Yesterday marked the 1st anniversary of my retirement date. Retirement is great not only because I no longer have to drag my ass into work each day but also because it allows me the time and freedom to contemplate this beautiful existence God has created.
So, after some contemplation that retirement has afforded me, I’ve come to the conclusion that all of the major broadcast news outlets have become very effective at hooking their individual audiences through outrage. Outrage is a very powerful emotion, and when evoked generates chemical reactions that can, I suppose, become quite addictive.
Fox news had a major segment on a sculpture of Mickey D on a cross this morning. They were suitably outraged and demanded that we be outraged as well (else-wise, how could we be a good Christian?).
So many of the news articles produced on Fox or CNN or MSNBC or whoever are not really news events at all, rather they are events specifically selected, slanted and broadcast to generate outrage in their audience. That outrage produces an addictive chemical in the viewer and he/she returns to the source of that outrage to get another ‘fix’. In short, we’re all being played. Our soma is outrage and it is dished out by powerful forces who are more interested in obtaining power and wealth than in producing evenhanded reporting
We are reinforced in our conservativism (or liberalism) by bad people who know exactly how to press the right emotional buttons. Watch, assess, become emotionless at what is being spoon fed to you and see if the world does not become a more intriguing and less unsettled place.