Dear Diary,
What do I mean by stating that my Facebook doesn't understand me?
Well,
several things, as a matter of fact. Computers, information technology,
and not least the Internet have meant a fundamental change to the way
humans communicate, relate to and entertain themselves and each
other. The newest sprout in the virtual garden of Humanity is
Facebook which on the one hand presents fantastic possibilities
for reaching out and on the other hand entails frightful
consequences for our possibility of reaching deeper than a few inches
of topsoil, as it were.
It
began with small groups of “friends” connecting either due to
previous acquaintances or the need of “networking” at least
semi-professionally or because they shared a cause, an interest, or a
debate that they wanted to delve into more. But today Facebook is a
rapidly becoming not only a commercial machine abusing people's
personal information for profit but also a completely unstoppable,
uncontrollable and actually unpalatable 'mal-stream' of would-be consciousness and conversational litter from the chattering classes,
which by the way seem to be threatening to engulf just about all
humans on Earth, including the once-thinking ones.
I've already
let you in on the fact that I'm a Dane. Well, Danes have another
informal Constitution besides the laws of Jante: 'The rules for Happiness'. And yes, the rules
are FOR happiness as no Dane will easily get by expressing any
kind of anger, frustration, sadness, sorrow or just moaning at the
sometimes cumbersome existence on Earth. Express but one critical
concern, let alone one ounce of dismay, and the 'Happiness Police' will
be all over you! That's actually an additional and a fairly good
reason for writing in English, it occurs to me now …
And
Danes are reportedly the happiest people on Earth – at least when
you ask themselves in a public-opinion-poll kind of way and compare
their answers to well-prepared questions with the replies of people
of other Nationalities. Much has been made of the fact that Modern
Danes may be regarded as almost a tribe, after losing our little yet
not unimportant Empire in the parts of Europe around us and various
slave colonies that we prefer to forget about, and before we in the
late 1960's began receiving about as many non-European immigrants and
refugees as well as their families in about 30 years as we received
in the 300 years preceding that, i.e. since the Danish Nationality
and Naturalization Act had to be introduced as we were left with
ourselves and to our own devices.
That
"influx", the results of which is well under 10% of the entire
population, made for quite some rumble in the Danish jungle and meant
that a former anti-tax party, the so-called Progress Party, turned
from being ultra-liberal bordering on libertarianism and right-wing anarchism to
being extremely nationalistic Conservatives and most of the party
went on to form the so-called Danish People's Party – a party that
almost 15% of the electorate vote for because of its mix of
populism, xenophobia and a self-imposed role as the guardians of
Danish welfarism, but few will publicly admit to what they are doing
in the voting booth.
This
brings the Danish 'Happiness Rules” into a somewhat different
perspective, as the Danish People's Party embrace some of the
traditional Danish “happiness” but is careful not to extend that
to non-European foreigners … Moreover, the party presently
commanding almost 35% of the likely-to-vote respondents in the polls, the so-called
Liberal Party, has not only been building a political coalition with
the Danish People's Party but is also claiming to share their core
values. So, quite a lot of Danes are in fact not that satisfied, at
least not with their neighbours, and that actually goes for certain tribe
members that are out of bounds as well.
Much
has also been made of the fact that Denmark has a fairly large degree
of equality compared with other countries and of the fact that the
Danish national welfare state
provides for the now world-renowned flexicurity –
a unique combination of state-provided social and economic security
combined with a high degree of flexibility in the job market -
which many politicians and
economists around the world see as a great act to follow, and I
suppose that most social scientists and just generally sensible
people will surmise a certain connection between flexicurity and
equality.
It's
something of a pity, then, that the Danish political (and economic
and cultural) elite has more or less decided to dispense with both
equality and flexicurity, and they have already made extremely
important inroads into the very social fabric as well as the law that
underpin both concepts. I suppose that to a Liberalist, flexicurity
and equality in a society based on Capitalist principles, albeit with
a “human face” and a democratic state with separation of powers,
must seem like the bumblebee that flies even though science until
recently viewed it as totally unable to do exactly that.
And
yes, Scandinavia was probably fortunate in having a key strategic
importance during the Cold War where the nuclear capability on both side would mean an almost assuredly extinction in case of war and where any kind of social bribe was
allowed as long as we stayed in line against the terrible Communists.
