Documentary Series – The Hidden Agenda

Radiohead on Sat night in Malahide so working my way through the collection here. Well impressed with In Rainbows.

The Hidden Agenda fascinated me from day one because it put into words something I had fished around in my head for ages. It came with all these dramatic connotations of control and conspiracy. While I don’t disagree how negative such an ‘agenda’ can prove in a culture such as our own, what I initially liked was its recognition of the role conditioning plays in the life of every person (and every life form) that has ever lived.

Conditioning is good and it’s healthy and its natural and it is, more importantly, necessary. Much of it has to do with learning the skills we need to survive within our particular way of life. It’s as much social as it is practical.

We can see the social conditioning that goes on in baboon society and think ‘My God, how fascinating’ and yet we look at how TV and education in our society conditions us to live and think a certain way and we think ‘CONSPIRACY, BIG BROTHER, C.I.(fckn)A. man!’. This was the issue I wanted to address here.

What is it that is so wrong with our society that we are disgusted by the idea that we are being conditioned to live by its rules? What is so abhorrent by our conditioning apparatus that we feel we need to rebel against them? What is wrong with the system overall (culturally speaking) and what is wrong with the approach of the conditioning ‘institutions’ (media, schools, etc.).

Dramatic as it may sound, you will find cultures dotted throughout the Human Experience where the institutions young people were raised into and conditioned into were something worth respecting. They came of age into a world built by their ancestors. There was a sense of belonging and purpose. They took over the reigns. They became the next generation. That is a healthy thing.

This is not ‘good old days’ talk – this is real life. This is your life!

Try saying that about becoming a teacher today, or a banker, or most of the other jobs that are out there. How are we supposed to be proud about standing on the shoulders of great men like… Bertie and George W? How in Gods name are we supposed to feel like our education system is passing on the skills and knowledge of past generations to us; the Future? It’s all a mess if you ask me.

Do you know what really annoyed me? Watching all those beautiful, iconic, revolutionary, inspirational genius’ from the 60’s ‘becoming’ the system overall. Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, dot dot dot dot dot. If they can’t build something great and lasting outside of the system, what the fck chance do you or I have?

So where did it all go wrong? How are we being conditioned? What society are we being conditioned to be a part of? What are we becoming? Is this what we want? How do we work against it?

Critically, what is our society and the role and make up of conditioning within it preventing us from becoming? ‘Now thats a fckn movie!’

Full synopsis here.