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Aug. 27, 2006 Walking about the city I am becoming alarmed at the increasing number of crazy people. I remember the time when you expected to run in to the odd person slightly off beam who would rant and rave about nothing or nothing that the average passerby could discern. Now it seems to be pandemic. A walk down a large cities main drag entails; running the gauntlet of panhandlers who plead hunger or the need of a bus ticket; hyper conversationalists who can’t seem to express themselves without milling their arms about as they shout at one another, occasionally breaking into hysterical laughter; industrious crack addicts importantly selling or buying their product, drumming up bussines, or sorting out who owns what to whom; angry people who with no apparent embarrassment shout at those they deem to have trespassed against them, be it by cutting them of in traffic, not being fast enough in avoiding them when using a doorway or who are just angry at the world in general and take it out on any one who is in front of them (or in view in some cases). Why this great dissatisfaction when with a little effort we can live a life of comfort and luxury not even dreamed of in most parts of the world not encompassed by western civilization? Well part of the problem may be our very success. All have access to the popular media .In order for them, the media, to make money they have to compete with other popular media so what better way to do this than to appeal to the basest elements in human nature. Movies constantly portray the world as a cruel place where only the privileged live an acceptable life style, where crime can be excused, where culture is equated as anything that can be digested with little effort. Music has descended to the level of childish noise making disguised as ‘new culture’; all back up by serious intellectual talk on TV, radio and in the press. This pervasive negativity spewing out of the airwaves and printing presses motivates people to act in accordance with the majority opinion which is only natural In the pre civilization era if the majority believed saber toothed tigers were in the vicinity that was good enough for everyone else to get out of the vecinity. Translate this in to twenty first century terms results in the going against the established way of doing things. Up is now down, black is white, good is bad and normal is adnormal. What is distressing is that people are not going along with the popular opinion; they are going along with what they believe to be the popular opinion. One man behind a camera or on the printed page can be seen or/ and heard in millions of homes. By appealing to the lowest instincts of the vast majority of the people a snowball effect is created, those wanting to get in on the act repeating the negative message. In order to manage society governments and other leaders whether in bussines, finance, or commerce also follow the previously created template. We now get these soppy messages where a group representing as many races, sexes and sometimes disabilities as possible gather around a camera and with cloying sweet smiles urge us to donate to so and so’s campaign, charity, product, if electronic accompanied by infantile noise masquerading as music. The late Marshall McCluhen was right the media is the message and the message is driving the population insane. As the other communicator stated, this one hailing from the nineteenth century, Rudyard Kipling: when living in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, the one eyed man in this case those running the media. In order to keep from becoming infected with this public insanity I like to immerse myself in the works of the ancient Greeks. I am not an avid scholar of antiquity having but the usual cursory introduction to it going through school. I vaguely remember at kindergarten after lunch lying on the floor mats as the teacher read passages from the Odyssey or from the poets citing versus concerning passages on clouds, sheep or mountain ponies. At junior school we would get the basic Iliad and such things in between English and History classes. Lately I have found my self wandering into the public library to read the works of the Greek Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, or the Latin poet Horace or the playwright Terrance, not in order to make myself sound smart and sophisticated, but because I find they help me counteract the present negative culture and its effects. It is so refreshing delve into the to the minds of adults. Some how what they are talking about feels so familiar. In Horace I can read how the banker in order to get back to nature throws up everything in order to run a farm he owns; or Prometheus who is tormented not only by man, but by the gods also. In the first instance the banker lasts two weeks and is back in Rome ‘lending to his usual clients at the usual rates; in the second instance there is some kind of mercy in the cosmos as the gods release Prometheus from the rock to which he is chained in punishment for inventing fire. When I walk back out on to the street I no longer feel distressed at the circus that plays itself out by day and in to the night. The people now seem to me to be but children acting out --- .I think the correct phrase is: childish tantrums. ------------ About the author: Read Mike Haran's essays on history at http://www.geocities.com/manzikertca/ Email: manzikertca@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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