The Age of Applications & Appliances

Tales of Resemblances : II

 

 

 

 

 

 

I read a review recently by a friend of mine where she revealed her age. It appeared to me then that an age is sometimes ageless. Ages have come and gone and we continue to look to the one ahead. But this one has got me stumped because it involves so many issues and sensitivities. It deals with things so real that we seem no longer able to say what is delusion. But the washing machine still works and it still washes clothes, so I'm inclined to think that the coming Age is one of appliances and applications.

 

The Co. Maytag couldn't even give away washing machines when they first invented them in the 50s. In a survey the Co. carried out with housewives, they found that wives in general thought their husbands would think less of them if they didn't personally do all the chores in the home. Something to do with being caring.

 

But today there seldom is a home without a washing machine. Machines washing clothes ... that became a reality this last century. What does that say about what we consider real?

 

But the term for an age ought to reflect accurately our prime concerns in the lives that we lived. They called the 80s the designer 80s. We seemed to think we could shape and form the life to be lived, clothe it in a fabric so good that it'll feel like a second skin and you want it to be. The price itself was a fortune but as the researcher Eagleberger said, ( and I paraphrase ) ' you got to live it up once in a while.'

 

So what constitutes reality? Where does it start? What is the nature of its beginning?

 

To a young man growing up, it begins when he observes the events of his environment and by his own volition comes to find that people create an emphasis on speaking well, that grooming and dress is an important part of what we are, then he discovers that making people happy is a popular thing to do and of course, people consider that money is important to life.

 

Thereafter, that young man forms his responses by speech and mannerism that reflects this perception and attitude. And he assumes that he is perfectly normal ... just like anybody else. Is that real?

 

In Alice in Wonderland, a young girl spots a table set for tea and simply joins in and sits at a table, with the natural assumption that a chair is an invitation to sit down. Conversely, where we spot an real opportunity for us to get into and be a little active in life, we ought to move our arse out of the chair and do something about it.

 

 

 

Reviews

[Tony Z Sienzant]

Sorry Dayran, I may be a little cranky today because of lack of sleep.

[Dayran]

No offence taken. Come back again. tks for the interest.

[Tony Z Sienzant]

Okay you ask alot of questions. You never answer them. You set up some interesting things (like in the last one, are the trains running on time a work of God? which is an extremely eery sentiment because you inadvertantly brought up the same literal cognitive connections to 'trains running on time' which was the hallmark of Hitler's Nazi Germany).

I'm tempted to say this is bubblegum armchair philosophy. It's light. It's easily read. It says very little. Like maybe written for a contemporary social philosophy corner in the local newspaper, a kind of Dear Abbey for the academically minded or something?

I also think you are wrong in your assessment that the "coming age is one of appliances and applications" (btw, I think you should write it as the Coming Age or the coming age, not split the way you did). The Coming Age will be smaller communal societies, all locally independent of each other because the oil will run out in the next 15 - 30 years and our entire way of life not to mention our global financial system is propped up by the value of oil. Electricity will be almost entirely a thing of the past as will be cars, trucks, cell phones, and yes, washing machines.

It is very well-written, you're a good writer and you bring up some interesting observations but I'm at a loss as to what your intention is. You just leave things up in the air and the reader walks away with "that was nice." It doesn't really shake us up or challenge the idea of the way we live if that is your intention. In fact, it seems to reduce to entertainment, non-threatening to the status quo, easily dismissed, as it gives us a kind of comfortable mental massage.

Sorry to sound so harsh but I have to tell it how it really is to me. No offense. I guess I'm a little offended because you draw us in with evocative things to provoke thought but it's such a light-hearted trip, it doesn't really get into the meat of things (for me).

[Dayran]

I hear you. I guess I've come to create a subscription to the American fare these days ' to speak softly and carry a big stick.'

You're absolutely right about my treating these issues like a coffee table conversation. It is exactly what I intend. I could refer you to the nearest library to do some reading. I did, for the last 37 years and today I like coffee table talk. Besides, I think there might be ladies present. Tks again friend.