The Idler, Wednesday, March 11, 2020

How tech

undermines

our values

IT'S true about the way digital phones/cameras, social media and the rest of the hocus pocus have begun undermining social values and normality.

In days gone by if you came across a fellow with his head stuck in a rubbish bin and yelling for help, you'd do something about it.

But in Aberdeen, Scotland, the other day folk just fell about laughing, taking pictures and video and putting them on social media.

It happened, according to the London Daily Mail, when somebody threw a cigarette butt into the rubbish bin. A homeless fellow went into the bin after the cigarette butt like a fox terrier after a rat. But the homeless fellow had dimensions sturdier than a fox terrier and he got stuck in the bin.

He yelled and screamed for help, and that's what attracted the laughers and picture-takers. It was 15 minutes before emergency services were on the scene, and in that time his predicament had gone viral on the internet and half the world was laughing at him.

But at least all they saw of him was his rear end – not really recognisable. All the same, charities for the homeless have condemned the attitude of the onlookers.

"Whoever the gentleman is I am sure, for whatever reasons, he wouldn't want to see himself plastered about all over the media. I understand it has gone worldwide but hopefully maybe people will take a moment to think, being in those shoes would they want to be laughed at," said Scott Baxter of Aberdeen Cyrenians."

The unfortunate fellow was taken to hospital and treated for facial injuries. We're not told what damage he might have suffered to self-esteem.

Jets scramble

SIX RAF jets were scrambled to intercept Russian aircraft as they approached British airspace last weekend, according to Sky News. The Ministry of Defence said the aircraft were tracked heading for the north-west coast of Scotland.

But at no stage did they actually enter British airspace. They altered course as the RAF Typhoon fighters approached.

Maybe the Russians were there only to waggle their wingtips at Boris Johnson's top adviser, Dominic Cummings, who spent three years in Russia after he finished university.

The Brits have still not been told what he was actually doing there. Was he, as some suggest, hobnobbing with the Vladimir Putin set? Or was he, as others suggest, merely whooping it up a bit and getting into trouble with the Russian authorities?

Potentially rather creepy isn't it? In all fairness, that parliamentary committee report on it – withheld before last year's election – really does need to be released.

Bees scramble

IT STARTED with a 911 emergency call in Pasadena, California, to say somebody had been stung by a bee. It developed into firefighters and police being attacked by a block-long swarm of between 30 000 and 40 000 bees.

Dozens of people were hospitalised and the police had to cordon off the whole block, according to Huffington Post.

The bees were from a hive under the overhanging eaves of a hotel.

"It was like a movie scene," said Lisa Dederian of the Pasadena fire department.

What disturbed the bees? We're not told. Perhaps it was blind fury at discovering that, in spite of their expertise with honey, they were barred from the honeymoon suite.

Tailpiece

A NEW song is climbing the charts. It's called Broken Alarm Clock Blues. It starts: "Woke up this afternoon …"

Last word

SOMETIMES the appropriate response to reality is to go insane. – Philip K Dick