Walking Away from Toxic Contemporary Culture
How I try to keep my mind clean from toxic 21st century culture
‘Just let me be at ease and all by myself in my room.’ Fernando Pessoa
Hello readers! Today I’m back with a shortish post about how I, every day, try to walk away from modern culture. That’s right: at this stage in my life, I am so vexed by what’s going on today that I’d rather my mind be free from the twisted chains of 21st century society. That doesn’t mean that I’m advocating for a return to Victorian norms and values (these were pretty twisted…)…so let’s jump into it, shall we?
A photo showing my deepest wish in life: walking away from modern thought-loops, in a Gothic courtyard. Credit to Helena Deborah Photografie.
How I Stay Clear from Contemporary Culture
I avoid thinking in the left-wing versus right-wing political binary
That’s right: I do not label myself politically. The past years I’ve come across too many people who have given themselves to some sort of ideology. During my tenure at university, I came across a wide variety of dogmatic folks, and these people were exhausting. From left-wing, Europhobic communists to far-right morons who actually believed that Europe should recolonise Africa, every year had its hordes of political nincompoops. This has left me with a distaste of dogma. Although there are ‘progressive’ and ‘conservative’ ideas that are good and agreeable (note that I avoid left-wing/right-wing), there is a problem in labelling yourself conservative/progressive. Once you’re part of a political movement, you cannot dissent.
Apparently, there is something alluring about right-wing politics or left-wing politics, and what really got my goat was the fact that these people absolutely loved their own party, and were blind to the problems within their faction.
I don’t want to subscribe to this kind of behaviour. In order to prevent myself from engaging with the political culture wars ravaging the West, I avoid labelling myself. Instead, I try to be as eclectic as possible. Of course, there are things that I spurn: I will not sympathise with ideologies such as Fascism, Communism, Social Darwinism, Marxism, Bolshevism, Maoism, and Nazis (let’s add Andrew-Tateism to that list, a sexual predator). I’m perfectly happy to listen to people who are conservative or progressive: but they have to accept that I will never label myself as progressive or conservative.
Another thing I do is to read cross-politically. I’ve read books by the socialist William Morris and I’ve read books by the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. Same counts for matters of spirituality. I’m more than happy to read C.S. Lewis’ Christian works, and I enjoy them and often agree with them. But you’ll also find me annotating Baruch Spinoza’s Ethics and nodding my head in bewildered, deeply impressed agreement.
It’s like plucking fruits from different trees and making an eclectic, multi-flavoured fruit tart. By exposing myself to different political opinions, I prevent myself from subscribing to an ideology. Same counts for matters of faith.
I avoid escapism but I don’t oversaturate myself either
Although I may not confirm myself to a certain political ideology, I stay up to date with what’s going on in the world. Escapism is pretty popular these days, which is understandable. The popularity of fantasy novels, video games, TV series, and YouTube vlogs are a form of escapism: apparently, the world has gotten so tough that we want to flee from it. And I get it, I do. I love diving into Tolkien’s worlds and watching Narnia: but I don’t do it all the time. I read the news, watch the news, and talk to my friends about politics.
This does not mean that one has to be completely saturated in politics and global conflicts. That is unhealthy. I minimise my political and social readings to a few times a day, from trust-worthy sources like the BBC or the Financial Times. I keep myself up to date about what Elon Musk is doing, because that guy is scary as hell, but I’m not reading his Wiki page or watching his interviews. Yuck.
I read timeless classics and watch timeless films to avoid spiritual and cultural shallowness
There’s nothing I love more than watching The Godfather or reading a Brontë novel. Recently I’ve dived into James Joyce’s Ulysses and I’m also re-reading some of my favourite John Keats poems. The reason as to why I do so is to prevent ‘spiritual shallowness’. This has nothing to do with what kind of religion you have, or don’t have. ‘Spiritual shallowness’ is an empty void within one’s mind (and soul, if you believe in that), unfilled with purpose-giving, intellectually stimulating media. For example, continually watching the same, CGI-filled, one-liner ridden, cheaply made TV series, or reading poorly written novels, can fill one with spiritual shallowness. Spiritual shallowness is characterised by consistently consuming content that doesn’t prompt one to think. Of course, there is a time and a place for a romcom or something relaxing, but things that give ‘spiritual shallowness’ tend to verge on the ‘very bad action B-movie’ than a relaxing film or a comfort read.
One should not always consume intellectual/academic/aesthetic/creative content, every hour of the day: that exhausts the brain. But constantly reading, for at least ten minutes, difficult, challenging, rich, goal-giving, wholesome, inspiring work, helps. For example I like challenging myself to read T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, which is a work that lies out of my comfort zone (my go-to-genre is not Modernism).
I focus on beauty, not darkness, depravity, and moral ugliness
No, not ‘beauty’ in the sense that I look into a mirror to scrutinise my appearance. If you want to do that, obviously that’s fine, but that’s not the ‘beauty’ I talk about. By ‘beauty’ I mean reading books that give happiness, that focus on the lovely things in life. The Lord of the Rings is an example, but Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd would be a more practical alternative. Poetry plays a big role in my focus on beauty as well: Keats and Wordsworth focus heavily on aesthetics.
Staying well-informed on negative, yet important, world news and also informing oneself on good aesthetics is contradictory. Yet these two are possible. One can read the news on something bad- e.g. Trump’s bullying towards Ukraine- but afterwards pick up a volume of Christina Rossetti’s poetry, instead of an explicit crime novel. In a world in which books and films can show as much fictional darkness and depravity as real life, it is quite important to stick one’s nose into poetry, art and literature, so that one doesn’t get bogged down in the mechanisms of moral decay.
I avoid celebrity news
Celebrity news can get sordid, vulgar, and distasteful. Why would one be interested in the doings of millionaires and billionaires? People who live lives for the camera, for the screen, and who have their own feuds fuelled by a plethora of money? Most of us don’t live that way, so it may be better for one’s soul and emotional health to focus on something wholesome instead.
I reject sex-wars
Unfortunately, the 21st century is filled with ‘sex-wars’. Men hate women, women hate men, and there’s a dating crisis. YouTube and other social media platforms are filled with people hating on the opposite sex. Men are going on about how you should ignore women in order to get a response, how women should be dominated, and women glorify singleness and being ‘man-free’.
Neither of this is good. Men and women were meant to love one another, not to sow discord between one another. Therefore, I don’t engage with this kind of content. I don’t read radical feminist theories on how all men are evil, and that kind of stuff. I’m not saying feminism is bad- I’m a feminist myself- but spouting out theories about how evil men are isn’t going to solve anything.
For men, avoid misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate/Donald Trump. Women are humans, not possessions to be abused.
(why am I even writing the above….)
So these are the six ways I ‘walk away’ from contemporary culture. Naturally, a part of me wants to physically walk away from sex-wars, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, and the left-wing versus right-wing political mess, and live on an island in the middle of an unknown sea: but that’s just pure escapism and unrealistic. However, this method does protect my peace, thereby enabling me to confront these problems with a healthy mind. Perhaps, if we all would detach from contemporary culture a bit, the world would be a better place.
Do let me know what you think of contemporary culture, and if you avoid it or not. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
-Maryse