Revised 10/6/18; 1/19/19
I never understood the rush to be first to “report/break” a piece of info that may or may not be “news” the public at-large actually needs to know, without knowing it is factual. Such reportage is always rushed, always incomplete, and therefore usually wrong because full context and actuality/factuality has not been established. It seems like a narcissistic rush-to-be-relevant but is fraught with dangerous consequences.
I have been asked why I don’t write about ongoing “hot button” issues while they are “hot” and unfolding, e.g., the hypocritical Weinstein/Hollywood/#MeToo “scandals” or the Parkland shootings and astroturfing, or the sudden politically expedient anti-Trump myopic furor over long-standing immigration policy, as well as all other manner of disgusting social and political posturing and pontification and faux falling-on-swords, e.g. the Kavanaugh confirmation.
The answer is in the question: I easily could, and often think I should, but then I sit back, survey the situation, and make the decision not to. I see no need to pile on to the whirlwind of misinformation, the frenzy of hyper-driven and overwrought social emotionalism driven by the tabloid-esque distortions and exploitation of these situations by politically-motivated hyper-biased traditional and social media clamoring to create click-bait* or voice their ignorance. Ditto for the political chattering class trying to make points, usually with great obfuscation, factual cherry-picking, and insensitivity to anything but their partisan need to shape and control the narrative no matter how simplistic and how wrong they tend to be in their effort to grab headlines and signal to their constituency. Too many of the hobbits who dwell in social media-supercilious twitterdom are willingly, easily, eagerly, whipped into a froth and led like livestock to the intellectual slaughterhouse, unable to see the forest through the trees, which is exactly what those driving the narratives in these situations want (apologies for mixed metaphors). If you must comment, at least let some time pass, facts emerge, so that you will be be rational and measured in your thinking and responses, both personally and publically. Let the temperature cool down and sanity, if it ever existed in the first place, return.
I often read commentaries that strike me in the moment as intellectually interesting or cause a strong visceral reaction, either pro or con. I save such articles for future reference thinking (hoping) I will find the time to write something that would end up on this site. Funny thing though, when I later revisit said commentaries I am often amazed how much the original sense of enthusiasm/passion aroused by them has diminished, sometimes to the point that I no longer regard some as worthy of being source material and I delete them. What’s my point? There is a rule I live by when I have to make an important decision. We have all heard the sound counsel to “sleep on it.” I take it further to mull and sleep on it for three days, if that much time is available. What a difference time as distance can make in one’s perspective and perception. Which brings us back to the points discussed back in the first and second paragraphs.
These are the reasons why I don’t rush to write, and why I recommend getting away—permanently—from the constant bombastic bombardment of bellicosity on social media. Far too many get their “news” from the usual players in social media. At the very least, stop using Twitter or Facebook or similar “services” as sources on anything of importance, like news (or what passes as journalism these days but is usually mega-biased commentary). They are the biggest reason I am writing this piece.
Again, please re-read the first and second paragraphs. I closed my Twitter account many months ago after realizing I hardly ever checked it, hadn’t missed it. My Facebook presence is miniscule, contains very little information, and I hardly ever sign on. I had these accounts because so many “experts” (another subject worth addressing) said I should yet I never felt compelled to use them (and personally know a few people who rue the day they forgot what they post there could cost them their jobs).
I also recommend making at least one day a week completely media free. Try it. It’s harder than you think, but doing so will soothe your savage breast (and beast), restores intellectual equilibrium, sanity, and serenity. You won’t miss the (mis)information overload. When you re-engage the next day you will likely find out you really didn’t miss much, and that it is all still there in the ether for you to find, fuss, and fume over.
Americans are not happy. A happy people do not torment each other for sport. We are miserable and, as they say, misery loves social media.—John DeVore **
Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. Doing so without taking time to consider prior and present context and consequences, intended or not, is a national self-inflicted injury that could be fatal to this republic.
*I remind readers that this site is ad-free because the purpose is not for personal financial gain.
**Speaking of misery, here’s a few thoughts for the day which I include because of increasing political traction of the likes of Bernie Sanders, the “everything for free for me” millenials, and their new-found political patron saint, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, playing out on the disgusting illiberal free-for-all of social media. “Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,” said Churchill, later further embellished by Margaret Thatcher who said that “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” American economist Thomas Sowell would later opine that “The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” If you waste your time listening to the rabble on Twitter, you might want to vet the source and see if they are proponents of what these three luminaries were talking about. There is nothing new under the socialist/social democratic sun.
