the toxicity of Citizen and the dangers of Bright Eyes
Cutizen is an app that alerts city dwellers of local emegencies, traffic accidents, or simply "fellow citizen to citizen "heads up" and gives agency and freedom to share WHATS REALLY HAPPENING", and seeing what other civilians see.
the app sublinally adds to peoples anxiety log "what are those things happening around me thsg i van proactively be awate of in near real time! oh what a wonder!"
The app might have been designed with good intentions; allow peers to share neighborhood issues of emergencies and keep those who might have an interest and concern (for loved ones or property, etc).
It's nice to know quickly if anything, a watermain leak, or a nearbt fire, ALERT, and have a set of indivuduals sharigm their accounts and witness-ings.
but more and more (or always in pockets) its become an entertainment platform. a way to make you feel informed and safe or in danger or on alert, but to what end?
a way to gawk at car crashes and police enforments and cops and robbers propaganda to keep you feeling "smart, safe and well informed about whats going on locally, but really for also lulz"..
a way to wiegh in on and judge "vulnerable"/ dire (or sometimes completely batshit things are happening im your neighborhood$.
it gamifys real world events, we see the map, we choose which alerts and keyword etc, and gives us a feeling of agency while also showing the consumer of the Citzen app thst they are selling you "to keep alert and on edge and ALERT to recent horrors happening all around us all the time)hopefully you weren’t ikvolved and u feel lucky you werent in that car crash.
yet theres that endorphin rush of feeling like your one the scene and BREAKING NEWS.
but its a distrsction from systemic issues.
a recent bright eyes concert led to a brawl. ansurd notification reac like " 20 person brawl afyer Bright Eyes concert".
an event made to share listening to to live music, being a part of a celebration, together your shared affinity’s to the music. you are patron of arts and enjoying life.
but this. why? who knows. someone had too much drink, maybe the was a fight over petty bickers, CitizenApp will tell all the details surely... .
this "trolly", and clever joke explainations become the content: the takeWay, the juciy deetz...
but this is judg a bright eyes concert. this is all of the app and capitalisms problem - it feeds the consumer ehat they demand but who is paying
"So there was this woman and she was, uh, on an airplane
And she was flying to meet her fiance
Sailing high above the, the largest ocean on planet earth
And she was seated next to this man, who
You know, she had tried to start conversations
And the only, really the only thing she heard him say was
Was to order his, his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she was reading this
Really arduous magazine article about a third world country
That she couldn't even pronounce the, the name of
And she was feeling very bored and very despondent
And then, uh, suddenly there was this huge mechanical failure
And one of the, the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty-thousand feet
The pilot's on the, on the microphone and he's, he's saying
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, oh my god, I'm sorry' and apologizing
And she looks at the man and she, and she says, she says
She says 'Where are we going?'
And he looks at her and he says 'We're going to a party
It's a birthday party, it's your birthday party
Happy birthday, darling
We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much'
And then, uhm, he starts humming this little tune
And, and uh, it kind of goes like this, it's kinda
One, two, one, two, three, four"We must talk on every telephone
Get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues
From the books that we have read
And to the face of every criminal
Strapped firmly to a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stareWe must take all of the medicines
Too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher
Who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist
That sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must singAnd it'll go like this, alrightWhile my mother waters plants
My father loads his gun
He says death will give us back to God
Just like the setting sun
Its return to the lonesome oceanAnd then they splashed into the deep blue sea
Oh, it was a wonderful splashWe must blend into the choir
Sing ecstatic with the whole
Must memorize nine numbers
And deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property
And privilege to be one
We must run, we must run, we must runWe must hang up in the belfry
Where the bats and moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball
And only see the past
And into the caverns of tomorrow
With just our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
Way down to the very bottom of everything
And then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see itOh my mornings coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh, the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one
(circa 1995?) An little hidden gem of Pete Galub
for more of hid work go to https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Vyt11uX8HxWndMzRA
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