Who Said That
Dagge Reflects
Dagge had not had much to do with Yit, however, one day at the studio, Yit had a long voice over session. Dagge was impressed with how he remained calm and consistent. There was an agency representative and two client reps.
The client people appeared to be in a battle with each other over who would decide on which take had the most appropriate emotional expression to highlight the virtues of the product.
Yit appeared to be completely unfazed by all this. He was alternating his behaviour, but the voice did not really change that much. Tingles was her usual calm self. The agency rep, Pamela was smiling and nodding in a way that Dagge thought was becoming more and more like a mechanical doll.
When it was time to pack up, Dagge said to Yit, that looked like a trial.
Yit smiled and said, it is fairly normal for a voice over session. It never ceases to amaze me at how much emotion a product can project through the human voice. I must be some sort of medium Dagge.
Yit said that he had been reading about the industrial revolution and when mass production replaced the craftsmen, it was said that the workers were alienated from their work. Well, Dagge, this worker has been aligned with the product so much, I am now part of it.
Dagge thought this Yit, is a wit.
As they walked out of the studio, Yit said, at the Business School do they ever talk about people.
Are you kidding, units, costs, statistics, dehumanize absolutely everything. The theological monks at the Business School will take you to the dungeons and chain you up, if you have not understood this fundamental fact of economics. Capitalist economics has nothing what so ever to do with humans. Sorry, except, why it is necessary to drain the last drop of blood out each and every one of them.
That is why the capitalist economic monks broke away from the old religious monks, people have a tendency to undermine good solid theoretical modelling.
Yit, there are some foolish people on this planet that have this concept called Political Economy. Where people are seen as the primary reason why economic decisions are made.
Of course, this is not taught at the Business School. There are underground groups that you can obtain material about this wayward concept, from.
Dagge was on a roll and Yit was a happy listener.
Since I have begun to untangle myself from the Business School, certain things now seem obvious to me.
For example, a small part of our day is involved directly with the material world, for essential life. Eating and discharging what our bacteria doesn’t want. The rest is all in our psychopolis.
That gridlocked traffic there is one hundred percent real. The reason for it, is not real. The very existence of it is possibly making our future existence, highly questionable.
The Business School has no means to understand this, because they are still teaching the virtues of, economies of scale.
Yit said, when I became aware that I am an ignoramus, my life was enriched. I took most things for granted, now, I am completely certain that people who claim to be authorities, leaders of society, are like me, the voice of products.
Dagge stopped like some character in a cartoon and slowly turned towards Yit. He stood there for some time, staring at Yit.
Yit, I have been ranting and raving for the last, however how long and you sum everything up in a few words.
Authorities are the voices of products, Dagge laughed out, like a lunatic.
All my years at the Business School and a talking tube of toothpaste, knew it all along.
They continued on laughing at their own joke. Yit said, that’s okay, no one else would probably get it anyway.
Concerns
Gut had headphones on his head and a vacant look on his face when Dagge approached. It took a few moments for him to re-enter his immediate environment on a conscious level.
Hello Dagge, how are you? I was a bit lost in an audio book.
What is it about, enquired Dagge?
It is about oxygen and how important it is for life, yet it has a major corrosive function as well, Gut said.
Dagge said, sometimes I wish I could swap my Business School education for a science one. I get more and more disappointed with my focus on human activity.
I sometimes wonder, if there was not this rapid rise in data collection through the advent of digital computing, how would humans currently perceive their world.
Humans who manage the world of humans are a bit like your oxygen, civilize behaviour requires management. But that management has become alienated from humans. Humans are not more efficient, but, recording their activities is though.
Dagge, I am probably about to change the course of this conversation by saying what came into my mind, said Gut.
Humans who are in positions of authority and are therefore making decisions that have big impacts on us little people, do you think they would be like authors of a book. What I mean is, do you think they make decisions that suit them, or the story. Or is it all mixed up.
Dagge was overcome by a sudden seizure, psychically and mentally. Finally, he said, you really know how to drop a KLANGER, Gut. Give me a moment to recover, please.
Silence hung over the pair for so long, it was a credit to them that they did not lose track of the subject. When Dagge did speak, it was with slow consideration for each word.
Sometimes Gut, I feel we are simply characters in some story. The universe could not possibly produce so much random madness that we refer to as our existence.
Is it only me that sees the madness of our behaviour as a species, Dagge asked himself?
I can understand that some unhinged author at a keyboard would find it entertaining to devise some fiction that really only represents his or her own short comings and understanding of The Great Universal Human Project created by a recognized God.
If I am a fictious character, give me a break, get rid of all these automobiles please, said Dagge, looking skyward.
