The Curse of Our Society

There’s a great interview with the comedienne Sue Perkins in The Word magazine this month in which she puts in a nutshell what I think a lot of people feel:

It’s the curse of our society, the relentless pursuit of unimportant things, a terrible capitalist trap. Our society as become, ‘Have you met targets? Have you failed or succeeded?’ I permanently feel like I’m chasing my tail. I feel like a victim of that. Teachers, they’re constantly told they’re disappointing and equally, children. Children are told the exams they’re sitting [snootily], ‘Oh they aren’t as clever as when we were doing O-levels.’ Can you imagine?  To be told what you’re trying to achieve is meaningless? Coupled, again, with expectation, with the spectre of failure everywhere. Kids are just bombarded by depressing notions all the time. About how dreadful they are. It’s all labelling, so early. I think the kids are f***ed.

So true. I must pay tribute to the genius that is The Word. I subscribed after buying the first issue and this one is number 50. It doesn’t just look at stuff that’s being marketed and it refuses to bow down to the god of 5-star ratings. Pure genius, it really is…