I want it now!

I've blogged about too impatient drivers, pedestrians crossing right there, and various other demonstrations of current culture; and now I want to go a little more in-depth if I can.

There's a desire to slap on the rose-tinted glasses and say "It wasn't like this when I was young" or to point at various other cultures to compare, but that really is just nostalgia - there's always been an element of 'anti-social' behaviour the current difference is that there are more ways of spreading it.

The recent story of the speeding motorcyclist on YouTube, the obsession of the tabloids for celebrity scandal these things have always taken place we just didn't have a YouTube and the agents kept the press docile. this spread however has become part of the 'tribal' background a judgement of our peers - a teenager finds acclaim doing some stunt in Newcastle and another teen in Plymouth copies it.

But why would you copy something that could be dangerous to yourself or others? For the fame, and again here is where the spread of newspapers and television have recently poured this notion into the collective psyche. It doesn't matter if you're supermarket stacker working minimum wage with no qualifications you too could appear in Pop-Factor's got Talent and bid that life farewell. You don't even need a talent just apply for Big 1984 and demonstrate how 'wacky' and entertaining you can be.

No need to work hard, no point in working hard; how useful will that English GCSE be when you're earning £ks per week punting a football around? Read about the rock stars' battle with drugs and the, comparatively, meagre fines they receive for breaking minor, or even major laws and wish that were you; though you'd do it differently of course.

Society seems to be developing a split personality with one half telling you that you can achieve everything that you want and even that you deserve everything you want; while the other half is decrying this very concept. At the same time we tell the 'youth' that they have the ability to do anything they want then take away anything that allows them to exercise that ability.

Mix this in with an undercurrent of impatience and what's the outcome, well everything I've been writing about. Why use the crossing when the store I want to go to is directly opposite; why should I wait in a queue when I'm in a hurry. The world is here to entertain me, to perform to my will and everyone and everything has to comply with that.

So solutions? The press could stop glamourising the habits of celebrities, except it sells newspapers so that's not going to happen. The television shows could go into more detail about how hard the winners of talent shows put in and how little financial reward many of them get, except such reality is a total buzz-kill and may jeopardise the ultra-cheap format. Sports could stop paying their players such large multiples of standard wages, except they need to attract players to attract fans etc. Politicians could stop inviting 'celebrities' to parties.

Ah hell none of that's going to happen, the promise of quick and easy has always won out over slow and difficult; it's just now the former makes much better news then the latter.