What is real in the media?
As I struggle to find inspiration, and creative energy, these are the thoughts that have been occupying my brainspace. I encourage you to leave a comment so we can discuss how our views differ and where I might be wrong. I hope you enjoy and are able to garner something from this text.
It seems like everywhere we turn these days, there is some new product to buy or conspiracy in which to believe. Maybe we need all these products, or perhaps the government is out to make us all mindless zombies. There is likely something else at work.
It is well known that humans try much harder to avoid pain; then they do to seek pleasure. In fact, according to Dan Ariely, author of “Predictably Irrational,” loss is experienced nearly two times as potently as gain. Now, why is this important when we consider consumer products or conspiracy theories?
No one can argue that we are in a very challenging time. This concept can be extended to say that life is inherently an arduous experience. There are some of us who perceptually “have it better than others.” Here I refer to people who “have money” or who have a slimmer body composition, etc. However, it seems safe to say that life is a series of perilous situations. Additionally, we cannot know or understand what someone else is experiencing. So, the jock who has the 4.0 might be in seventh heaven, or he might be burning in a mental hell.
The premise being developed here is that reality is a harsh thing. Life is not easy; we must fight against a chaotic reality relentlessly. Some folks have fought against that reality and prevailed, with a smaller subset having succeeded in making consumer products. Some of these consumables come in the form of entertainment. Entertainment distracts us from the present unbearable moment, and most importantly, it takes us away from the uneasy feeling of being with ourselves. Instead of sitting with the sad emotions that are inside, we move toward perpetual distraction.
Now, understanding what is, and ourselves is a relentless and arduous process. Reality is a nearly incomprehensible combination of people, places, things, and phenomena. We have studied reality with science for centuries and barely scratch the surface. To think that even the most brilliant mind can take in and understand reality entirely is a naive thought. So, instead of taking time to focus on and study a fact that is intimidating and frightening, we do what is more comfortable, distract ourselves, and fabricate meaning for things.
There is a way to blend fabrication and distraction into a single bite-sized piece called conspiracy theories. These postulates are based on little to no evidence and shift quicker than the wind. These wildly entertaining theories are people’s attempts to ascribe meaning to situations and phenomena that they do not, cannot, or do not wish to understand.
It’s much easier for us to hide in our Peter Pan reality. This notion is to say that we can be a boy forever and marry a fairy. In other words, we don’t have to grow up, and we can marry the perfect person (that does not exist). This scenario is all made possible by a vast overabundance. Generally speaking, we have more food than we need. We can get entertainment delivered to the palm of our hand 24/7. We can call up the image of unimaginable brides at any time, day or night. The artificial reality that we have created for ourselves allows us to rest easy in a nest of lies, obfuscation, and cognitive dissonance. This space, in the short run, is much easier to handle. However, like the tortoise and the hare, reality will catch up to us, and the tortoise will win. We can choose to be the hare and to go for the instant gratification, but we need to know, this method does not win out long term.
If all of this is the case, it is usually helpful to ask, what can we do? There is an expansive volume of knowledge pre-existent in the world that can help to light our way in an otherwise dark, gloomy, and dangerous world. There are timeless philosophers, psychologists, mathematicians, theologians, authors, poets, etc. Who have relentlessly pondered, what should we do about this tricky little thing called reality? Instead of making things up, distracting ourselves, or downright lying to ourselves and others, we can take the time to seek knowledge and wisdom from credible sources. The highest form of what it is that we were meant to do here on earth with our lives.
We know from previous articles that we assign value to things based on how other people react to them. We choose to ascribe meaning to these same things (actions and objects) based on what it is that we want. Now the argument is ageless as to how much we get to choose. We reside on a spectrum from freedom of will to non-freedom of will. Never-the-less, we can decide if others and past experiences influence our choices. We can let the option be ours to crush ignorance and lies, with well-reasoned knowledge and wisdom.
This knowledge-based approach is one clear way that we can pull out of the current mess. I speak of the current mess as a more significant problem than just the present-day pandemic. There are countless issues with our political, economic, and ecological systems. We will not change what is by ignoring it or fabricating a reality to smooth it over. There are some ugly things out there, and they will continue to fester, propagate, promulgate and grow larger in proportion until we face them head-on.
In the end, we must take great care to walk the fine line of freedom of speech, yet not obfuscate the truth with false claims. We live in an era drown in information from all corners of the internet. There are many credible sources abound. There are also many less than reliable to downright fraudulent sources. Where do we draw the line such that we do not become overwhelmed with garbage, yet do not fall victim to an authoritarian state developed based on censorship? This moment is a more critical time than ever as platforms such as Twitter and Facebook employ armies of people whose job it is to monitor their newsfeeds and “moderate” content that they do not see fit.
The point herein is that we have relaxed into the groove of abundance. We humans have been designed to face challenges and hardships. Now, while life is inherently challenging, it is not until some significant obstacle stands in our way that we might be forced into a mode of motivation to sharpen the blades of our swords and run headlong into battle. This article has been written in the tone of caution and encouragement. Much of what we once had, has unintentionally been eroded slowly over the decades in the name of progress. It is up to us to steer the great battleship that is our nation, our economy, our brain trust back into safer, more abundant waters that yield progress that is grounded in reality. This notion is something that we all have the responsibility in which to take part.
I welcome you to some further reading that focuses on truth and facing reality. It seems as though what is true tends to prevail across space and time while falsehoods die off as discussed in “What can we learn about truth from fire?” We also must be able to face ourselves, which is much like facing a burning fire as explained in “Facing The Fire.” If we keep digging, we will quickly arrive at the question of “How do we know?” which is arguably more valuable than an answer even though one is attempted to be provided in the linked article. Once we begin to discover what we know and realize that there is not much that fits into that category we begin to burn off the deadwood and become who it is that we might be.