There are so many things going on in world and we have constant and continual access to it all. TV, internet, newspapers, billboards, magazines, flashing, ringing, blinking, advertising, radio...it it is everywhere.
It is easy to take this new and constant information without processing it and coming up with our own opinion. With the media and corporations dominating our information, it is hard to get away from, we are surrounded. Now this is not going to be a left wing conspiracy attempt to dissuade you from getting your information from the media or to stop shopping mega-marts. Because although I feel our main stream media and large corporations are flawed in countless and fundamental ways, we are the ones choosing to participate in the information and choosing where we spend our money.
We do after all have free will.
Let us not loose sight of that. We are in control of it all. Our dollars, our viewing, our subscriptions...we have the power.
It's liberating and frightening all at the same time.
It is easy for us to say, in so many situations, well they made me do it, they have been shoving this down my throat, they are producing this junk food, these violent movies, these sexually laden marketing campaigns...I am surrounded, overwhelmed, it's just awful.
It is easy for us to deflect responsibility, say to ourselves, it is the other, the outer, the"them".
It is easy to forget we control what we take in.
I for instance, love serial killers. Let me rephrase that, I am fascinated by serial killers. It is an area of profound interest to me because I want to know how people become a killer and then how they live with it and do it again and again. The whole thing fascinates me. I will watch documentaries, read books, articles, watch movies and then...I get scared, I can't sleep. I want to talk about it with someone and Marcus wants nothing to do with it. As far as movies and documentaries...I am on my own, he refuses to watch them, and also refuses to talk about the subject with me. If I can't talk about it...I get even more scared. It's harder for me to sleep.
Now, I have to take full responsibility for that stupidity. Even though I don't want to. I would rather just say...the Devil made me do it. (The devil also makes me eat more than my fair share of cookies at least once a week too) But really I do it to myself, no one makes me, no one asks me. I could say (Marcus certainly does)...Why do they even show this stuff? Why do they even write books about this? Why do we need to know this?
The answer is simple. We don't. Just because it is out there, doesn't mean we have to participate. But I am drawn to it. Just like pictures of Lady Gaga in her lasted ensemble that I just gotta see. I make that choice, however flawed. And it is clearly flawed in so many ways.
So the same goes for all this information swirling out there in the ethers just waiting to attach itself to our consciousness. Left unfiltered, this information can actually do us damage, like giving a child more information than they can process at their developmental stage. We must filter, discern, weed out, assert our emotional and spiritual boundaries.
In this age of information overload, I think the time has come for us as individuals, communities, parents, partners, students, consumers, voters, and human beings to make a conscious choice and take full and complete responsibility for our intake on this planet.
Before you decide to bring information into your life, take one second to decide if that is the direction you want to go.
Whether you are getting your daily dose of news, watching a movie, stopping to fill up the tank, buying a new outfit, choosing a detergent, raising a child, or casting a vote...make sure you are making an informed decision. But make sure your decision is coming from you, what you think, what you want, not just from the information that has been dumped on you.
In the world of art these days (just as in the media and pretty much everywhere), anything goes. The lines are very blurred. Sometimes shock and awe are passed off as artwork and creativity. Sometimes entertainment is passed of as news.
Artwork is supposed to uplift you. Media is suppose to inform you. Food is meant to nourish you.
Let's not get sidetracked but agendas, narratives and profits and especially not those of others that don't have our best interest at heart.
Choose your art carefully. Choose your news carefully. Choose your fuel carefully. Choose your food carefully. Choose your clothes carefully. Choose your media carefully.
Because once you see Lady Gaga in a meat suit...you can't un-see it.
And because I have to live with this and can never un-see it...I thought all of you might want to share my pain...and maybe understand why I am the way I am.
Click on the link at the bottom...
This is my baby...in the white and purple.
For those who know and love him, he is #22 and you can scroll through to check out the other pictures. For those who don't know him...pray for him...it's gonna be a long season.
And yes...it is a late hit out of bounds...and it wasn't called!
Oh, the injustice of it all!
http://cshaley.smugmug.com/Sports/South-v-West-Salem/13778471_wFyKZ#1008639574_YchJm
No comments:
Post a Comment