Pay More Attention
I wonder. How pervasive is "news" in our lives? As I'm waiting for the train this morning 2 guys walk by talking about the fires out West. Now, even I know something is on fire out West and I never watch any TV, read newspapers, or surf online news. Even with that, I saw a newspaper headline yesterday, plus the CNN channel at work was talking about it all day. So even a News Recluse like myself knows about it.
Is news an entity, like weather? Should they be given proper names? News and Weather? Sports? Yes these are all sections of the newspaper but it's more than that. These are entities in our society, more than just radio noise that keeps us occupied. People wake up for these things and talk about them all day. For some, for many, news is a hobby.
Not everything in the paper is News though. I see a story headline, "Hunters may help researchers learn about coyotes." This isn't news, this is filler. I'm talking about the big stories, the journalistic home runs, the stuff you can't miss. The fire out West is one of these. As the 2 guys walked by me this morning one of them mentioned building back-fires to try and contain the fire. News gives us something to talk about, something to over-analyze, something to make us forget what exactly it is we're living for. How boring.
That's how I see it, sorry if "news" is your thing. This week it's a fire. Next week it's some celebrity getting drunk and shitting in his soon-to-be-ex-wive's oven. The following it's a toy recall and how awful Chinese products are. The list is endless. And in the end, none of it makes a shit of a difference how your day goes or what you do with your family when you get home. It's all a bullshit diversion. Wake up, stop diverting your attention from where you are now to somewhere you'll never be.
Most of the people on the train get irritated by the girls going to their private school and the giggling they do all the way to the Summit station. Today one of them is going on about Devin, presumably some guy who probably has no idea he gets so much attention from this group of 6 girls. And to be sure, it can be annoying some days. But at least they're talking about real life. When they get to school Devin will be there, or maybe he'll be home sick. Regardless, it affects their lives, it's real, tangible. Most of the people are so locked away in their little bubbles of secrecy that nothing they read or talk about has any practical application other than serving as a diversion from the Here and Now. Wherever you go, there you are. Or, be here now. When I get to work the knowledge of back-fires isn't going to help me one shit.
I don't know what the hell my point is. Pay more attention, I suppose.
Is news an entity, like weather? Should they be given proper names? News and Weather? Sports? Yes these are all sections of the newspaper but it's more than that. These are entities in our society, more than just radio noise that keeps us occupied. People wake up for these things and talk about them all day. For some, for many, news is a hobby.
Not everything in the paper is News though. I see a story headline, "Hunters may help researchers learn about coyotes." This isn't news, this is filler. I'm talking about the big stories, the journalistic home runs, the stuff you can't miss. The fire out West is one of these. As the 2 guys walked by me this morning one of them mentioned building back-fires to try and contain the fire. News gives us something to talk about, something to over-analyze, something to make us forget what exactly it is we're living for. How boring.
That's how I see it, sorry if "news" is your thing. This week it's a fire. Next week it's some celebrity getting drunk and shitting in his soon-to-be-ex-wive's oven. The following it's a toy recall and how awful Chinese products are. The list is endless. And in the end, none of it makes a shit of a difference how your day goes or what you do with your family when you get home. It's all a bullshit diversion. Wake up, stop diverting your attention from where you are now to somewhere you'll never be.
Most of the people on the train get irritated by the girls going to their private school and the giggling they do all the way to the Summit station. Today one of them is going on about Devin, presumably some guy who probably has no idea he gets so much attention from this group of 6 girls. And to be sure, it can be annoying some days. But at least they're talking about real life. When they get to school Devin will be there, or maybe he'll be home sick. Regardless, it affects their lives, it's real, tangible. Most of the people are so locked away in their little bubbles of secrecy that nothing they read or talk about has any practical application other than serving as a diversion from the Here and Now. Wherever you go, there you are. Or, be here now. When I get to work the knowledge of back-fires isn't going to help me one shit.
I don't know what the hell my point is. Pay more attention, I suppose.
Labels: pointless
1 Comments:
At 4:02 PM,
Anonymous said…
How ironic, this past Saturday my neighbor shit in his oven, and today he was served with support, custody and divorce papers. Huh, imagine that.
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