Click, Click. Are we Machine or Are we Human?

I was planning on drawing again, but then I wandered upon this beauty by Flickr user Tobias Higbie.

Although I indirectly blogged about it last week, I didn’t make it quite clear.  Mr. John Steinbeck couldn’t have hit the nail on the head with the shocking claim that man created an intangible machine, an idea.  More or less, it’s the idea of a hierarchy and the concept that humans are replaceable; a mindset, I would like to point out, that may have been catalyzed by the Ford assembly line: faster, more efficient, one job, quicker, do it better, one task, another can easily take your place, work harder, better, “rinse, wash, and repeat.”  And what sprung forth from that idea was an unfeeling, uncaring, and selfish society.  I stated that “We are President Snow” referencing this machine, or rather one of the effects its had on us– tunnel vision.  But this time, (like March Hare) I plan on addressing what it’d done to us overall.

Everyone is taught that if you don’t catch up, you will never catch up.  If you get to the top, you are bound to be surpassed.  If you don’t match up, no one will care, you are replaceable, disposable.  There are so many amazing people, smarter and more modernized people, what makes you special?  Why should we keep you if all you do is hinder the company from its full potential: maximum profits?  The company.  My company. That company.  Companies.

In this era, people do dealings, but the status of the company is what matters.  Not the health of the people working their butts off to making it successful.  Not the good the company or the people in the company do, good deeds are usually commended for a few seconds and tossed aside.  Of course, we’ll listen to the scandals that a company employee did or a board member.  Ooh the corruption.  Let’s throw them out.  We’re not making enough revenue.  Just to back this up, here’s a list by Forbes of CEO’s, who also happen to be the founders, who were thrown out of their own companies.

How did we get so tangled?  When did we matter so little to those around us?  When did we become so worthless?  Since the machine took over.  Since we as a society valued scandals, profits, money, material wealth, and shortsighted gains over the lives of other.  Somehow we now find it easier to care for the well-being of an idea, an intangible thing, than we do other humans. 

Human… Are humans in high society even human anymore?  Aren’t we all a series of the same thing over and over again?

Wake up at 6, maybe 7 if we’re lucky.  Get up.  Stretch.  Rub the sleep out of your eyes.  Brush your teeth.  Brush your hair.  Wash your face.  Dress.  Greet your family.  Grab a breakfast.  Grab a lunch.  Say goodbye to the family.  Start the car.  Grab a coffee.  Go to school. Sit in a class.  First Class… Second Class… … Fourth Class… Lunch…  … End of the day.  Go home.  Greet the family.  Do homework.  Use technology.  Click buttons.  Scroll.  Click “Like.”  Repeat for thirty minutes.  Eat dinner.  Sleep. … Back to school.  … Take tests.  … Graduate. … Get more education.  … Train for a career. … Meet someone. … Settle down, but never stop. … Have a family. … Greet the family. … Go to work. … Grow old. … Love. … Regret. … Sleep. … Sleep… Goodnight… Forever…

That was morbid wasn’t it.  Yet, isn’t it true?  Yes, everyday warrants different surprises.  But in a way, every day we live, is similar isn’t it?  Everyone’s lives are similar.  We hardly stand out as individuals anymore right?  Without saying, this is what everyone knows.  We know that society sees us as dispensable, easily replaced, forgotten, sent into oblivion.  That’s why many of us try.  We try to stand out.

I have to get smarter.  Do better.  Work faster.  Do more.  Learn more.  I want to matter.  To people.  To who?  To someone…  Anyone?  Society.  The machine.  Why?  Who made these rules?  Who made me insignificant?  What’s the point of this all?

Augustus Waters was right when he said with that side smirk of his that he fears is “oblivion.”  Don’t we all?  We try so hard everyday, but in the back of our minds, there’s yet another truth: we’re only going to be remembered for so long.  Our stories.  Our lives.  Our love.  Us.  Me…

This is the machine.  This is what the machine has done.  It has brought us wonders of manufacturing, yes.  But it has rendered its “masters,” all people, who supported its creation thinking that it will benefit all humans, effectively expendable.  We are now the expendables.  What are we to do?  We are the farmers thrown off their land.  The ones rendered seemingly insignificant.  What can we do?!

Just some thought I felt the need to get out,

Cheshire.

A/N: I’m so sorry I made that super depressing, but a lot of things have been tugging at my mind recently.    *sigh* I’ve been overtaken by the machine.  I pretty much have most of my life planned up until the end of my senior year.   After that, I have an outline of the next 15 years of my life.  It’s a lot to deal with and too much to accept.  Probably doesn’t help much that I listen to a ton of sad music (my favorite), but ranting about stuff and listening is how I like coping.  It also helps to know other care; it adds a level of mattering to my life. *Oh… disclaimer:  it sounds like I’m rather depressed or twisted at this point in my life, but I assure you, I’m alright.  I’ve got a great group of friends to make sure of that. ❤