That together with our tribal nature, the terrible memories of the World War II that actually did bring both Capitalism and Humanity close to extinction, and the necessity of making ends
meet without an empire but with a strong tradition for seafaring and
trade probably made for a general consensus between classes and
groups that we all stood to gain from banking on education, stability
and a certain degree of social tranquillity. That understanding began to
crumble under the two so-called “oil crises” in the seventies and
ended altogether when the Berlin wall tumbled down.
I'll
also let you in on another fact about myself: During my first fifty-something years I have moved
between classes, as it were, and in the later years I have come
dangerously close to the bottom of the Danish happy-go-lucky welfare
society. When people in the societal elite make a point, people down
here turn it into a punch! What for a publicly renowned scholar may
just have meant as a whiff of an idea is quickly turned into a whack
when people at the bottom take their frustrations out on each other
at being both the in the underclass and at same time being blamed for
not only having caused the banking crisis by in general living as
“fat cats” beyond their means (whatever that means). Sorry, did I say
“frustrations”? Naturally, I meant their happy and noble savage
instincts that are made especially keen by living in the sewer of the
so-called Modern developed world …
Having
to do battle with about 17 chronic illnesses as well as the publicly
paid 'compassion workers' (strictly nine to five!) and my fellow
'bottomers' does sometimes make me moan. I admit it. And as I as a
perfect gentleman or at least a man that has made my way through
countless encounters without being careful to have money, official
position, network, children or at least friends to show for it
(except sometimes my Ex-wife), I have from time to time been using
Facebook to vent and ventilate my darker thoughts – among various
philosophical, political, ironic and more commonplace statements and
links to my undoubtedly ingenious writings (!)
I
have been careful, though, only to vent such feelings to what on
Facebook is known as “friends”. More general statements or even
writings I am both courageous and foolish enough to make in public,
hoping that someone will listen sometime. However, my Facebook
friends do not seem to care for my intimating sides of my soul that I
don't feel should enter a wider public. On the contrary, they either
shun me or shame me. I have been taken to school many a time by some
person that I knew to some degree at some time – or somebody that I
would like to know or – it does happen – would like to know me,
apparently until they do - know me, I mean …
A
good example is a man that I once studied political science with and
who has had a relatively successful career as a University Senior Lecturer with a more or less comfortable life resulting in i.a. two
grown boys and an estranged wife, a nice house and considerable
tax-supported pension savings and an all but theoretical knowledge of
illness. He got enough of my moaning and told me in mail sent from
his comfortable University office that it ill behoved anybody to be
bitter whatever their particular fate and (mis)fortune...
On
my Facebook profile – which few if any read – I have as a
favourite quotation Shakespeare's remark put in the mouth of Benedict
in the third Act of his Comedy “Much Ado About Nothing”: Every
One can Master a Grief but He that Hath it!
Unfortunately
very few seem to know the quotation, let alone having understood it,
including my now former friend above who probably did have a point
but who also grossly mistook my pitch-black humour for something
else. However, I can back my claim that few have understood Man and
World as well as Shakespeare with the experience of another of my
Facebook friends, actually a guy I have yet to meet in person but
know from a patient organization and with whom I have exchanged
experiences about an illness that we are 'happy' to share.
Some
time ago he wrote that he had had to move home and go under cover
because of a steady pursuit of a woman scorned … Apparently this
woman had for a short while been having an affair with him – and he
with her – and she among undoubtedly many things revealed to him
that she had a problem with rejection. I'd say!
After
a row she had told another former boy friend that my Facebook friend had
threatened their mutual child, bringing the boy friend in such rage
that he made his way to my friend and demanded to be let in lest my
friend wanted to be killed. My friend showed outstanding nerve and
presence of mind by opening the door and inviting the enraged parent
in for a cup of tea! They had a nice chat about common experiences,
including those with the former boy friend's former girl friend, and
the father left in relative peace.
However,
my friend now decided that his relationship with his present and
obviously emotionally frail girlfriend should end and told her so.
