Saturday, June 09, 2007

All Roads Lead Back to Where You Came From

It used to be said that 'All Roads Lead to Rome'


We now seem to have 'progressed' to the point where All roads lead to a destination that usually bears a depressing resemblance to where you came from.


Thanks to Budget Airlines, the wonder of the 'Free' Market and modern Communications, every man, woman, child, and sometimes even Pet can now venture out to virtually any destination. When they get there, they expect to find the same 'facilities' as they have at home and the tourist industry is only too willing to oblige. The result is that everywhere you go is beginning to look the same and you will also have a very good chance of meeting your 'compatriots' whilst on your trip.


I used to be quite a traveller and believed that 'travel broadens the mind' but I no longer think that this is the case. There is almost a 'zen' thing here, where the ease of getting to a destination alters what you will find when you get there.

I really cannot be bothered to 'go' anywhere this year and have no intention of joining the 'Package Holiday' herd. Of course, I realize that there are plenty of 'Middle Class Bohemians' who would agree with me and urge me to opt for an 'Adventure Holiday' or 'Independent Travel'. I have a certain amount of sympathy for this approach but the all pervasive 'Market' is already addressing this 'Need'. 'If the more 'Individualistic' Middle Classes crave Adventure or an 'Experience' then we must provide it for them' !


I am really fed up with rip off merchants providing me with 'Solutions'. I am tired of my 'Needs' being 'Fulfilled'. I am weary of spending Money and Time, only to find more of the same. I am fed up trading what little Personal Autonomy I have left, for the Energy to resume working for a System that I do not believe in.


Consequently, there will be no 'Summer Holiday' this year. I have no idea what I am going to do, as an alternative but it will not consist in 'Consuming' a Holiday Destination.


My problem with the Consumer Society is not really Ideological. It is a deep, Existential Boredom with it all. How 'Dull, Stale, Flat and Unprofitable' it all is. There must be something better...