I feel whelmed. Not overwhelmed, but definitely whelmed.
The daily news stories this week have been surprising and somewhat chaotic, to say the least. If you get too caught up in it, you can actually feel sick. The best way to deal with this effect, personally, is to not read any newspapers, watch no TV, and try not to get into any discussions about what's going on. This, however, is nearly impossible to do.
Basically, the lure of the news is that I don't want to miss anything. Y'know... something might happen and I might not find out about it soon enough. I mean, for instance, suppose there was some contaminated lettuce going around, but since I didn't watch the news I'd be unaware of any problem and use some. Or, maybe if there was a swarm of killer bees flying around in Worcester, but because I didn't watch the news, then I'd risk going out in the yard and getting stung to death...
Ever since that day at work, just over seven years ago when I came out of a meeting and one of my co-workers told me that all the airports had been closed, and I interrupted and asked him why, ...I've had an underlying impulse to believe that always keeping abreast of all the news all the time is the best thing to do. A little while later, standing in the boss's office watching the BBC feed on the internet, we all stood in stunned silence when the first WTC tower collapsed...
But I've asked myself quite often, ever since, if it's better to be constantly informed of stuff happening all over the planet, capsulized as if it's all happening right now, right here... or if it's better to ignore all that and just focus on day to day life that's actually happening in front of me. Clearly, if something really important happens out there, way beyond where I might actually witness it, I'll certainly find out about it, anyway, even if I never read a paper, never watch TV, and never listen to the radio.
There's really only one chance I'll have to say anything about any of this stuff that... well, ...that would be of any real consequence. I can vote on November 4th.
Et tu?
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Friday, September 26, 2008
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3 comments:
You are absolutely right Jeff. Keeping informed has become a compulsion for me as well particularly since 9-11.
The problem becomes when the "stuff out there" becomes the "day-to-day" stuff. So if this financial meltdown comes home to roost right here in Worcester, and we have to layoff firefighters, police officers, and teachers...suddenly that fight in the Congress over the bailout becomes very real.
You're also right about Nov. 4, although I wouldn't underestimate what you're doing online, either. I wouldn't, for example, have caught the Posse Comitatus Act violation if you hadn't posted it.
It's a constant choice and balancing act.
I want to be well informed and as directly informed as possible - not just fed sound bites.
But I try not to become completely obsessed.
I remember the days after 9/11 when it was impossible for me to turn away. And then the weeks afterward when every morning I woke with a sense of fear and dread. The only way to assuage that was to flip on the news and see if anything else horrific had happened.
It's been a long seven years, for many reasons.
- Lee
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