12. Petrol and Trust in Haringey

Petrol and Trust in Haringey
This week I have noticed the petrol delivery drivers’ strike: or threat of a strike.
Petrol is the life blood of the nation. Whenever there is a threat of no petrol, panic buying starts. Pictures of queues of cars at petrol stations are beamed over the nation through TV networks, so that we panic and panic buy petrol.
Are we are afraid that we will not be able to drive our cars? For some this means earning a living by driving, and for others commuting to work. But for the rest of us – the supermarket run? Taking children to school? Visiting friends or relatives? Or perhaps not wanting to be told ‘no’ at the petrol station?

The world has returned to being a small world, stretched out over the globe, through technology and media. The world was made up of the tribes and villages: there was a collective response to events. When the events could not be explained and to control the panic of not knowing – superstition was used to explain what could not be explained. This contained the feeling of panic by giving up some kind of agreed explanation however implausible.

Now we respond collectively with the information sent to us through the media. We do not understand and have no control over the situation (i.e. a lack of petrol) so we panic buy. Through the emphasis of the individual and the market economy in the West superstition no longer works. We are cautious of being manipulated so others more powerful gain. The sanction of superstition no longer contains the panic.

The result is that we do not trust what we are told. This is held up to be bad and wrong, but perhaps more preferable than being manipulated by superstition created by others more powerful. (Could spin be substituted for superstition?)
We do not trust that the media or petroleum companies have our interest at heart. Their priority is to sell TV time and petrol.
This would appear to be an informed view, and the start (not the end) of a debate about the relationship between trust and power and how it is manipulated and marketed in the media in a modern (?) western democracy.
Petrol and Trust in Haringey

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2012
All rights reserved
Disclaimer: This weblog content are the views of the writer and for general information only. This article is designed to provoke argument and critique.

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