Russell Brand Vs Paxman and other 'make you think' videos

As of late and as a combination of the following- both my own interests (as a humanitarian, Marxist, not yet a fully convinced socialist, urbanite and future urban thinker for achieving a better spatiality and thus city functioning) and my masters course surrounding 'the urban', I have collated a series of videos that really probed some questions, revealed plentiful explanations to the complexity that I know as Western life and engaged me in further understanding of socio-political and economical areas, this huge era of current globalism, the pioneering and driving Western civilization of such forces, global ripples and ideologies I agree and disagree with.









Overall these following videos are fascinating, albeit not fully approachable to everyone with some of the RSA video terminology and specialist concepts, but they are quick, fun enjoyable watches, that summarise and simplify 'the bigger picture' and you WILL pick something up from them. I think watching these things are invaluable now for our ignorant society. I thought I was somewhat clued up compared to others and sensitive to some of societal issues in our cities and macrocosmically, our global city, but after watching these, I realised there is SO much more to learn and be aware of. Post watch, I was somewhat distressed by the state of our world and enthused by the endless possibilities of future change. It seems cities and the global north have so many interwoven, conflicting, intricacies and bodies of power shaping them, it has become frenzied chaos with endless products and (seen and unseen) bi-products of intervention/action, that a fresh outcome seems bleak, once you have taken on board all this information. I still have hope however, but up to date, the spread of power amongst an unfathomable quantity of organizations, investors, power heads, large and small corps, activists and smaller groups, public and private sectors etc. have created this mass of activity whereby cities are left confused, burdened, suddenly rewarded then punished and distressed (the cycle is endless and it's not even a linear process, I envision it as multi-dimensional), being stretched in so many ways and are behaving much as an organism would to being probed and prodded continuously in so many different modes. It's crazy but exciting, weird but amazing, but very volatile and uncertain. I am surprised it can cope-my capacity would have given in by now.

Nevertheless, this proves society, cities, and our world is fabulous and robust....I do agree with Russell Brand however, there needs to be a complete change of 'seeing' and diverging of priorities. A complete shift in ideology and focus needs to happen within politics to kick-start a revolution however big or small, and soon before resources cannot be used for their full worth. This includes people as human beings and as a labour force. We will have burnt out mentally-from hoping and the struggle of pushing our way up through the assault course of life, a fast pace set by the Western world, and physically-of using our entire capacities to create something, do something, make it to work, output over-hours. It's so odd.

Since moving to London from Brighton, this has become clear as day- the intense pace of the rat race and constant strive of 'making it.' Even my housemate the other day had a mini emotional break down from the fear of not attaining a well-paying grad job. Not only was this due to all the hard work and financial outgoings of the previous years, but because of the social stigma attached to not 'being good enough' (See RSA video, The Paradox of Choice) and also the political punishment and procedures of UK unemployment. Firstly, not everyone wants to depend on the state, but sometimes this is a must, and secondly, the state doesn't really want you to rely on them, so when you ask for help, it's obvious they are smiling through their front teeth when they payout... *pat on the back kid. It's a similar feeling to failing an exam, but whereby you are relying on the people who failed you to help you pass the next time and they're perception of you is now tainted because you failed before...a juxtaposition of feelings right there* Anyway, yes in relation to my point on London life, this city is a prime example of what is happening on a global stage, in mega cities whereby work > leisure and life (?). (It depends on what you mean by life, obviously in relation to self-analysis and subjectively, life can be complex and drearier now instead of simple and liberating. On the other hand, life can be viewed quantitatively and objectively, surrounding what assets people own and their increased life expectancy etc.)

Quality of life is said to have improved...statistically due to standards of living...I guess/ in some parts though, but not really if you break it down and investigate different areas and pockets of places experiencing the tail-end of global development and economic productivity. Russell Brand, as a previous drug addict (BBC News video with Paxman), is a clear advocate of changing the system for this reason as the deprived and people in need suffering from these ever-growing city conditions, are in the back of the minds of the politicians.

When does inequality end? Well currently in this system it doesn't. It gets patched over, smoothed out, momentarily erased and spread geographically, due to intervention and policies which occur after the problems arise. But I don't think direct intervention or suddenly embedded spatial moulding can eradicate the problems fully or in every circumstance. They can dilute and relinquish for a while, but the weed will still grow back unless you kill the weed. I don't mean to be pessimistic overall, but how can you solve such a vast, complex problem like urban poverty or some areas being less well off than others? Areas experiencing this need a revival, but this requires money and where does the money come from? And do other people really want to feed into helping that run down area get developed? And if there is a lack of education in that area in need of schools, do teachers want to teach in those schools where there are higher chances of problematic students and live in areas where perhaps crime is higher due to these pockets of poverty in the UK? It is such a sensitive issue and problem that will always disgruntle some types of people no matter what is done and it is really sad. Prejudice exists towards different places around the UK. See the Crap Towns and Crap Cities books. These are fairly informal, amusing sources of information yet they draw on the existing and reality. Not many people want to go, relocate, populate, help, pay for or rejuvenate some dormant places and they become overlooked as they are not central hubs of activity, or near enough the capital to be invested in. Perhaps they are too small or don't offer attractive employment prospects to people, or their networks don't lye there. This is not to say nothing is being done- I mean lots of cities that aren't as shiny or prosperous as some places in the South and the core are being revived around the country such as Sheffield, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham etc, but many areas are suffering from a decline in interest and priority too. There is only so much a pot of money can achieve I guess and it therefore is allocated by those with power and/or those who regard self interest higher than other issues. This makes my brain hurt and is pretty insolvable from my current position and knowledge, unless you start from scratch and wipe the country clean to start again or create new cities on fresh space... Radical...but I heard South Korea did or are doing a related thing, intending for people to go live in these newly created cities, BBC article here. W.O.W. Good for them, but I don't think our civilisation would be able to grasp this idea and conform to it with ease...

Overall, wow, head f*uck, but utterly inspiring. The RSA animate videos are an invaluable resource and make concepts a lot clearer to the everyday girl or guy, so I will continue to reference them. To conclude, we need to NOT vote for financial organisations (David Harvey). This includes not using our money to say 'yes we are an advocate of what you do' and most of all, for big results, change our ideologies and politics soon...