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Aug. 29, 2006 Walking about the city I am becoming alarmed at the increasing number of crazy people. I remember years ago when one could expect to run into the odd character who was slightly off beam. Now it seems to be pandemic: panhandlers; hyper conversationalists occasionally breaking into fits of hysterical laughter; crack heads selling or buying their product; angry people, with no apparent embarrassment, shouting at those they deem to have trespassed against them, be it by cutting them off in traffic or by blocking a doorway. Why this great dissatisfaction when with a little effort we can all live a life of comfort and luxury ? 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 crime can be excused, where culture is equated as anything, where music is childish noise making disguised as ‘the new culture’,where news analysis backs up the pet peeve of the day. This pervasive negativity spewing out of the airwaves and printing presses motivates people to act in a barbaric fashion. 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 vicinity. Up is now down, black is white, good is bad and normal is abnormal. 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 in front of a camera can be seen and heard by millions. By appealing to the lowest instincts of the majority 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 business, finance, or commerce also follow the previously created template. The late Marshall McLuhan was right: 'the media is the message' and the message is driving the population insane. As that other communicator Rudyard Kipling stated: when living in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, the one eyed man in this case being the media. (Yes I know you can take one hundred new items and find five written with a right wing slant). In order to keep from becoming infected with this public insanity I like to immerse myself in the works of the ancients. I am not a scholar of antiquity . I vaguely remember, at kindergarten, after lunch lying upon the floor mats as the teacher read passages from the Odyssey or quoted versus from Hesiod concerning: clouds, sheep, wild mountain ponies. I have an idea that such subjects are not taught in the schools nowadays. It is so refreshing, if only for a brief period, to live in the world of adults. ------------ 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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