"Where are they? Where are the Orwells and Dickenses and Camus’ of today? The Sartres and Goldings and Ballards? The chilling answer to that questions is: they don’t exist."
I call BS. The reason you say this Umair, is because they are among us. The great writers and thinkers of our time are among us. They shout into the din of the collective for the most part, almost unheard, but felt and understood in a way that has never been discernible or describable until now. These writers and musicians and artists opened the door for the rest of us to walk through - creating spaces for greater connection and understanding.
It's the idea of the elevated heroic 'individual' that you seem to mourn. Truth is, we are all heroes these days. We should ALL be placing ourselves on a GD pedestal to worship and admire.
We have arrived at a point in our global / shared culture that there is no 'good' or bad' any thing. Everything just is what it is. Circumstance and context trump any and all critique any person or group of people could offer. Yes, there is some horrific sh*t out there - too much. If we actually acted on our collective thinking, we should have been be done by now, wouldn't you think? But we're still in shock over the new reality we've been dealt in the last decade or so. It's Ok. It will sink in, and then when we're good and ready, we'll actually act on it. It might feel weird or foreign, but at the very base of our being - we'll live with the change and BEGIN to LIVE again.
If you took a vote, of everyone alive - able to read and form an opinion about some of the crazy ass 'santioned' sh*t that continues to happen out there - I'm quite certain MOST would vote to #JustStop. There's enough of everything for everyone. There always has been. And guess what? If there isn't - for some reason - we still have the scientific advancements, knowledge and wisdom to know how to remedy the problem. There is no legitimate reason to commit acts of violence or terrorism toward one another. There's no need. Our planet is trying to help us understand this by turning the conversation to HER life, instead of ours.
Look at the demons of our past. There aren't many who have no excuse for their failings. The truth behind our failures is found in nearly every meaningful exchange/argument/decision of our day. Our leaders and cultural figureheads are no longer responsible for our failings. Our faults continue to lie within.
Those who do see, hear and feel the event horizon of the end of human kind - and do nothing to claim agency in the face of inane nonsense, chaos and doubt - are doomed to live and die a faceless, loveless and empty existence. Life and love exist in plain sight and are always ripe for the taking. We ARE culture - our humanity is comprised of ALL cultures. To ignore or deny it's celebration is another tick on the tally board for the kind of humans running around thinking there's 'something better' on the other side of this earthly existence. Poppy cock! This is it. This walking life of a sh*t show is all we get. So yes, if you have something to say - all you creatives out there - better say it now. Life is but a blink of an eye. Don't waste your time in spaces of fear, doubt or complacency - it's not what we were born to do.
We were born to shine - to live - to love, in ways no one has ever done or even imagined doing - ever. Do yourself and everyone else a favor in 2023; live and love radically. We'll all be better for it.
