Life in the fast lane

 Life in the Fast Lane

Life in the fast lane is something I know little about.  I was going to write about the Kardashian family, whose “reality TV” show—I’d rather call it “unreality TV”—is titled Keeping up With the Kardashians, with the implication that they live life in the fast lane.  But I haven’t actually watched the show, so I can only talk about what I’ve heard.

The Kardashians reflect the success of relentless, shameless self-promotion in the age of inattentiveness. (Like fellow reality TV star Donald Trump…) I saw this photo of the family blowing kisses on the red carpet once, and what got to me isn’t that they don’t know if they look ridiculous, it’s that they presumably don’t care if they do!

Some people particularly despise the Kardashian mother Kris Jenner:  they feel that she’s pimped her daughters! (She reportedly suggested that Kim redo her notorious sex tape with better lighting.) But they say she has a serious drinking problem, so we shouldn’t envy her.  When you have a problem like that, good fortune in other respects may not count for much.

The thing about the Kardashians is, if you say anything about them, you’re just encouraging them…

So I’d rather talk about the 20th century, which arguably started in 1914 with the Great War, and ended in 2020 with the Covid epidemic.  Remember Charles Dickens’ opening passage in A Tale of Two Cities? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This is what I’d say about the 20th century:

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

It was the age of crimes against humanity; it was the age of human rights.  

It was the age of ecological disasters; it was the age of environmentalism.  

It was the age of world wars; it was the age of peacekeeping.  

It was the age of epidemics; it was the age of vaccination.  

It was the age of the refugee; it was the age of the immigrant.

It was the age of communism; it was the age of social democracy.  

It was the age of overpopulation; it was the age of birth control.  

It was the age of corporations; it was the age of trade unions.  

It was the age of Ronald Reagan; it was the age of Jimmy Carter.  

It was the age of sexism; it was the age of women’s rights.  

It was the age of movies and TV; it was the age of mass literacy.  

It was the age of superpowers; it was the age of newly independent nations.  

It was the age of Pius XII; it was the age of John XXIII.  

It was the age of homophobia; it was the age of gay rights.  

It was the age of oppression; it was the age of liberation.  It was the age of racism; it was the age of civil rights.  

It was the age of the SUV; it was the age of the ambulance.  

It was the age of conformism; it was the age of individualism.  

It was the age of preventive detention; it was the age of civil liberties.  

It was the age of fear; it was the age of hope.

It was the Age of the Fast Lane.