Gut said, if we are characters in some story, I really hope it is not some detective crime novel written for people who have boring lives and we have to wait until the end for important information to resolve our lives, I mean the crime.
Then, what if it is a fizzer and it never gets published. The hard drive we exist on gets reformatted before it is sent to a recycling centre. Dagge was trying not to sink into depression.
Lucky for Dagge, Gut was not someone who would even contemplate being depressed.
Gut said, the more I think about it, the funnier it all seems to be. People of the civilized world read, watch and listen to great amounts of fiction. Children’s stories through to adult news media, that is it, a great big fiction.
Gut went on, then, there are these authors, authorities of social power who write all sorts of things, that are recognized as Laws and Correct Culture Behaviour.
I am beginning to understand the world around me, said Gut. We really are characters in some great fiction or fictions. The big question was once really simple, there is only one author, God. There may have been a few Gods.
Now though, through science, it is easy for a simple bass player like myself to see. There are lots of authors and they are neither chosen by the population, or have skill and talent. Some of them are outright nasty people, stated Gut with an exclamation mark! In fact, several exclamation marks!!!!!!!
Dagge was more contemplative now, rather than being depressed. He said, you know Gut, when you put it like that, it is a mishmash of competing and often conflicting narratives that we conform to.
It is no wonder western culture is so screwed up. I want my freedom to be, a serious jumble of nonsense that is way beyond my human ability to comprehend, said Dagge in Roman Senatorial manner.
Gut said, forgive me Dagge, I do earn my living in the entertainment industry and I deserve some lenience when I slightly diverge from the topic.
How long will it be before a recognized criminally insane person mounts a court appeal, claiming his or her crimes are a result of poor authorship by legitimate cultural authors? I am directly referring to authors who write nasty stories to entertain people who believe their lives are boring.
Dagge said, it is my turn to digress. The wealthy western world appears to be the result of endless amounts of fairy tales about its perfection for appeasing the human condition. No wonder millions of destitute and ambitious migrants want to come here to share with us in this magnificent bounty.
Dagge, once again took a pose and said, If I am a character in some fiction, then, my hope is that the author is a decent person who wishes no ill on me, or for that matter, anyone.
Here, here, said Gut, may only the decent authors of this world, write our stories.
Dagge reverts
Dagge and Bic were sitting quietly, breathing normally and generally at peace with the world. Dagge has been a more relaxed and a calmer person since he began working with Tingles at the recording studio.
Bic said, I have been reading about economic history this week Dagge and some things have not changed for thousands of years. I notice that there is little that separates power and wealth.
Ah, said a docile Dagge, at the Business School there is little mention of power. They use another word, success. I think the people in the humanities department use the word power.
Dagge started to move in his chair, he was beginning to stir.
Bic, he said, isn’t it funny how different disciplines use different words to describe similar things and sometimes the same thing. I suppose they only focus on what they believe is important to them.
Dagge was now sitting upright and looking intently into space.
Bic said, in the nineteenth century, archaeologists came across mounds of clay tablets in Iraq. They determined that these were accounting records from thousands of years ago.
That means that between producers and consumers there was a middle group of book keepers. I should say, tablet keepers, said Bic.
The good old middle class, said Dagge, that is us Bic. We are middle class westerners. The indicator of how well off a society is, how comfortable the middle class claims it is.
That is interesting Dagge, you are inferring that the Business School is the centre of this society we are a part of.
Dagge’s face became a slightly reddish. He was getting wound up from somewhere deep inside. Neurons were firing of their own accord it seemed.
That’s it, Bic, I have never seen it that way before. The middle class has been slowly building power by establishing these huge Business Schools in tertiary institutions. Turning every interaction into a transaction.
That is it Bic, TIIT, Turn Interaction Into Transaction. Pronounced tit, with a slight hold on the i. The breast, the source of life.
Attaching a numerical value to the most mundane activity in human behaviour.
No wonder they worship the mainframe computers at the Business School. What a giant leap forward that has been from the clay tablets.
Dagge looked like he was at any moment, about to leap onto the table and give a speech to the senate. Bic was showing signs of being more alert.
Dagge went on, no wonder the old religions are fading in importance in the western world. The middle class have seized power from them and that is the essence of our current society.
The bean counters have become so confident, they no longer need to disguise themselves as monks, hiding behind some meta-physical charade.
Of course, there are token elites, the so-called self-made billionaires, treated like Gods.
Of course, the aspiration of members of the middle class is to rise above their peers and become one of these Gods, because they really do know how these Gods are created. They, the middle class, create them.
