It seems that the relentless fearmongering perpetrated by the media plays multiple roles - more than just the "be afraid" posterboy that culls viewership from frightened fools. The purpose is, invariably, to cull viewership, but the social impact is more complex than what I have mentioned before. I attempted a more philosophical entry this week:
Bad news seems to serve a dual purpose: one, to beat us into submission by portraying the world as a dangerous place; and two, to make us feel alive by treating us as survivors in the “harrowing odyssey” of day-to-day life. The end result in both cases is a race of undead television junkies who are addicted to tragedy. They (we) rely on the morbid and the dismal to invigorate the humdrum of normal life, but the effect is illusory and paradoxical, as evidenced by the millions of couchlocked zombies who revel in the endless parade of death and destruction in the news. If the media does not itself create the human affinity with tragedy, then it certainly exploits it, and if the latter is the case, our irresistable attraction may stem from another origin. Call it psychology, genetics, or intelligent design, either way man is plagued by an inherent and primeval fixation with horrific disasters, unexpected death, and impending doom. Perhaps this is a reflection of the human condition: where we came from and where we are going, and our ambivalences concerning an unforseeable(?) future in both the short and long term; on both the individual and cosmic scale.
I included a link at the bottom of the page with lyrics and possible interpretations of the song "Vicarious" by Tool, which touches this issue.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment