Saturday, March 26, 2011

Grave New World

    Wow.  Just had my first MRI the other day.  It literally traumatized every cell in my body.  I was completely focused on the sounds - harmonics, chords, industrial beats, experimental noise.  I was absorbed in identifying the “noise” and actually very calm during the approximate half hour.  I even composed my tweet while in there.  “My first MRI.   Kinda Brian Eno/Greenday/Killzone3 auditory experience.  Edgy.”  That was the initial response.  Later that evening I realized every fiber of my being was distressed.    
    The experience was less than comforting.   It seemed like the whole thing - the machine, the operators, the basement level location, the unholy noises, were something that may have seemed futuristic in 1963 but in 2011 seemed like some worn out, archaic if not dangerous test for a decaying society.  I felt like I was experiencing Eastern block health care and certainly not top of the line American advancement.  Hence the Killzone 3 reference which was quite prevalent.
    I am not a fan of western/modern medicine anyway and the lab rat feeling I always get when they decide to “take some tests”  always inspires anxiety.  I can’t help but feel that the r&d that goes into  cosmetic surgery and pharmaceuticals would be far better spent on prevention and an assessment of 21st century living and it’s affect on the human constitution ( physical,mental, and emotional).  Our lifestyle is extraordinarily different from even 25 years ago but our routine physical exams and concepts of psychiatric health haven’t changed much.  We acknowledge obesity by putting nutritional content on the outside of products and on menus etc. Which is kind of like putting a sign outside of a casino which says “you may lose your money inside.”  We have no idea of the long term effects of half the technology we employ daily in our homes and kitchens and public spaces.  I was reminded in the tube of screeching industrial noise of just how far we have yet to advance and how absurdly pleased with ourselves we are for what looks to me like a caveman’s dream of utopia.

No comments:

Post a Comment