Dagge placed both his hands firmly on the table in front of him and went on.
These Corporate Gods exist, because of the diligent hard work of the middle class to turn every moment, movement, grain of sand and spent bacteria into a numerical value that can be accessed in real time on any device attached to the World Wide Web, now better known as “On the Line”.
No more constraints on wealth, bring on the zeros. Billions and Billions of zeros attached to any number from one to nine and combinations thereof. Huh, no need for little piles of clay tablets anymore.
Bic said, where do you feel the power lays in all of this Dagge?
Dagge had to stop and regather his thoughts.
Power, well it is certainly not with the masses, even though they have grown in great numbers.
I think the Corporate Gods are not as powerful as Gods use to be, when Gods were immortal. I do believe Corporate Gods have greatly disproportionate power for their social worth.
The real power, Dagge stop talking and was suddenly plunged into thought, really, really deep thought.
Bic said, I think power is basically a primitive word that can no long be used in a meaningful way to describe many aspects of the current world.
It is useful when describing one country being able to dominate another by military means. Even groups within a society devouring other groups.
Dagge finally said, it would be a good idea if the last remaining survivors of the language departments in universities were given the task of deleting all the words that no longer can be used accurately to described something in the current world.
Sorry, the word power can no longer be used, because it has far too much social baggage attached to it. Please use a more definite word, thank you, said Dagge.
Bic said, Bawd described our society as some great monster that has no idea of itself.
Dagge snapped out of his state of deep thought and said, I can identify with that.
Dagge went on, that’s it. This great big glob of goo pulsating without any rhythmic coherence and bursting bulges of puss emerging randomly over its surface. Now that is cultural cringe.
Bic said, that is a very academic assessment Dagge, nothing to misinterpret there. But where is the middle class?
Oh them, those who tolerate the wealthy and suffer the inconvenience of having to find meaning for the masses. I think they are the goo in the middle, that is why they are called the middle class.
Bawd is not bored
Bawd and Dagge were sitting in the alley at the back of the recording studio having a break, when Dagge noticed some paraphernalia and said, look at that, some desperate has been here recently.
Bawd glanced at what Dagge had point to and said, that stuff has been around me all my life, it does not even register in my consciousness anymore.
Dagge said, I have always been interested why something so popular with so many people, is illegal.
Dagge, I am surprise someone like yourself, who has been to the Business School would ask such a question.
I do not understand why it is not taxed and regulated, said Dagge.
Dagge it is regulated and it is taxed, said Bawd.
Dagge had a quizzical look that Bawd understood to be, you will have to explain that to me.
First of all, said Bawd, there are a lot of well-paid important people in this society who are partly dependant on the illegal drug industry. Most are not even aware of the role they play.
At the top of the pecking order are politicians who, from time to time point out how, when they get elected, they will rid society of the scourge of drugs.
Next, are all the police, medical people, social workers, legal people, jailers, who are totally or partly involved with the users. Would they all be employed if the illegal industry was gone.
Then, there is the media, they get almost as much free content as they do from sport. There are always lots of illicit drug stories on a regular basis, to entertain those who think their lives are not so interesting.
Dagge said, I can see how that all increases GDP dramatically. Good economic figures are the result.
Bawd went on, then there is the supply side of the industry. The ones who spend, lots and lots of money. They are big spenders because they are show offs, who want to say look at me. I am so smart cause I drive a totally useless symbol of prestige and wealth. Not only that, but I drive it to the most expensive places, where there is no credit given, only large amounts of cash accepted.
The organisations above them, are globally interconnected, which enables all sorts of other activities to be made possible.
I have learnt about all this from being born into a community of those whose reality, is, believing they need to avoid their reality.
Dagge, it is my opinion that animals like us humans are very dependant on various forms of drugs for survival. Our bodies produce a range of uppers and downers, that served us well in our evolutionary development.
Now though, we are so clever, that all we need is a small amount of money and we go to the take away and get something to eat. No more having to fight off wild animals to survive.
Bawd continued; our bodies are not required to do lots of things that they evolved to do. Our minds, that make the decisions for these bodies are totally confused most of the time. Therefore, we have a tendency to want to boost those natural drugs in our system.
I think we have always had that tendency, said Bawd. That is why I keep myself interested as much as I can.
Intoxication looked really stupid to the child I was. Turning something pleasant into a toxic substance, looks really stupid to the adult I am. Also, being smashed is so boring.
Dagge sat there in silence for some time before he said, they mention addictive drugs only once at the Business School, Bawd.
They say, addictive drugs are the best consumer product there is. The consumer keeps coming back for more and more and more.