Barclays Brainwashing

I've been thinking for sometime now about the cultural/behavioural shift among the attitudes of some young people within society. I personally have noticed a stark difference between the beliefs and opinions of my peers when I was young and those held by the youth of today. However, this is by no means a blanket statement or broad brush analysis.

What triggered this was a recent advert for Barclays bank. Young people were encouraged to 'pin' their favourite tweets on Twitter so that prospective employers can quickly see what they're about, to choose names for email address wisely so that they don't come across as foolish for their bosses etc. It was part of a strategy by Barclays to help young people access the workplace but I have to say, it left me cold.

The relentless 'savviness' and 'branding' of people by this Capitalist system really is nauseatingly disconcerting. We are no longer humans, we are products to be bought, sold and discarded at will or rather at the mercy of the system that governs our lives. Young people in particular are a marketeers dream, they consume and swallow media, technology and culture by the bucket load. There seems to be no escape from this 'vampirc' and oppressive mantra.

I guess this was the inevitable outcome from almost 40 years of Neo-Liberal dogma and Capitalist economic control. We are all commodities in this world. Our worth is measured by how much we 'cost' and how much we 'spend'. Thus, young people become more self-centred, more vacuous and more shallow over time.

Now, as I've said, this is by no means an in depth analysis but merely an observation of young people interacting on social media. With celebrities being harvested from YouTube and various blogging websites, it's hard to imagine that they'd have the stomach to make it big without technology or a cultural framework that endorses this to the hilt. Achieving fame based on a foundation of quicksand lacks substance and a genuine strength and depth of character.

My question is just how authentic is this? What messages are we sending out to our young people? Incessantly competing with each other over how many 'likes' a photo, video or post has? What about instilling real virtues like understanding, compassion, altruism and kindness? Surely this is more important than being a product of the Capitalist machine.

For me, such unyielding ambition and quest for success is not the true measure of an individual. It's the inner qualities a person possesses that are important and should be valued over and above superficiality and commodification of the spirit and soul.