Topical Tuesday

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Topical Tuesday focus on the topics that are catching people's attention.  To simply use the news as a basis of deciding what's important seems wrong.  The news seems to have sold its soul to the gods of entertainment.  I'm always more interested in what isn't reported or what isn't said, than I am in what I hear.

News shows often do a great job of grabbing my attention but I seriously doubt they are doing an adequate job in reporting what is really happening.

I've stopped listening to the reports on the state of the economy.   When news media quotes the unemployment rate they are using the number of people receiving unemployment assistance from the state governments.  This figure does not count any of the people who have not found work and have run out of benefits.  It doesn't count the homeless, temporary workers whose employment has ended, the underemployed, or people who haven't applied or didn't qualify.  To use this as "The" statistic to reflect unemployment seems ridiculous.  Neither myself or my husband are counted and neither are most of the people I know who are struggling to find work.

Recently, the news spent a lot of air time focusing on Charlie Sheen.  Meanwhile, we are fighting a war on several fronts.  Gas prices are soaring.   People everywhere are struggling to find work and hold on to their houses.  The media pull Charlie out on stage and avoid talking about the news that really impacts most of our lives.  Why?  I worry that we are allowing ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security.  We see the rich and famous make horrible decisions and we feel superior.  All the while, we complacently ride in a "hand basket to hell."

I suspect the old Roman "bread and circuses (from Latin: panem et circenses)" game.  Rome realized that placating the populace by giving them free wheat for bread and free entertainment made them easier to rule.  The Ancient Roman satirist, Juvenal wrote:

"… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses" (Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81)

The proliferation of reality shows currently on TV give testament that this strategy is still very much alive and well.  Some of them are so like the violent gladiator games, it isn't funny.  They aren't always crashing chariots and bludgeoning others physically but there is a whole lot of emotional damage done right before our eyes.  Sadly, I have often watched the antics and felt deliciously superior.  Meanwhile, these emotionally handicapped-buffoons laugh all the way to the bank.  Our interest in them has made them rich.  What has it done for us?

Before accepting what I hear on the news as fact, I try and ask a few questions.

Why is this making the news or a form of entertainment?
What aren't they telling?
What do I really need to know so that I can make good informed decisions about my life?
How does this news or entertainment serve me best?

Today, I'm going to work at not accepting what I see and what I'm told at face value.  The future may well depend on a few people who ask the right questions at the right time.