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!
Tag: outrage
The Sunday Whirl #589- I See Your Outrage, Here’s Mine.
I See Your Outrage, Here’s Mine
“Watch me all you want!”
Jamuh shouted at his neighbors as they each stood staring at him from behind glass. Someone had already reported him twice!
The 4th Covid lockdown had turned almost all usually rational, friendly, people into danger averse cowards. Jamuh was having none of this nonsense. All he could do was challenge the gathering mentality of “sheep” and disrupt their mass insanity.
“I suppose me walking alone outdoors upsets your silly sense of safety! Do you see a murder being committed or a victim you hope will die?!”
Jamuh had been suddenly cut off from traveling, dining out, and going to work only because his instincts had told him that the “shot” was going to be ineffective and possibly dangerous. Hadn’t anyone learned from the past?
“YOU KNOW WHAT’S DANGEROUS?! FOOLS WHO THINK THEY CAN TELL OTHERS WHAT TO DO!”
As he stomped round the corner, his flesh crawled. He thought no one could craft a better tactic for implementing government totalitarianism than this virus even if he worked directly for the CCP.
He’d never told anyone else what to do yet he was supposed to be some kind of criminal?
“One day they’ll find out how they’ve been used as enforcers for the state…as guinea pigs… and as agents of their own destruction.”
As he made the circle toward home, Jamuh had calmed. He knew no one would hunt him down and apologize for all of this. He’d never ask them to either, as long as they all learned to mind their own business.
{FYI-The name Jamuh means “defiant”.}
https://sundaywhirl.wordpress.com/2023/01/22/wordle-589/
Reena’s Xploration Challenge #256- Learning to Remember
The prompt is
Any word starting with Re
He first became interested in the man from a random introduction in a pop-up video.
One day, Devon would remember that as a fateful moment.
Devon instantly was hooked on that fascinating man’s videos, and somehow, he had been scheduled to be tonight’s guest lecturer!
Dev was about to witness thoughtfulness through impeccable logic, tremendous poise, and exploring brand-new angles on old ideas.
As he hurried to the event, he remembered the humbling first feelings he’d experienced from this speaker’s words. He’d had no idea what wisdom was until he’d listened to him.
Outside of the campus gymnasium, a large crowd of rowdy students blocked the entrance waving signs all with the word “FASCIST” in bloody red letters. Security was running back and forth frantically, and Devon heard police sirens getting closer. A loudspeaker chirped to life telling everyone, “Tonight’s lecture has been cancelled. Please return to your dorms.” in a monotonous loop.
Devon was crushed and confused. He hungered to hear more about Aristotle, William Shakespeare, and King Solomon who were only a few, of many geniuses, frequently quoted by his new mentor in the videos he’d consumed. Because of one outrageous act, the opportunity to see, and possibly meet, this man was gone!
Suddenly he felt compelled to head straight for the library. That extraordinary man had repeatedly proposed that “We all must remember classical wisdom.” on many occasions and not one of his college classes were the least bit interested in anything proposed by “old white men”. Every syllabus he’d gotten, to date, had said so.
Devon scowled and slumped in a chair for a while then he abruptly stood up, with his chin jutting out, and borrowed an armload of old texts. As he exited, he exuberantly shouted into the night,
“How might I remember things that I don’t know anything about?! “
That evening Devon K. Sapienti was about to embark on self-education. From there, he would acquire much knowledge worthy of remembering.
https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2022/11/10/reenas-xploration-challenge-256/
SoCS 11-5-22- Outrage, Regret, and Input
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “your favorite word.” Decide on your favorite word and use it in your post any way you’d like. Enjoy!
My favorite word used to be anthropomorphism. I love how it rolls off the tongue and makes the person using it sound ‘smart’.
It is most certainly something we do, that is, attribute human emotions and tendencies to animals (sometimes inanimate objects or forces in Nature). And when it comes to the emotional lives of animals, it isn’t always a misguided view. If you’ve owned and loved a dog or cat, I know you’re ‘in tune’ with their capacity to love, worry, and miss others.
But recently I’ve been fascinated with the word consequences. I personally thought it meant ‘bad results’ but I have come to know it more precisely means any reactions or results of one’s actions or words. So, the consequence of being kind probably is receiving kindness from others and so on…
Today, I found out that the political Left publications, one being The Atlantic, are asking for something called “pandemic amnesty”. To paraphrase it, they’re saying, “Hey, we all did and said things we regret during the pandemic so let’s just all be friends and forget about it.”.
Um… I regret nothing and didn’t do anything to anyone but ask to retain my freedom and be left alone. The Left, and their malleable minions on the other hand, called people terrible names, infringed on their freedom, ruined their lives by shutting down businesses and firing people, even outwardly calling for “the unvaccinated” to be refused medical treatment and mobility, to be shunned and censored, even to be arrested. They (anyone who liked those ideas) want to, now, shrug and offer a handshake with the suggestion they were “just kidding”. I can’t imagine that’s going to work. LOL
When it comes to consequences, people who demanded that our free citizenry snap to full unquestioning compliance, dished out a boatload more than I ever thought possible in the U.S.A.
I personally hope that those arrogant people are about to reap some consequences at the ballot box on Tuesday.
As a consequence of having and sharing my own opinions, I’ve had more than a few good results. I’ve made new truly tolerant friends whom I don’t expect to completely agree with but enjoy on a more important level of mutual respect. We exist, people.
