We are in the middle of a big experiment. What happens when you subject hundreds of millions of people to vivid portrayals inducing consumerist tendencies and paranoia?

A haunting thought keeps recurring to me: We were once a nation with such potential, but we have been poisoning ourselves with our mass media. Yes, there are many thoughtful TV shows and movies that challenge us to be self-critical, as well as shows that inspire us to be our best selves, Over the decades, though, we have willingly lapped up far more TV shows and movies that do the opposite. I haven’t watched much TV for the past decade, but I do see many previews for shows, and I do check in here and there to see what shows are about.

Thousands of plot lines teach us to distrust those who look like they are not from Europe or who talk with an accent. We learn that weapons are the first choice for solving complex social conflicts. We learn that failing to carefully plan works out most of the time. We learn to be cocky in our ignorance embracing Dunning-Krueger as a substitute for being well informed. We learn from show after show that putting other people down or dehumanizing them is a worthy substitute for empathy. We learn that people come in two mutually exclusive flavors, good and bad. We learn that impatiently acting out is often a worthy substitute for hard-earned intelligence and wisdom. We learn that we can recognize the good guys by the fact that they have lots of money, fancy houses, a lot of shiny consumer gadgets, and formidable weapons.

We learn that Americans are good people, special people who are more worthy of respect than non-Americans, just because. We learn to unmitigatedly respect the U.S. military, regardless of how it has been used and abused in the past. We learn all too often that women are not well equipped to be dominant heroic protagonists in our narratives. We learn to salve our fear of serious issues by engaging in constant little jaunts into humor. We learn that we simply cannot have meaningful conversations with those with whom we disagree. We learn that being tribal is a worthy alternative to benefitting from lessons we should have learned from the Enlightenment. We fill our minds with fear of bad guys with guns and bombs who use high-technology to steal and kill. We convince ourselves that these kinds of people usually come from outslde of the U.S., and that they are around almost every corner.

No foreign power is forcing us to consume these plot lines. We are doing this to ourselves. These plot lines are as compelling as a drug because we are fragile fearful creatures who are encouraging each other to indulge in the name of “entertainment.” We have trouble looking away from these plot lines because they are addictive. It is not far-fetched to characterize this media bait as “conflict porn,” and it infects much of what we consume, including our ubiquitous sports programming.

I have no meaningful solution to this craving, other than to urge highly selective viewing, and awareness of what is going on in these plot lines. I don’t know what we do about these problems now that they have thoroughly permeated the highest levels of those who claim to be our political leaders.