The jetliner
On p. 21-2 of Reggie Ray's Touching Enlightenment:
The icon of our culture is the jetliner, where we are flying at a tremendous rate of speed but, in a very real sense, going nowhere, a million miles from the earth, inhumanly trapped in intimacy for hours with strangers as troubled as we, against a backdrop of lurking dread that maybe we are going to die.
We watch television and keep busy with ultimately meaningless activities to try to avoid, anesthetize, or forget the meaninglessness of our lives.
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And because of the big "lie" of modern culture – of the possibility of ultimate fulfillment through entertainment, distraction, or materialism - and because of how tightly and stubbornly it is clung to – we can't really talk to anyone about what is actually going on.