Thursday 26 March 2020

Disruption Is Not A Sexy Word

I fervently hope that when we get to the end of the ghastly CO-VID situation, it will put an end to any notion that 'disruption' is any way exciting or sexy.

It is not.

It is destruction by another name.

Destruction of the good stuff as well as the stuff that needs re-thinking. It is no discriminator of what it destroys; livelihoods, families, mental health, physical health, our freedoms and choices, our human history and heritage - it really couldn't care less.

And at least one company has been doing it for years, yet strangely it's not exciting or sexy when Southern Rail does disruption!

It's a head frack!

So let's stop this celebration of all things disruptive and broken and turn our attention to mending them to the best of our ability.

Let's put the 'sexy' into consistency, reliability, loyalty and sanity. And prove that creativity can still be a viable bedfellow to these if it's fear of loss of creativity that makes disruption seem attractive.

And while certainty is something that can never be guaranteed we know that few people thrive on instability. On not knowing where their next meal or pay cheque will be coming from. We know what causes people to spiral and stop striving to be their best selves.

I also fervently hope that this crisis will not be used as an excuse to close libraries, museums, post offices, community centres, places of worship, art galleries, pubs, cafes, tourist attractions and everything else that facilitates social contact and cohesion, It seems an odd co-incidence that just as we are being driven towards an online cashless faceless society of social isolation, along comes a virus which drives us even further into the soulless vacuum of an online cashless faceless society of social isolation!

Let us also not forget that a good 20% of the population, either through age, disability or illness are not part of the online world and face complete discrimination and disenfranchisement if their currency is no longer legal tender for the brave new world ahead.

So thanks for the dolphins in the Venetian canals, but no thanks for the panic-demic, the deaths and the excuse for a police state. As soon as my fellow human beings stop being weapons of mass destruction, I for one, want to be amongst them again!

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