…A Primer

Followers of this blog have endured reading my thoughts and observations on a wide variety of topics… and while I thank you all whenever I can, I must warn you: this might come across as a bit repetitive.

News, for me, is akin to the various forms of snack foods I try not to keep around the house: it is nutritionally vapid, extremely artificial, and somewhat addictive in that “just a few” easily turns into “why is the bag empty?”

Try as I might, I could not keep from getting sucked into the vortex of information of the world beyond my immediate control…
A shooting…
…In retaliation for a bombing…
…Inspired by a shooting…
…Which nearly led to another bombing…
…ect…
It’s a mess.

In browsing UPI.com, I decided not to provide the links to the articles… but you get the point. To quote the Fixx: “One thing (one thing) leads to another.” The inevitably cyclic nature of this fact almost has me not wanting to post this… surely there is something better I could be doing, after all. However, the bulk of the post has been written and I haven’t been able to put much up on this blog lately…

My point is that, for some of these events, I feel like I am asking myself more and more: why isn’t anyone else seeing the pattern? The source of many of these events (or the events which have luckily been thwarted) are the ones which preceded it. Going through my posts, I touched on it, but was never very clear on the fact that these events do not form in a vacuum – they are cultivated by the media coverage of other evil acts.

Ignorance and Confusion July 11, 2018:

What I find interesting, however, is the fact that this one article chronicled the broken ideology of damaged young men with evil hearts and looked at how they all used the media as a template and source of inspiration.

LaDue’s words were chilling and indicative of two major problems – the coverage of such events and the methods by which the subsequent perpetrators would improve upon to gain more notoriety…

Here is the dilemma: these events are news, and worthy of circulation; at the same time the circulation of these events is “news” for most and “lightbulbs” for others.

The power of critical labels assigned by a biased and partial media not only has the power to turn public opinion in a manner which favors whatever end of the political spectrum the news outlet gravitates towards. These labels can distort their own message and become self-perpetuating as they create more fear, anger, and hate… which, of course, leads to suffering.

Fear… or Hope? September 3, 2018:

The problem is, in my opinion, not the tool… but the attention given to it. We could legislate until we are blue in the face, and the evil would find both inspiration and an entirely different tool to use. In this case, the attention provides the idea (and goal to be “better” than the infamous ones before) as well as what did or didn’t work, first responder actions, and the political fallout that follows.

Opinion: Violence, Legislation, and the Person in the Mirror November 6, 2017:

By carefully sensationalizing the event, they provide inspiration for the next perpetrator to be more efficient, deadly, and infamous.

We are trying to solve tomorrow’s crime with last weeks’ laws.

…Then What? February 25, 2018:

We have set the conditions for our current situation – the idea of adding more legislation to that which is already selectively enforces doesn’t seem to be a plausible solution to a tenuous situation. While such an action would placate the immediate call for “something to be done,” isn’t that what we’ve seen as part of this unfortunate pattern of violence, outrage, and apathy?

More Interference March 19, 2018:

The media gives us what we want – black and white thinking. We are presented with a select set of facts with little alternative consideration as to the motivation of the author or presenter of the information we read, listen, or hear; in a sense, we have become trained spectators or a passive audience for the daily deluge of whatever it is that will guarantee our continued and idle participation.

At Any Cost March 6, 2018:

One of the ideas floating around in my head lately has been the idea of “…at any cost” and how we have, collectively, largely forgotten the lessons of our own history – specifically, all that lead to the implementation of the 18^thAmendment and the Volstead Act.

…[L]egislation via emotion with little attention given to the potential outcomes in enforcement, economic costs, and political stability of the nation.

Edgy Answers October 29, 2018:

I have grudgingly accepted the idea that no, no one really wants to find a solution. It is much easier (and profitable) for fear to permeate and fester. 

“The regulations say that you can complain, but the result will not be the one you expect.”

Things Always on my Mind February 21, 2018:

A list of the various and possible deadly threats I faced on a daily basis…

Thoughts on Charlottesville, VA August 13, 2017

…[A] symbol is only as powerful as the meaning given to it by each individual.

“Getting” It… Or Not September 11, 2018

“Hard questions today make for less painful truths tomorrow.”

We do not learn from history because our studies are brief and prejudiced.

That last one applies here as well: just as our studies of history are brief and prejudiced, our present attention span is biased and reactionary; in both cases – past and present – we hamper our ability to move forward towards a goal not driven by competitive marketing or political traction.

I’m sure that I will end up writing about this again within the next few months. As much as I dislike predictions, I don’t see this going away anytime soon… Summer is coming, tension is being increased… and there are elections next year…

…Besides, there is money to be made and power to be leveraged in outrage and fear.