Comments on: Attention Sickness http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:51:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Tim Hogan http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/#comment-11821 Tim Hogan Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:08:56 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1235#comment-11821 The media and their transnational corporatist owners want us to feel overwhelmed and in fear, then they stick their agenda to us by inventing candidates for office and calling them "George W. Bush." The sheep follow while the wolves pick off the old, the young and those too weak to take care of themselves, and they call it "compasssionate conservatism." I don't feel like crap but, a little at sea in the ocean of bullshit, lies and cynicism which powers Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing neocon Brown Shirt weblog echochambering yobbo yappers on an Oxycontin and Viagra hangover. Joe Hill said it best; "Don't mourn, organize!" The media and their transnational corporatist owners want us to feel overwhelmed and in fear, then they stick their agenda to us by inventing candidates for office and calling them “George W. Bush.”

The sheep follow while the wolves pick off the old, the young and those too weak to take care of themselves, and they call it “compasssionate conservatism.”

I don’t feel like crap but, a little at sea in the ocean of bullshit, lies and cynicism which powers Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing neocon Brown Shirt weblog echochambering yobbo yappers on an Oxycontin and Viagra hangover.

Joe Hill said it best; “Don’t mourn, organize!”

]]> By: Mindy Carney http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/#comment-11807 Mindy Carney Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:16:50 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1235#comment-11807 Wow. I needed that. Perspective. Sometimes I lose it, only I don't realize I've lost it, I just know that I feel awful - a feeling of sadness and anguish that won't recede and today I woke up with a headache to boot. I don't even have TV, I listen to NPR in the car, yet via it and the Internet I'd managed to ingest so much misery in the last 36 hours that I felt completely defeated. Today should be a cheery day at my house - it's my nine-yr.-old's birthday - but all I've felt all day is gloom. Erich and Gatomjp, you clarified it for me. It's true - media shows the stories as if Anna Nicole's baby-daddy and the victims of Cho carry the same cultural weight and should be given the same status and NO WONDER we all feel like crap! Can't say that I'm suddenly cured of my ennui (sp?), but at least I can shake my head and loosen the images a bit, without feeling suffocating guilt. Wow. I needed that. Perspective. Sometimes I lose it, only I don’t realize I’ve lost it, I just know that I feel awful - a feeling of sadness and anguish that won’t recede and today I woke up with a headache to boot. I don’t even have TV, I listen to NPR in the car, yet via it and the Internet I’d managed to ingest so much misery in the last 36 hours that I felt completely defeated. Today should be a cheery day at my house - it’s my nine-yr.-old’s birthday - but all I’ve felt all day is gloom.

Erich and Gatomjp, you clarified it for me. It’s true - media shows the stories as if Anna Nicole’s baby-daddy and the victims of Cho carry the same cultural weight and should be given the same status and NO WONDER we all feel like crap!

Can’t say that I’m suddenly cured of my ennui (sp?), but at least I can shake my head and loosen the images a bit, without feeling suffocating guilt.

]]> By: gatomjp http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/#comment-11795 gatomjp Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:29:49 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1235#comment-11795 Our poor little brains are not equipped to handle all this negative stimuli. Consider the life of a human only two hundred years ago living in a small village. The only information he or she would get on a daily basis would be that which s/he personally experienced or was told by word of mouth from friends and family. If there was an accident or a murder, it would be big news and very upsetting to everyone because most likely everyone would know the person involved. We haven't evolved all that much in 200 years. However, the ability to deliver information from around the world has exploded. The evening news makes our lives seem like a village run amok and we subconciously react as if all of these things were happening close to home. A train wreck half a world away is tragic but is it NECESSARY information or does it just overload our senses? What am I supposed to DO with that information? By being bombarded every day with condensed, vivid images of pain and suffering that we would never have experienced without electronic communication, we create a constant feeling that the world is in worse shape and more dangerous than it really is. Our poor little brains are not equipped to handle all this negative stimuli.

Consider the life of a human only two hundred years ago living in a small village. The only information he or she would get on a daily basis would be that which s/he personally experienced or was told by word of mouth from friends and family. If there was an accident or a murder, it would be big news and very upsetting to everyone because most likely everyone would know the person involved.

We haven’t evolved all that much in 200 years. However, the ability to deliver information from around the world has exploded. The evening news makes our lives seem like a village run amok and we subconciously react as if all of these things were happening close to home. A train wreck half a world away is tragic but is it NECESSARY information or does it just overload our senses? What am I supposed to DO with that information?

By being bombarded every day with condensed, vivid images of pain and suffering that we would never have experienced without electronic communication, we create a constant feeling that the world is in worse shape and more dangerous than it really is.

]]> By: Tim Hogan http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/#comment-11789 Tim Hogan Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:29:01 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1235#comment-11789 Apparently too much TV for children is linked to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Kids who watch more tv at a younger age have more ADHD, especially boys. The American Pediatric Association has even issued guidleines for TV watching for children. Most children I've met are far more civilized than the adults I meet, so I tremble for my country when I recall that kids are too young to vote. Apparently too much TV for children is linked to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Kids who watch more tv at a younger age have more ADHD, especially boys.

The American Pediatric Association has even issued guidleines for TV watching for children.

Most children I’ve met are far more civilized than the adults I meet, so I tremble for my country when I recall that kids are too young to vote.

]]> By: Erika Price http://dangerousintersection.org/2007/04/18/attention-sickness/#comment-11784 Erika Price Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:52:17 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1235#comment-11784 But we sure eat it up, don't we? It returns to that classical self-precipitating problem that really vexes me, at least: media effects man effects media. The news media has to keep up with an easily-bored public, a public that has such a short attention span...due to such a fast-paced, ever changing media that rarely hovers over one topic for long. I don't see how we can all break the cycle, but those of us that <em>do</em> tire of it can refuse to live off such poor intellectual nutrition and devote our attentions to more thoughtful, in-depth analysis of things that truly matter to us. As I tend to rail on about again and again, we can only achieve this by shying away from mainstream, fluff media in favor of more independent means. But we sure eat it up, don’t we? It returns to that classical self-precipitating problem that really vexes me, at least: media effects man effects media. The news media has to keep up with an easily-bored public, a public that has such a short attention span…due to such a fast-paced, ever changing media that rarely hovers over one topic for long. I don’t see how we can all break the cycle, but those of us that do tire of it can refuse to live off such poor intellectual nutrition and devote our attentions to more thoughtful, in-depth analysis of things that truly matter to us. As I tend to rail on about again and again, we can only achieve this by shying away from mainstream, fluff media in favor of more independent means.

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