Just yesterday, though, I did something I know better than to do. I used written language trying to explain a complicated and controversial topic in few words. Ugh! I’ve regretted it since. My message (upon rereading) wasn’t clear, and it seemed condescending. I did not mean for that to happen. There are some topics that require face to face discussion or need to just be avoided. I hope I can learn that!
In my own defense, my problem comes from insatiable curiosity and an eagerness to exchange ideas. I feel like Johnney Five in the movie Short Circuit. I cannot seem to get enough “input”! And just now I realize that my ‘stream’ has come full circle.
Johnney Five (a robot) adopted anthropomorphic traits in the end.
Well, hopefully I learned from my mistakes last week. I can’t wait to make new ones this week! LOL
Happy Weekend Everyone! Hope your mistakes are few and all your consequences are the good kind!
https://lindaghill.com/category/stream-of-consciousness-saturday/
https://lindaghill.com/2022/11/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-5-2022/
FSS #5- For Richer or Poorer
This week’s Story Starter teaser is:
“Sometimes it hard to know the difference between...
a poor person and a rich one.”, Monty pondered as their Jeep slowed and stopped.
Immediately, 15 children came running all smiles and giggles to where he was.
He handed out lollipops to scrambling hands and squeals as he approached the main hut in the remote village. It was the only structure that had survived the brush fire unscathed.
The chieftain rose and extended his hand when he entered. His smile and body language was welcoming and warm.
Outside, the kids were now chasing a crudely sewn ball of fur with a stick and laughing. Two days before, a brush fire had nearly wiped them out.
Everyone stopped and cheered. Monty stepped into the beating sun as three men guided their 4 cows back into the village square. All had survived!
Moments later, several men were spotted carrying large bundles of sticks on their backs for new hut building, and repair, prompting another round of cheers that inspired a native dance party.
Monty suddenly had a flash back to the University riot he witnessed just before traveling abroad. A mob of students had broken all the classroom windows in a building where a biology professor had stated, “There’s only two genders.” . That professor barely escaped with his life under the mayhem, anger, and tears of outrage! Bricks were thrown by miserably unhappy students, who paid $60,000.00 a year to have the opportunity to be there, while claiming to be ‘oppressed’ and ‘endangered’ by mere words.
Monty was awakened back to reality when he felt a tug on his pant leg and looked into the eyes of a giggling, nearly toothless, 5 year old who was inviting him to join their dance. He decided exactly then, that wealth had not a THING to do with money.
Fandango’s Story Starter #5 – This, That, and The Other (fivedotoh.com)
Mixed Messages and Outrage
The din of cable TV news is playing in the background. Covid-19 is almost universally the topic. What chosen scientists say… what the CDC says… what the government says… what the Chinese report… what doctors on the ‘front lines’ have learned… what elite, self important, people advise… yadda, yadda, yadda.
Do any of them agree on anything? Not from what I hear.
Do any of them have the same understanding? No two reports are similar.
Do all or any of them have public health and safety their common PRIMARY concern? I can’t even tell.
In between, what are called ‘news reports’, there are TV ‘talking heads’ who propose that THEY have the ‘facts’ and know what everyone should do, and precisely who is to blame, for a public non-unified acceptance of (constantly changing) guidelines. These people aren’t helping a thing with their indignant (IMO pretend) outrage.
We aren’t allowed to question or seek diverse expert level opinions?
Big Tech fact checkers (Likely groups with no medical training and under 35 years old.) want us to believe them implicitly?
Political sheep expect us to cower and bend to their opinions on the ‘opinions’ they LIKE just because they claim an imaginary moral high ground? (Um… go jump in a lake you guys.)
This is madness.
All I can say is do your best to protect your families, keep your ears and eyes open for ‘truth’, and ultimately, trust your instincts.
Unified transparent leadership, willing to say that they’re ‘not sure’, isn’t available so we’re on our own folks.
God Bless.
SoCS Saturday 5/29/21
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “collect.” Use the word “collect” any way you’d like.
If I could wave a magic wand and turn every kind word or deed in this world into a delicate butterfly, the sky would be alive with beauty. That collection would be far larger than any other!
Why has this absolute real humanity and beauty become so hard to notice?
Affluent people (not those scraping for daily survival) are currently far more interested in collecting (and carrying the weight of) outrage than just looking around. That’s why.
The media has us collecting problems and despair, and those are rocks!
Rocks are useful for building but you must look down to see them. Have you ever watched people who never lift their heads as they walk? They seem focused but they’re prone to missing out on things, such as, many beautiful sights, and some might even be changed by lifting their eyes, once in awhile, avoiding a fall. (Of course we must not only look up or we would stumble too.)
We would do well to get back to a balance, don’t you think? Let’s start collecting many of our impressions directly from our ‘fellow man’ and from what we actually experience while noting that ‘reporting’ and ‘headlines’ are snippets of information that are most often out of context. And media opinion? Well, we’re capable of creating our own, thank-you, so let’s respect that diversity for change.
My heart is sad when I hear so much outrage, vitriol, and condescension from people across political divides. The stench of constant outrage has them looking at their feet and holding their noses. The 24/7 media is most culpable for creating imaginary monsters out of our human brothers and sisters by grouping and defining them in the most shallow and unimportant terms. We aren’t going to make the manipulation of the media stop but we can lift our heads and notice the butterflies… they’re everywhere!
Happy Saturday friends.
To my United States brothers and sisters, Happy Memorial Day Weekend.
The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS May 29, 2021 | (lindaghill.com)
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