The Golden Circle...how to get by - by Simon Sinek

Today may have involved too much scrutiny. I enjoyed this, it made me feel inspired. Hopefully you will too!

Pop culture...always there to provide us with an insight into who we are!

For the sake of this post, I am going to treat "pop culture" as an animal.

Pop culture appears to be a very confused, impressively conflicted, and deeply depressing beast. Realistically, some Beta Blockers would really help it out.

More and more pressure is placed on this organism to act as a platform for consumerism, a catalyst for possible future mainstream trends. This is the biggest problem pop culture has to deal with. It is now, more than ever before, influenced by the accessibility we have to different culture, different views, different ways of life etc. We are all hooked up to the internet, which has made the world a smaller place filled with loud, incredibly polarized voices. So what does it do? It makes some incredibly crazy statements that sometimes go way wide of the mark in order to appeal to every single one of us.

Over the last few weeks in the gymnasium, while seeking out the "body beautiful" image I'm told I need to achieve (as opposed to the "be happy in your skin" image I should also be proud of), I have been aware of the "interesting" dance music channel that drums "waiting for the drop" tracks deep into my knees for the hour or so I'm in there. A first thank you to pop culture for making dance music hip, and incredibly un-experimental. But the worst thing about it all is...

1. Every song sounds the same, with some wild variations in poorly created videos lacking any care and appreciation for their art!
2. Each video seems more and more driven to trying to sell me something by loading the screen with hundreds of laughing-gas-loaded, scantily clad human beings having the time of their lives in things, while drinking things, then, after towelling each other off, driving things
3. I am sure that there must be some message in there teaching me the importance of acceptance of stuff or something

Wow, what a convoluted post. I'll finish off with my top three pop-tastic moments of the week...

Look, she's having the time of her life, don't be so subjective (or something).

Relevant (or something).

Cultural (or something). Globally hated though apparently.

A pixelated look at how small we really are!

I am often mistaken as a cynic, when I am in fact simply a realist. Cynics damn the world without offering anything back. Realists on the other hand, see what they believe are the flaws, then moan about them in a way they hope can result in positive, constructive change.

Having discussed a lot with friends recently about the current state of social and political apathy our generation is stewing in (more about that in another post), it seems the only real way to stimulate people into actually noticing what roles they play in society as opposed to their own successes and failings in life, is to understand how small and insignificant we might actually be. When we know where we stand in the world, we can then attempt to get up and be counted, right?

So here it is, almost irrelevantly, I came across this snapshot that shows how small we physically are - it's fun, and hopefully constructive!

Thanks David Paliwoda & Jesse Williams for making me feel small.

http://www.distancetomars.com/