Verbally assaulting a TSA agent can result in a fine of $13,910. That is so specific it must mean something horrible that will never leave your record and will ultimately cost you a lot more. A lot of things are broken here in “Merica,” including half the elevators in the hotel, the escalators at the metro, the elevators at the metro, half the streets around the hotel, the taps at the pizza parlor, the TSA Pre line security machine at the airport, the identification scanner at the airport, the elevator at the American Airlines lounge, the projection screen at the gate, the intercom at the gate, the bathroom at the sandwich shop, the bathroom at the airport, the water machine in the gym, the Wifi at the event, the water machine at the airport, the coffee machine at the coffeeshop, and the service industry at nearly every single engagement point you find yourself having to engage.
There is a creeping malaise as our great aging beast begins to show signs of wear. The idea of “Merica” is so grand and glorious and history laden, but the actor who walks out on stage can’t remember all the lines. “The Greatest Country on Earth!,” damn you. Exactly. Except for education, child mortality, healthcare, life expectancy, happiness, equality, or safety. Nothing that matters really.
And yet, things are pretty good.
The reason this great machine keeps going, at least in part, is that basic services still work. Trash gets picked up, the school bus stills shows up to drive your rotten children to school, and you might even get a refund on your taxes. Just today I checked out of the hotel and walked a grand total of two blocks where the broken escalators and elevators welcomed me to a public transportation option that would take me to the luxurious airport compound.
Sure, there was a guy smoking crack near the ticket machine, and another in a ski mask who quietly made me aware if I didn’t give him money for food there could maybe, potentially, be a “problem” between us. And sure, I made sure he knew that I had been stuck in a windowless conference room all week and that maybe, potentially, I was hoping for a “problem” so that I could vent my pent up energy on someone who would appreciate my vigor. For $2.95 I got a ticket to ride.
And the train ride was glorious. Above ground, late light cascading through the grand, old architecture and history of the city. Sure, the train was filled with those suffering from mental health issues and drug addiction, and the man next to me may or may not have called me a “freak motherf%$%$#$#@” then threatened to beat me to death, but he was suffering from severe scoliosis and the two security cameras were high definition and could easily have been used in court, so my surviving family members could collect from the transportation authority. Things are not that bad.
“If Trump wins in 2024, will there be an election in 2028?” the survey asked. Survey results, “70%: No.” I’m no math guy but that doesn’t seem good. And yet, things are pretty good. My flight was delayed, which is odd because the statistics prove that this particular flight has a 65% on time arrival percentage. Because I went to public school which prepares American children to be the elite of the world, I know that 65% is greater than 50%, which means that MOST of the time the flight is on time, but today it is not. This is what we learned to call a word problem. “If Dan leaves Middle America for Western America with $5 in his pocket and manages to avoid incarceration, what time does his flight leave?” The answer: “E” none of the above.
Things aren’t that bad. With the touch of a button, my world has been transformed into a futuristic playground of free expression. Democratic, egalitarian, homogenous freedom. Hardware and software working in tandem to enhance the DNA of human existence. I thought Total Recall was total bullshit when I watched it thirty times in 1990, but now I know it’s true.(The 90s were the absolute best, or so we thought.) When asked about why the software didn’t offer more, the expert replied, “Because you couldn’t handle it.” “We did the studies.” “We did the tests,” she said. “In less than ten seconds your attention was gone and you were already back your phones.” But remember, it’s not that bad. The system still works. If you can’t find the weak link, you are the weak link.
You might think I’m joking about all this, but everything above is true to what I experienced, but I’m also not joking when I say things are pretty good, especially compared to the 1820s, or 1500s for that matter. I wrote this because I am fascinated by things like the Negativity Bias. Especially today when so many of those around me, and myself from time to time, spout statistics about this or that while failing to realize we don’t need to hide from a dinosaur or die if we get bronchitis.
Again, all the broken things I mentioned were broken, but I sit writing this from an airport cafe that serves no less than a dozen kinds of beer, gluten free options and lists the calorie count for every dish. I attended an event focusing on an industry many would consider irrelevant, and I slept inside while enjoying indoor plumbing. Inside my bag is a camera with more processing power than what we used to visit the moon, and I’m writing this on a piece of highly refined exotic metal with a magical glowing screen. Does the store selling gummy bears charge exorbitant prices? Yes, but they know I will pay because there is no reason to live without them.
Negativity sells. And negative events are often remembered more vibrantly than positive ones. Someone said that the idea of “The Golden Age,” is only possible due to our bad memories. I said this about the “good old days” of photography often spoken about by folks who weren’t there. I remember waxing poetic to an older photographer about the loss of the darkroom for newspaper photographers. He said “That’s the best thing about digital.” “I never have to enter the darkroom again.” Screw the romance.
Are we as a nation dangling dangerously close to going professionally stupid. Yes. Does it look like we will solve this situation in the near term? No. But things are still pretty good. So, whatever it is you do, just do that to the best of your ability. Take your time. Avoid laziness. Avoid lines in the sand. Instead of searching for faults, look for what works. Build to what a platform offers instead of waiting for what they don’t. And keep learning. Forget your biases and just power forward. Our world is one of perpetual change.
