I'll tell you what I'm thinking about today...
Reflective jackets. What the hell is with reflective jackets? When people see them they're like rabbits caught in headlights. What is so scary about a reflective jacket? Moreover, what is scary about a person wearing a reflective jacket?
The reflective jacket has become something of a symbol for authority, something to be seen, something to be followed, something to be obeyed. How many times have I been told to look out for the people in reflective jackets in case of an emergency? And how many times have I been told to put my dog on a lead, or to not smoke here please, or to move along because I'm loitering? And 99% of the time, I bet we all obey these people just because they're... easier to spot...
I've experienced it first hand too. At a festival last year I was stewarding and was awarded the great privilege of the reflective jacket. I was wandering around the festival, beer in hand, perfectly relaxed when I walked past a group of lads in their late teens, early twenties. It just so happens that earlier that evening I'd been sitting with them having a laugh but now, with the authoritarian addition of the reflective jacket they flinched in fear of my presence - no shit! One of them looked up at me, wide eyed in (what an innocent mind would believe to be) fear and he almost threw whatever he was dealing with on the back of a CD case up into air. God! Suddenly now I'm in a reflective jacket I'm the police!
And that brings me on to the character I encountered tonight... a female Community Support Officer, clad, naturally in her brand spanking new shiny reflective jacket glistening in the sun. Boy oh boy... didn't that put fear into my heart! How I shook as she shined at me... how I trembled with fear as I... saw her more easily. And it made me think, what do these busybody CSOs actually do? What power do they have? What can they do to me? Well they've got a reflective jacket on, so it must be something quite frightening. And then I realised what I was faced with, the great big scary reflective jacketed authority - someone with the power to phone the police.
I wonder if they make their shoes shine too so they frighten the insects? I am always suspicious of people that want that power over others, what is their motivation? Are they so socially challenged that all they have to offer the society is aggression and ball-ache. Wherever there's a party or some show of human spirit be it in creativity or enjoyment there will be a big line of people who want to make sure that we all understand there is no such thing as true freedom or true expression. Who the hell put these people in these positions? Who decided, "let's make sure that people are hassled and that they don't have too much fun?" A pox on their houses!!
ReplyDeleteAh but we're better than that! We can show them! We can still thrive in our world despite the fact they're trying to eat it. We are free, and they hate that. We are free - and we must never forget our power.
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