After that she arranged somehow to have him attacked in his own flat
by somebody wearing ski mask who first smashed down the door and
proceeded to try so smash my still half-sleeping friend with a very
blunt instrument. My friend ran out of his apartment ASAP but the
attacker caught up with him and tried to finish the job. A third
party, a woman who seems to have everybody's mutual friend, occurred
at the scene and persuaded the attacker that my friend had had
enough.
My
point is this: When my Facebook friend mentioned in a status update
(i.e. a sort of statement, once of the week, then of the day, and nowadays
about about every half hour) that he had had to move due to an attack
arranged by a former lover, I was the only one to express sympathy
with the poor man and his predicament. Some “liked” his move –
or the status reporting of it, and to yet uninitiated non-Facebookers
I would like to explain that this means clicking a button that says
“like” under the “status update”. Others, especially woman
friends, made jokes about the cost of moving, problems with former
lovers and the like. I hope that my memory is playing a trick on me
but I seem to remember one comment in the nature of “That'll teach
ya!”
The
Happiness Police have done their job well! Together, I am tempted to
add, with the general decay of any meaningful message being able to
penetrate the Facebook network as it grows thicker and thicker. The
problem for my friend was not only that he too is a Dane and subject
to the whims of the Facebook owners that keep changing the rules on
people, but also that being a relatively unknown personality only few
saw let alone thought about his update in the Facebook maelstrom.
Moreover,
in Denmark we are still living in the Dark Ages when it comes to
realizing that women are actually capable of being just a violent and
mean as men. Surveys in other countries like ours, especially among our
Norwegian 'brothers' but also the UK and the Netherlands, have shown
that the two genders are rapidly approaching a tie as to the score on
physical violence. Not to mention psychological violence in which I
doubt that a company like Ladbrokes would even considering taking a
bet! However, in Denmark violence of women against (male) partners
has yet to be examined and in the midst of more than fifty shelters for
battered women there are four shelters for men – that batter their women
...
But
back to Facebook: A public figure or a pundit or any other member of
the true elite, contrary to a relative obscurity like my friend, can
basically write “fart!” and will instantly receive umpteen
“likes” straight away, either because some “friends” want to
flaunt their friendship with a well-known person, because the person is their (potential) boss or because they
think they know what is meant or because they are afraid to reveal
that they don't know what is meant by “fart!” in this case, let
alone disprove of such a comment for any number of reasons that we
shall never know.
In
Denmark, the combined economic, political and cultural elite consists
of approx. 5000 people that are in the Media all the time already -
only now on Facebook too, sometimes with their latest whiz kid - but
not, they claim, because they are notorieties but because they know
and say everything that is remotely interesting in the Danish debate
… Because despite the laws of Jante Danes are bowled over by "Celebs" the best example of which can be seen in the popularity of an
outdated and undemocratic and illiberal institution such as our
Monarchy and the attention that is paid to every move, including wrong
ones, they make.
Some
have tried to convince me that all this could and should be solved
with – of all things - an “unlike” button on Facebook… This
suggestion seems to me akin to suggesting that we should both explain
and counter the dramatic rise of diabetes - all across the world and
with both types 1 and 2, by the way – by inventing another name for
sugar! (Disclaimer: This was not intended as a pun on the name of the
Facebook creator ...)
It
is fairly easy to predict what would happen if such a suggestion was
carried out: People would be clicking “like” more eagerly than
before, thinking now they have a choice, at every utterance by
somebody who 'is' somebody, while those that risk the wrath of the
Happiness Police and the Facebook Light Brigade by merely suggesting
that the Emperor has no clothes on – and what is worse nor have
millions of starved children in the world – or even hinting at a
personal problem would be “disliked” from here to Eternity …
Not to mention how mobbing would entail a completely new and very
virtual meaning!
So,
dear Diary, I have told of my first problem, apart from being ill and
poor, which contrary to International belief is much more closely
connected in the so-called welfare state of Denmark, as well as being
bereft of e.g. a job network as well as a family of my own: Only
having Facebook “friends” left. Soon I will probably only have
Facebook left! What should I do? Is there a life beyond Facebook? Is
there any substantial meaning that doesn't require a Facebook link?
Is there life on Earth?
Yours
truly,.
Claus
Piculell - in some semi-detached part of Denmark ...
