Dirk Gently is a product of the liberal society. The book. And the series. Because there are different kind of people and therefore powers at play. And it’s about tolerance towards different people and powers. Of course they have their own interests, like sucking emotions out of other people, but still, nobody is absolutely evil. Even the guy with the dog from the tape from the hotel, he was kind of cute when he spoke, or expressed the love to that girl.
Same can be said about Harry Potter sequence.
There are different kind of people and different powers in liberal society, because different people have different advantages. Some people are not sustainable, and they disappear. But still, there are a lot of different people. And even those, who disappear, appear in others.
On the contrary the soviet system, or other dictatorships have their own Maxwell’s Daemon, who decides, which is an image of the ‘right’ person, and who gets advantages. Whether you correspond to that concept of the right man, or not. You have to become the one who is accepted by the regime, otherwise you die, or don’t get opportunities, depending on the state of the regime: is it or more bloodthirsty or vegetarian. In vegetarian times one doesn’t get a job, or good job, or promotion, but does not get killed or sent to Siberia for 25 years.
And I see that today. Often. How the daemon makes and watches people dance. In this ‘geopolitical’ (oh man, how ‘they’ love that word) area. How this person jumps trying to be seen above the level of others, shouting something to please those in power. That’s a metaphor. That could be simple fireworks after the successfully faked election. Somebody has to stand out and show himself by organizing that. That might be a law proposal. To forbid something else as well. That might be publicly expressed opinion, made to fawn someone. Or some dirty trick. To get exposure. To tell authorities “Hey, that’s me! See what I’ve done? Do you like it?”. And get the approving pat on the cheek. Get on the list of those whom the daemon chooses. You have to behave/look/be this in order to be chosen, allowed, tolerated.
Even in Japanese (eastern) animes, in Miyazaki films I see the liberal concepts - different powers, interests, and even those who do harm, are not necessarily evil. In the end that’s really beautiful.
Is diversity about relatively recent human societies? In previous times, you had to be the ‘right’ ape, or the ‘right’ giraffe to survive. Only one type of those survives. Even flu virus is one, and only type every year.
However humans are different.
May be that’s also what I like to photograph. And like to observe. May be that’s why I like to be in suburbs of Yerevan, because there is the level, where everybody are poor and daemon has no noticeable impact, I can see different people there more often, than in the centre. That’s the woman that runs a small ‘cafeteria’ in a trailer. She feeds cats. She looks very unique. There’s only one of her. Those who wants to get an approval from the daemon, and access to the government feeder, look the same. While she is different. Probably that’s why I also enjoy smaller and poorer towns more.
I know people who like to control. Others. Or like when there is a strong control, that’s why they like dictators. They like people with power. Adore them. They also like to talk about punishments. What I want to tell them - just leave it. Don’t control. Leave it to live. As is. Please. Relax. (:
It’s also interesting how Paris would look like without the dramatic changes made by Haussmann. The central and strong power. After all, roundabouts don’t seem a very good design decision today.