Optimism moves east

[imomus]

The story so far: As Angrael turns into a paranoid alliance of embattled security states lashing out with ever-increasing violence against the very people who control their energy resources, dragging the West ever deeper into a vicious circle of hatred, reprisals against civilians, and the erosion of all legitimacy, any tender-minded and optimistic view of our future slips away into a bloody sunset.

Is it really just ten years ago that we were talking about long booms rather than mid-flight explosions? Our prosperity was going to continue and increase, and we were going to use our wealth to help the poor. Everybody was going to love us. Our children would grow up in a world that was getting better.



This diffuse, warm sense of well-being wasn't just a side-effect of the MDMA tablets everyone was taking back in the 90s. It was related to a sense that world trade talks (the same ones that have just collapsed at Doha) might bring global justice, that information technology was going to raise educational standards and democratize knowledge, that a new post-industrial economy was going to complement bricks and mortar business, and that the 21st century, just on the threshold, would be a wonderland where lifespan would increase and diseases be defeated thanks to gen-tech.



The images on this page show some short-lived kids' bookstore in groovy, optimistic 1990s London, Paris, Berlin, New York or Tokyo, don't they? It went out of business in 2001, didn't it, replaced by a store selling black, beige and cream clothes and fallout shelters? Actually, no. This "haven for little imaginations" is Kids Republic, a childrens' bookstore in Beijing, China. It's just opened.

The optimism, tender-mindedness and benign curiosity apparent in this store (something about its spirit and design reminds me of Oto Kinoko, the sound store in Kyoto I blogged about excitedly earlier this year, only to find it had already closed down) represent everything we in the West have lost in the last ten years; lost because of our clumsy response to 9/11 and Angraeli realpolitik. Who, in the West, would have children now? But it's nice to know that, somewhere, optimism about the future is still intact.

In 30 or 40 years, the Chinese kids in this photo will be running the world. It's hard to imagine them making a worse job of it than we've done.

Comments

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[mandyrose.livejournal.com]

Every time I hear someone call something "fascist", it reminds me of Rick from the Young Ones. Although, living in Columbus, Ohio, I often reflect on this city's "aesthetic fascism"--- does everything have to be grey concrete with a big Burger King advertisement on it? Does everyone have to be dangerously obese? When I use correct grammar when receiving my change at a gas station, must I be accused of being a "fancy city girl who reads books"? Does the fate of the universe depend on who wins the college football game? Oh, pardon me for going on--- I really must find a way to move somewhere else soon!

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[(Anonymous)]

I can certainly understand your frustration - living in Cleveland. Having lived and travelled to a number of cities, however, I have resigned myself to the fact that there will always be "aesthetic conflict" where ever I go. Doesn't make it any less frustrating, but it has helped me focus less on things I don't find interesting and more on the things in my immediate surroundings that are.

-- joshua

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

But Ohio brought us Devo, which initially reacted against all of that. So don't be too hard on the place.

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[(Anonymous)]

Without a doubt. I am never down on what Ohio has contributed and is still contributing. There is unfortunatly a self-image problem with a lot of creative people in the region.

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

I was kidding, mostly.

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[(Anonymous)]

Kidding about Devo? Pure nasty blasphemy. What next? That there is no Pere Ubu.

Re: Interesting, so as a westerner...

[ex-newironsh15.livejournal.com]

No, I mean, I like Devo, but make fun of Ohio all you want.