A worrisome disconnect
A long story for a short post. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve been meeting with hedge fund managers a lot lately, as well as other smart investment banker types who are all smarter than me or anyone I know, especially (if only?) when it comes to economic issues. They are all apoplectic about the future. Not a little worried, I’m talking buy a home in the middle of nowhere, buy a gun and fend off the mutinying hordes kind of shit. Raise a billion dollars to capitalize on the possible future failure of the EU, the Euro and then probably everyone on earth except China and Brazil (who might just slow down, if we’re lucky). The conversations are pretty open, and if there’s more than one “money guy” in the room, they’re not arguing over the disaster to come, just how to profit from it, or avoid some pain.Let me be clear – NO ONE debates this potential reality, just how to profit from it.
I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that hanging out with them can cause pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth. You literally leave the “party” worrying about your future; but having none, you just give up and settle into a despair some might call existential if anyone existed anymore who said anything interesting like that.
Then I meet with people in the film, music and arts worlds. None of this is mentioned. If I bring this up, they laugh nervously and say something like “Oh, things are still bad, and that’s why we’re seeing things like OWS, but I think it will all work out. My donations are up this year.”
I don’t know. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m pessimistic (lets not get me started on how pessimists are always optimistic, it’s a phrase…), maybe I’m like a blogging version of Michael Fucking Shannon in Take Shelter and am having a nervous goddamn meltdown. That is a reasonable assumption actually, but no…I’m thinking that wishful thinking comes from us here in the arts, not from those more ensconced in the business side of things. Also known as reality.
There’s a big disconnect between those of us in this world and that one. I’d love to think that this one will win. I’m more sure that one will prove true, and while that in and of itself may make a better world, history is against us on all counts. If you aren’t thinking about how this might, and let’s just pretend it’s a big “might” for now, impact your future, then let’s just agree that you are potentially ignoring a very big, uncomfortable, very possible truth. Those of us in “this” world (the arts) should be thinking about this possible future and what it might mean. Best case, we have fun running apocalyptic scenarios on our future; worst case, we’ve wrestled with gun-ownership issues we thought were worth leaving to right-wing-nuts. Either way, we’ll all be in a better place tomorrow, and perhaps we can build a better system for that future regardless of what it might bring. Doing the usual thing, which is ignoring this disconnect (as we seemed to be doing in the run up to September, 2008), doesn’t seem to be the most prudent action.
Leave a comment