I might as well just admit it up front...! I find today's world of
relentless hype and hustle downright obscene. Maybe you've noticed too.
Hollywood marquees promising us films that are always 'brilliant,'
'epic,' 'legendary.' Washington always promising us jobs, joy, endless
prosperity. Silicon Valley forever promising us the next-greatest-thing
we absolutely must have in our lives.
OK, none of this nonsense
is exactly new. However, we lately we've come upon a new bit of
nattering nonsense. So very very seriously debating who will run for
president in 2016. We haven't yet survived 2012, but now the
gotta-keep-finding-a-new-headline pundits on television are fixating on
the likes of Hillary, Biden, Perry, even the Big Dog himself. The
madness of it all is downright obscene.
Einstein always liked to
advise pundits, be they politicians or physicists: "If you can't explain
it to a 6-year-old, you don't understand it yourself." Seems to me he
was talking about Clarity. Instead, today's talking- heads on the news
channels are far more interested in Captivating. What and who can we
talk about that will captivate our audiences and therefore our ratings.
Pretty much what 'West Wing' writer Aaron Sorkin is addressing in his
angry new TV series 'Newsroom.'
Making a career out of predicting
the future is nothing new. The Delphic Oracle in ancient Greece, the
firebrand prophets in ancient Israel, and self-anointed seers like the
Mayans, Nostradamus and Pat Robertson are among the perennials. Take
your choice.
But come on, folks, no one knows the future. It's
not something you own, you simply survive as best you can. Not only is
it obscene to exploit people's fears about it, it's more than a little
outrageous for anyone to presume they or their latest headliner will
even live to see that future!
Much better that you and I and our
syndicated profiteering soothsayers focus on living the best today we
can. In doing that, we'll be doing more for our future than anything
else at hand.
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Yeah Jack, time was when I turned on the news on TV and ignored the weather forecasting, ahem, but now I turn the TV on for the weather and mute the news. HA!
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