teacher or any other role which requires hard work. People aspire to doing nothing, and is this encouraged by the popular media. It is wrong, it is misguided, and such people should be ignored instead of admired by society.

In order to show this, let us consider who is a respected female figure in society. Who appears all over the newspapers and is admired apparently by one and all? Who do many women aspire to be? That would be “Posh” Spice, Kate Moss, or perhaps Paris Hilton. Now let us consider why are they admired by so many. It’s not because of their intellect, their humanitarian work, their technical expertise, their sheer hard work in overcoming obstacles or their ongoing work in contributing to society. It’s not solely down to their aesthetic appeal, which is in any case questionable. It is because they have successfully achieved the aim, for one reason or another, of doing nothing. The same goes for our reality TV stars. They are devoid of any appreciable qualities, but are famous nonetheless. Political correctness and moral relativism stop us from saying out loud how shameful it is for people hold these values and for the press to encourage them, but shameful it is. And it is even more shameful if we make them famous just so we can pull them down.

Let us take another example of the modern embrace of decadence. The iPod is a very popular device. It’s one of the closest things to a miracle that is actually real, and is used by millions of people. You are at a cocktail party and the topic of the iPod phenomenon crops up. The conversation is likely to revolve around how great the design is (and it is good, being so simple) - but it is unlikely to touch upon the fact that the design was by far the easiest thing about making the iPod. It is a feat of engineering genius: the microscopic engineering of an 30Gb iPod involves a screen which is only 0.125 inches deep and displays 76,800 pixels. It has a 1.8 inch hard-disk which revolves 70 times per second and can hold over 750 songs (3.5 gigabits of data per square inch). Never mind your Da Vinci code - these are real life miracles. It also has a control wheel that uses the human body as a conductor in order to operate. The conversation is unlikely to touch on the overwhelming importance of the engineering in the iPod because, well, engineering is difficult… and therefore not fashionable. Accordingly, the decline in applications to study science has become a cause for national concern (in the UK at least).

One phenomenon which reveals just how shameful it has become to indicate any kind of intellectual inclinination is the the website Facebook, which has become a spectacular meme in society. Many grown adults have started to to use the site - continually - but not usually to discuss matters of substance together. More often to virtually “poke” each other, “throw sheep at” each other and the like. There is nothing wrong with a bit of fun. But a disproportionate value is put on “fun” now, and disproportionate time spent on it, above a more profound satisfaction which can be had from a deeper exchange. However, one senses that any attempt at profundity on Facebook would be something of a faux pas and would be greeted with the reverse intellectual snobbery which I seek to criticise in this article. In addition, the language which is usually used on Facebook is often the shorthand of text messages (which makes you wonder whether the writers are still capable of using real English at all), and it is used by university graduates. It’s a shallow language of superficiality and exaggeration. People will often say they are “good” (not in the moral sense), will address each other as “babes” and will put excessive kisses at the end of messages, which really dilute the intimacy and meaning of kisses themselves, in the same way that excessive swearing dilutes the effect.

You’re at the cocktail party again. On your left is a PR Girl for a large firm. She is essentially unskilled, but her job is to bury questionable practices and cast the activities of the company in a favourable light for the media. On your right is a software engineer who has spent five years studying engineering and who worked on a component for the iPod Nano. She won’t say she works for Apple, because she doesn’t like to name-drop, and in any case all major components in iPods are made by third party manufacturers (as is the operating system itself). Let’s say she works for Wolfson, who were responsible for the audio codec. Aesthetically these women are equally attractive. When one says she is “in PR” and the other says she’s an engineer, who do you think will command the most respect - indeed envy? It depends on the circles in which you move, but generally the PR girl (like “Posh” Spice) will be the star. This is lamentable and needs to change.

We see decadence in appreciation of literature too. Be it laziness in the reading of trashy tabloids or celebrity magazines or grown adults worshipping children’s books (e.g. Harry Potter) above serious literature - for example Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, William Boyd or Ian McEwan.

Respect for religion is also largely due to decadence and laziness in society. At their most misguided, people mistake religion as a shorthand for “moral” (they need only actually take the trouble to read the Bible to see their error). And they believe in God (without even having any clear idea of what they mean) because… well, it’s easier than all that science stuff. And the science stuff is not fashionable anyway - mystical stuff is.

From school days we are taught to hide intelligence. There is a stigma attached to it. It isn’t fashionable, it isn’t really cool. It is better to appear to be someone who gets everything for doing nothing. But then, secretly, everybody knows intelligence is useful and it is advantageous - and nobody likes a fool - so many people end up with a somewhat schizophrenic view of this important human attribute. This starts in their childhood and, incredibly, is maintained right into their adult life.

Let us remind ourselves of the facts to settle this issue. Wealth and celebrity status do not buy happiness. Working, having good relationships, being comfortable with yourself, and feeling the genuine rewards of all these things brings happiness. And these are the things that should should be fashionable. There is nothing cool about being a do-nothing waster, good looking or not. We can re-adjust our values and be proud of them. We can lift ourselves out of the current popular moral quagmire and set our sights far higher. We can change society and make it the way it should be, if we really care to do it.

If you are still not convinced, let me add one more thing: the millionaire creators of both Facebook and Google were not PR people. They were highly intelligent engineers - and it’s pretty cool what they have achieved.