The 6th Day

An inquiry into this time of pandemic and how it encourages us to contemplate the scale of modernism fancy.

This is a Coronavirus pandemic-time Apocalypse-oriented vignette I felt the need to write after watching the movie The 6th Day (Arnold Schwarzenegger). I really hope you like it, so thanks for reading (signing off),

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"The modern world was about transit and networks and toys and cheeseburgers. Stewardesses were sexy and crime was syndicated. It seemed like civilization was some kind of carnival or vanity contest. However, how could humans keep such ebullience and blithe consciousness afloat after failing to do so during the Roaring Twenties?"

"Was this the End of Days? Were professionals and service industry workers becoming too apathetic towards the labors of tradition and austerity? If so, were we heading towards some serious humility?"

"As the young people of the world competed to come out on top of this great circus, movies about fantastic courage became quite iconic and comic books suddenly became a serious art genre. People wanted to glorify trophies and smiles."

"Unfortunately, the horror of 9/11, the shock of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the stories of random eerie urban crimes all over America awakened humanity to the reality of a complete failure of lifestyle-driven Utopia or paradise. Cheeseburgers and convenient hospitable coffee was not going to save humanity from the instinct of basic and unfiltered mischief or sarcasm. Horror films celebrating raw survival became as popular as comic books celebrating imaginative bravado."

"In this sort of bright city consciousness masking a dark side of convenience based human foolishness, civilization was set to become humbled by its own weight of lifestyle driven cold honesty. Coffee was as important as sex."

"Why couldn't toys and Disney and Kids' Meals at McDonald's dig us out of this strange pit of funny faces?"

"The media celebrated athletic gods and celebrity dolls. People believed in how toy like technologies delivered instant access to a media-driven modern world. Sports accessible in media represented civilization investments in socialized activity and a convenience oriented intelligence."

"Behind convenience concsiousness there is a backlash driving us towards natural rage and unrest, from people demanding more from these amenities about lifestyle and capital fortune and imagination. The World Trade Center was destroyed by terrorists, and artists were suddenly creating images of humans wrestling with the tangible reality of implosion."

"It seemed for a long time that this sort of civilization would be engineered purely by the great nerds. The great nerds were the designers and engineers behind online shopping, stock market globalization, and robotics toys. These nerds protected American cyber-highways from hackers and viruses. They were the new age Centurions."

"The nerds couldn't anticipate the implosion created by over-inflated confidence. Young people, too sensitivite to be blind to the reality of hidden human hypocrisy, could be found entertaining artsy ideas about rebelliousness and new age cartoons and movies marketed to youngsters focused more on anarchy themes."

"You might think that a sexy woman dressed in leather and metal in front of a souped up desert road warrior vehicle driven by her daring masked desert boyfriend would make it impossible to ignore the sheer fun of this modern age of great convenience driven conversation. After all, Apple Computers made devices for consumers that really looked like toys aesthetically, so modern people wanted to boast about these developments in imagination by showcasing a new kind of 'roadside confidence' not unlike that seen during the Roaring Twenties. This sort of 'wasteland glory' depicted in many new age comic books and movies and photographs represented the interest in declaring modernism a thing of wondrous candy!"

"Unfortunately, you might also think that ancient world 'gods' and new world 'folk avatars' such as Shiva (Hindu god of destruction) and Pennywise (fictional folk-horror film clown-demon avatar) would consider this sort of convenience based sensuality a thing of absolute ego. Shiva and Pennywise might even go so far as to declare modernism a thing of strange chaos!"

SHIVA: Apple Computers and Burger King represented human confidence.

PENNYWISE: Yet, they promoted daily indulgences and child-like behaviors!
SHIVA: Well, Wall Street will always be considered a factory for frivolity.
PENNYWISE: Yet, imagining tech as toys leads the mind towards vanity!
SHIVA: One can't fight vanity with generalized nihilism.

PENNYWISE: Yet, it's certain that movies cater to the imagination about indulgence.

SHIVA: Well, perhaps the solution to 'indulgence' if absolute humility.
PENNYWISE: The only way to promote such humility is through private prayer.
SHIVA: Private prayers can be coordinated with modern media, no?
PENNYWISE: I suppose Catholic television networks and websites allow for socialized solemnity.
SHIVA: That's the only way to separate design from dance.
PENNYWISE: I propose we encourage more science-fiction storytelling!
SHIVA: True; sci-fi is a genre that allows civilization to indulge in fantasies about controlled intelligence.
PENNYWISE: Some vanities would not destroy the human story!

"What's your stance on the Coronavirus quarantine? Do you watch movies and surf the Internet more? Do you monitor your kids who stay home from school now as they troll the Internet for academic stimulation? Do you think your local politicians care about disseminating the right information about lifestyle management in this time of a global pandemic? Can the Internet finally save the world?"

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)