This post was inspired by a comment that I made on another post. It was about my opinion that our media is complicit in a larger global campaign of stealing our freedoms and futures by promoting an almost daily “crisis” and/or a new focus of outrage. You can totally disagree with my assessment and still learn from this post, so I ask you to continue reading.
Let’s start with a cute childhood riddle.
“What’s worse than discovering a worm in your apple?”
“Discovering half of a worm in your apple, of course.”
This is funny and a perfect segway to my next question:
“What’s worse than being fooled?”
“Not knowing that you’ve been fooled, of course.”
If you’ve never watched the TV series called Brain Games, I excitedly suggest it to you. It explores the human brain’s limitations and strengths. It’s science, folks!
Many of you already know how frustrated I get when I’m shutout of a conversation. Some of you expect conversations to be a competition to conclude “Who is ‘right’?” and avoid them because who has time for ‘battles’ these days?
What if conversations were a means to gain knowledge and understanding? That’s how I ‘see’ them.
We are not physically nor mentally equipped to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. That’s a fact. Multi-tasking is actually a state of busyness not a super-human mental ability. We may jump from one task to another with alacrity, but our efficiency suffers for it. Sorry for popping that bubble. 😉
So, what I am trying to point out is that no matter what YOU believe, you can be distracted and fooled by others who are able to get your attention. I certainly have been fooled and it not only ‘stinks’ it can be costly. The best attention getters are passionate or fear-based media reports. We’re wired to protect ourselves and preserve our values so, of course, we ‘drop’ everything else we could be paying attention to, in favor of self-preservation.
If we’re ‘busy’ in this fast-paced world, the available amount of our attention beyond our tasks is limited.
Do you know people who just read headlines and/or listen to media ‘warnings’ and leave that ‘ugly’ topic of “politics” to the zealots? I do. I can’t blame them. What bothers me is that they are being ‘played’ by censorship and misdirection when they do.
But, lucky for us there are retired, thoughtful, concerned, citizens who DO pay attention because it’s our “politics” that, whether we like it or not, directly affect our prosperity, freedom, and futures.
So, I ask, “May I have your attention on occasion?”
That request comes with no expectation of agreement or argument. It is a matter of “food for thought” in a busy world.
Below is a segment from Brain Games that may ‘open your eyes’ to how easily we can be fooled (and robbed) when our attention is diverted… many times it’s diverted for unseemly purposes. [In my humble opinion, our language, institutions, and futures are being ‘pick pocketed’ and twisted, while we’re being told in the media that we are each other’s adversaries by calling us racist, unkind, and uncaring, according to our political positions. We’re better than that. 😉 ]
We’re all in this together, friends!
Sillyfrog's Blog 
Yup, Yup, Yup – and well – ‘conversations’ to learn about how others see/what they’ve experienced prior, on their life path seems to me, overall, a much more ‘trustworthy’ approach to meld into my perspective than poll data/stats do – polls, headlines, etc, trumpet out a working of the ‘stats’ – but for me, unless full, for the laymen, list following the “presentation” of actual numbers, what questions were asked, etc? Meh – some are on my radar, but usually, if I CARE enough about my reaction to the headline/pole/op-ed?
I often, just looking in my own lil ‘sphere’ find an individual that I can comment, DM, email or comment upon their post and say, “Hey! This came on my radar – believe that you may work in this area/this might affect you/has affected you/your loved ones, ” or any other way of opening the ‘conversation’ and then say, “I’ read this/saw this – so, is this on your radar? and what are your thoughts on this topic that seems to be trending in various realms??” 😀
Sigh – I so LOVE Brain Games, though, there, TOO, I’m so far behind recent episodes catching up, I may never catchup (just like reading here!)
I’m still not ‘posting’ because I’m doing my best I can, to ‘dial it back’ to discipline of writing a short form essay – i.e. 5 paragraphs, composed of 10 sentences of only 10 words per line” excercise just now, to see if I can revert to how I USED to right before I tried to shove all the connections my brain see’s between concerns/struggles/challenges/trending news, into one post – each of which – seems to turn into a 40,000-80,000 word novella – – sigh – 😀
But, taking a moment to read and, comment, here and there – just to let folks know I ain’t dead, nor have I given up, and I still care about my community here – sigh – just had to go cold turkey, re-assess, etc., for a bit and redefine where I fit into the mix overall – even if I write blog length comments – sigh – to me? Conversations in real time/public forum – 😀
Kudos for this article – I ‘hear ya’ – 😀
Thanks so much for your comment!
If we each listen, learn, and share with anyone who’ll listen, that’s all we can do.
Write posts that concern politics or any other complex theme, it’s extremely hard not to get too wordy! One point seems to lead to another and another. I have to tell myself, “Leave that for another discussion.” but it’s hard to do. Especially hard to try to offer ideas without sounding ‘preachy’ or ‘self-important’. It is what it is, I guess. Not trying to talk isn’t an option for me. How others receive what we say is more about them, anyway.
I haven’t watched Brain Games in a long time. I’ll have to catch up on that too.
Thanks for your thoughtfulness. ❤
You’re, (as my grandfather would say) are Preaching to the Choir Sister! AMEN! LOL Sigh – I feel not as alone in the world, when I read the words of another and think, “Yes! Exactly! I STRUGGLE with that TOO/Wonder about that too!” – 😀 ❤
👏👍❤
What you read or even listen to in the news is subject to what news you listen to. I tend to take most things with a pinch of salt, not quite believing what they have to say.
Those who have time to research topics raised in the news, are people I like to talk with most. Thanks!
It’s all sleight-of-hand, what some call “magic”: let people think you’re doing X while you’re doing Y. When things are going to hell in one area, get people riled up in another. Ever notice mass shootings happen when something really bad is going on in Washington? I’ve seen enough of them to know the timing isn’t coincidental. But hey, I’m just a conpiracy theorist in a tinfoil hat…
No one is more blind than one who chooses not to see. Thanks, John.
This show brain games, looks good!
I’ve stopped watching a lot of news etc. Too depressing, IMo!
I also don’t believe everything that I read, either!
❤
You can clips and full episodes on YouTube. I know what you mean about the news! 😉