• Issues:
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• #9

Re-enlightenment: challenging spin and the bland consensus

We are entering a period of re-enlightenment, of thinking for ourselves and starting to challenge, question and refute the mumbo jumbo of spin and statistics.

The drivers of this are not philosophers, governments or scientists, but consumers. Public debate now displays a genuine interest in morality, principles, social justice and civic engagement, replacing the anything-goes, superficially glitzy, 90s blandness.

Significant changes in consumerism are visible as more 30-somethings, our Shadow Boomers, aware that money has not brought greater happiness, forsake the Boomer work ethic to seek better work-life balance.

This age of re-enlightenment is having an even greater effect on art, architecture and design with science and art practitioners trading knowledge and skills, as they did in the original 17th and 18th-century Age of Enlightenment and illustrating the way brands now need to put soul into their products.

This issue of Viewpoint reflects the beginning of a trend that could take years to build - bling, celebrity culture and masstige seem the safe bet for the coming year. However, the Original Age of Reason started quietly yet became one of the most impressive forces in European cultural history.