At that time it seemed like another animated science fiction movie.
Yet it stayed with me throughout those years.
Three classes people Planet Savage:
You see the Lords, who do not move at all. Nothing. Not even their eyes. Some bluish hail around their heads is their means of communication with the world, of ruling it.
I do not remember if there are any female characters among the Lords. They seem to lack gender and human characterizations.
Then you have the human Slaves. A bluish collar is enclosing each one's neck, informing the Lord exactly where a slave is at any given moment. A monitoring leash is embedded inside each collar, controling the slave's movements and actions.
Some of the slaves, a very small group, have managed to free themselves from the collars and are leading a dangerous partisan life in freedom, always on the run.
I'm reminded of this film daily, by the Israeli political situation, by the way actually not only in my country and throughout the Middle East but all over the multitudes are still led by bluish or reddish collars.
How come intelligent people agree to be enslaved?
Is it because the collar is always presented as a utilitarian gadget?
Look around you and see that you might be possessed by a such one. You hold it in your hand, or pocket. Even in a theater. With it you're never left on your own. It's called "cellular" or "mobile".
In some factories or at conferences, you're to wear it on your hand, next to your watch.
Alas, life is changing, even Romance isn't what it used to be: When you need one of your hands to hold your mobile's mike and your mouth to talk into it, Love becomes one-handed.
I don't own a cellular, nor plan to ever buy one.
No need to, there is always one handy. The Modern slaves are good natured and ready to share their fate with partisan vagabonds...
There are too many walls around us, I agree. But I am also grateful that distances between people have grown shorter every day.
ReplyDeleteIs Internet better than mobile phones? Can we be completely isolated from the main stream, yet in the middle of things?
Well, Horia dear, of course you are right that we cannot close the world out of our life. The criterion, mine, is the amount of freedom each new tool affords or steals from us.
ReplyDeleteFor me the mobile phone is in many senses as damaging as passive smoking - it kills my peace of mind when I happen to be in public spaces. Actually the mobile serves to close doors of communication with the people around it's user (have you noticed young people walking hand in hand, each one glued to the personal mobile?)
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