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Much the same here in Germany. Since Friday I’m in the hospital/clinic, because a week ago, I fell out of my wheelchair and broke my knee (without feeling it) at “Stachus”, the main entry plaza to the pedestrian area in the heart of Munich, due to the horribly unmaintained surface of the pavement.
And yet, things are pretty good. I got transported by ambulance from home, got my X-ray on Friday and my CT today, the medics are planning how to fix my knee this week, and all this is covered by public health insurance.
Moreover, the escalator/elevator situations appears to be much better than over the Big Puddle.
But then, the toilet at my underground station got “closed for restauration” in April 2019 (“good old times”), but hasn’t been in service ever since (although from time to time, the lights are on).
Author
Public health care? No idea what you are talking about. I prefer to spend most of my income on private health care with four month waiting times for a teeth cleaning, no in person apps and bills that defy reality. My sis had a scan and four Advil and had a 30k bill.
Sorry to hear about your knee. But I’m glad it happened in Germany. That would almost sink me right now, financially, in America.
Author
Oh man, that sucks. Sorry to hear. A knee has got to be so painful.
You can add the AG23 Zine link on your site to the list of things that don’t work …
Author
Yes, we took the original site down and it’s being transferred to me, under a new build, but I’m not in control of it. So, waiting for the powers that be.
I think you are mistaken about the “golden age”. Some of us old guys still alive experienced it, and no, for a lot of photographers there was no golden age. But that’s partly the point. For many, there never has been nor ever will be one: not all of us of that vintage made it. For those who fell by the wayside, how can they possibly believe it existed without also carrying the scars of defeat? Nobody likes to make those things public, so it feels kinder to the self to deny there was such a time. That is the true perversion of memory.
You probably saw this thing in your own interest area of reportage photography: fashion magazines carried the same photographer bylines, pretty well unchanged, month after month, year upon year. Those guys were the undisputed flag bearers of that golden time, as were those who simply did the big advertising shoots.
The way I see it, that began to change only as the magazines saw falling advertising revenue. That opened the door to numerous youngsters who were willing to do it for the imaginary glory, which combined with the drastic fall in exotic foreign shoots, allowed those parsimonious publishers to keep earning their own big slice of the cake as before. Perhaps they made an existential mistake cutting buyer value in order to avoid personal financial reductions: longterm, it can only lead to buyer disenchantment. Today, quite apart from the fact that fashion photography no longer interests me, I see little value in those publications even for the current bunch of wannabes. The glamour seems to have fled. This is apparent across the board: look at a rack of such mags and they are as boring as can be. Was a time I couldn’t wait for the new edition of Vogue, the short-lived Nova, not to mention the old Playboy that existed before it felt in competition with Penthouse and lost its soul. Things, as they say, ain’t what they used to be. Trust me on that: it’s true.
…….You’re right. Freelance photographers were what is now known as the ‘gig economy’ or zero hour workers. It was difficult enough back then to budget your life according to how often you got hired; one month you could afford the rent, the next you couldn’t and so on. The insecurity of random earnings coupled with hugely delayed payments from multi million £/$ companies made life pretty tricky. Then, as Rob describes, came the digital generation and a whole bunch of chancers shooting for buttons. I’m pretty sure most genres in photography suffered from this. Now it’s the AI generation and the advertising shooters are feeling it. Murdoch killed the photojournalist, and pretty much killed news and features in favour of lifestyle and celebrity. The need for greed courted the perfume ads, and consequently the images of conflict. Brilliant photojournalists like Sir Don McCullin got kicked out and celebrity moved in. Real life became a fantasy world of glamour and privilege. This in some ways alludes to the way society has become desensitised to those suffering around the world. Here in the UK the fabric of the nation is full of holes, literally. Murdoch like Thatcher, decided that there was no such thing as society, and probably Reagan had the same philosophy. Those early shoots of the deconstructing of society, the ‘everyman for himself’ mentality has now seemingly matured into a gross divide between the haves and have nots.
Author
It’s a strange time, for sure. Lots of unsavory actions but still some embers of good.
Author
We had what we know now was a “Golden Age,” but it was far from perfect. I hear people waxing poetic about things that didn’t happen, or overlooking logistical things that they never even knew existed.
There’s no reason to live without exorbitantly priced gummy bears. See, this is the kind of nuance I look forward to in a Dan Milnor piece.
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ESSENTIALS.
Ha, this post and the comments are the highest-quality kvetching I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe that’s all we have left and we’re in a new golden age!
Author
Hey, that’s a safe this. “This IS the Golden Age.”
Milnor, I’ve said it before – you write really well. I’ll read this again, and will try to look on the brighter side of life.
Author
Thank you. Yes, news is negative because that sells, but the entire picture is often more nuanced and more positive
Dan I think I detected a note of optimism ear the end of your post?
Author
NO! Never. I’m a hater remember. That’s why my YouTube trolls told me.
Ha! I almost spit out my Matcha….😂