I was first introduced to the word on the Huon highway, it was
emblazoned in orange across the back of a Holden. The driver's window rolled down and a can
came out. Caleb, my teenage son guffawed and provided an
explanation for the acronym.
Does it Look Like I Give a Fuck. If appeared they didn't.
It stuck with me the entire day. The strange concept that
someone would spend money to advertise their lack of caring. But were they
serious? Or was there some compulsion to LOOK like they didn’t care, even if they
did? Bravado, making a show of their
nonchalance when in fact it hid an excruciating sensitivity to the opinion of
others? Perhaps a rebellious teenagers reaction, an opportunity to buck authority?
Or did they really not give a flying fuck
about anything? Is the acronym also a meme, a culturally accepted and
acknowledged belief in one’s right not to care?
The romans grizzled about their teenagers, each generation
sensing a slip into some new level of depravity not seen before. I don’t want to fall into that trap. Especially
as it seems it’s not limited to any particular group, but extends far across
the age spectrum.
There’s something much deeper going on, something rooted in
the modern psyche. And I want to know what it is, and why. The imperative to make great change is upon us, the need to reinvent our world is here. Yet we are nations of deniers, disbelievers, and those prepared to declare in large orange letters, that they just don't care.
Do we admit defeat or do we delve into our social psyche and seek to understand how it is we came to be here and how it is we, as a species, we reconnect and with our 14 billion feet, and shuffle away from the precipice?