As in, I'm so friggin.
For the past few years, I've (probably somewhat proudly) considered myself as being in the highest percentile of folks in terms of being abreast of events going on that shape our world. This has been a really busy, stressful, and somewhat sickly Fall that has pulled my focus away from current events and fixed it on staying afloat of my own life. It's been necessary for me to operate at such a high level at work that I actually cannot focus enough if I have public radio going on the web stream - a common practice of mine in the past.
Put maybe more influential in this drift away from connectedness on my part has been Wonk Overload. News related to three subjects in particular; 2008 presidential campaigning, Iraq, and Iran have been so relentless; yet seemingly, the story lines never change. I think I am actually experiencing what so many politically apethetic people in this country do when they hear the name of the Attorney General or something about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and their eyes glaze over. "Oh no, here we go again." It's why they tend to glom onto the latest cable news fixation (read: the Omaha gunman, and before that - take your pick). The latest thing is where it's at; it's why Alicia Keyes is outselling Jimi Hendrix.
In my adult life I've held fast to the notion that an informed citizen is a powerful citizen that can make a difference in the world. Of course, all the informed, "powerful" citizens didn't prevent the election of George Bush, or the Iraq War, et. al.; and I must confess, the ceaseless barrage of news of the world, little of which is positive, has a pretty disheartening effect that can almost drive me to a state of "What's the point?" In my free time (a reminder, readers - that this generally begins around 8:30 or 9:00 pm), I am choosing escapism (pleasure reading, movie watching), rather than studying the NY Times.
A sense of civic duty may be about to drive me back into an attempt to get back on track, but I thought I'd just make this admission as some sort of late-2007 milepost.
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14 comments:
Breathless day to day following of the latest news, as you and I have done for so long is probably not healthy, as things change so fucking slowly, and those things that require some immediate attention get delivered via other means.
Being out of the country for a month and exposed to the equivalent dreck in Australia, though at a far lower volume, I just scanned newspapers to see whether anything big had happened here. Nothing seems to have, at least not on a national scale. Australia was having an election (the bad guys lost) so there was a ton of coverage, though not even close to what we experience.
Moderating our intakes is good, but I will go to my grave believing the world would be far better off if everyone was better informed (and better hydrated). It's far easier to take advantage of a population of rubes (yes, the masses are asses) than a group of non-rubes. We'll never get there, but when the shit hits the fan I'll happily take my place amongst the non-rubes.
Right - the disheartening part is that the uninformed masses still vote. "Tyranny of the majority" against which Jefferson (I think) cautioned his fledgeling government (though for somewhat different reasons). The uninformed and/or lazy majority in a democracy, while not evil, is an enabler for evil folks who have a simple sales pitch.
I feel the same way, at least when it comes to reading the dailies and trying to get a sense of where stuff is and who is doing what to whom. It's exhausting. What's frustrating is how the "whole story" is lost over time. I think of Enron, which was in the paper so much (I got WSJ at that time). After a while, the story as a whole begins to disappear.
Incidentally, I get The Week, which does a nice summary job of events, er, weekly.
interesting post
in a different way, but along the same lines - this semester (and it is not yet over) has, to use a cliche - kicked my ass - especially these last two weeks - more on that later...
I do agree that it is better to be informed and not ignorant - though there was a time years ago, where I thought otherwise - especially towards politics - I "keep up with it" more than I let on - except lately, but it can fill me up with so many negative feelings when I discuss it with others - it is supposed to be venting, but I think venting over something that one does have so little power over may in fact make the feeling worse - just keep talking about a bad situation
even though you may have intelligent conversations about politics (from our point of view) we've all winced when hearing the stupid, from our point of view again, having "political" discussions
I blabbing cause I'm tired, but this was a good post...
I am glad to learn that you have been choosing "escapism" although I think it is better called, "enjoyism." (and that is always a very good thing)
Love,
Pat
Sounds like we're all in a generally similar place; and our motivation to stay on top of things is related to the amount of energy we have.
Thanks for the love, PGib.
Sometimes when your in the game being the citizen you want to be and need to be you get beat up pretty good. I like the analogy that politics is like playing with a mad pit bull. This is how I look at it: When your involved you are the kid with the pork chop tied around your neck and your locked in a fenced yard with a mad pit bull. You can do a lot of things and you have an important role to play, but every once and awhile you need to throw down that pork chop and climb tree to catch a breather.
Being out of the loop just means that you not getting your ass chewed. Jump back in when you have fresh legs by educated friend!
Good analogy. It's just that once you're up in that tree, nice and safe, you're afraid if you look down you'll see someone from Iraq holding the pork chop. Or a kid from the inner city. Or a US veteran with a PSTD. Or a factory-raised hog (which would probably be in no small amount of danger, actually BEING a pork chop, as it were).
* sigh *
Let's hope that it is not any of those that is getting chewed in your place. Maybe it is the Republicans and Democrates beating up on each other? Or maybe it is the ceo of a crooked coorporation that finally gets what he or she should be getting.
I'm not into that analogy at all.
Hanging out in the yard, pork chop in hand, facing a mad pit bull allows for no moments of relief or joy. Sometimes justice is done and sometimes the good guys do win, and those don't analogize well with the notion of avoiding getting bitten. Avoiding getting bitten is all about the downside, and while I heartily acknowledge the generally sour tone to the news over the last seven years, it's not all puncture wounds and torn flesh.
It's a little more like the life of a fur trapper. Going upstream can be a chore, and even sometimes excruciating or debilitating, but when it's time to turn around and take your bounty downstream life is great. It just doesn't last, and knowing you've got that trip upriver in front of you can be overwhelming, so sometimes it's worth it to take a season off and do something in town.
If Mixdorf does an analogy, he goes all out. Good one.
Fuck yeah baby!
At first I was going to use just a canoing analogy, but adding the fur trapper was so much better. It explains the motivation.
All I know about fur trapping I learned watching Centennial (the billion hour mini-series) as a child.
Great analogy, but good lord that's not how I see it at all. Glad you get some enjoynment at the end of a long haul. However, I see that damn pit bull everywhere. I feel sick whenever I see him. Thank God that there are those who are strong enough to venture out into the ffontier to pave the way for those of us who are sickened with political smallpox.
I think it's your analogy that gets you down.
I am just painting a realistic picture of how I see it. I will give you credit that your analogy is a dandy and better than mine, but I view it differently. I wish you had a sense of how much I dislike reading the news or hearing about republicans and democrats. I try to avoid them like I would avoid the black death.
Have fun playing Jeremiah Johnson. I hope that you continue to find a slough of beaver pelts to satisfy your in the loop hat making!
Different strokes for different folks!
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