Dangerous
Distractions
How are we to
expect this man to be aware? His life is an amalgamation; a twisted
one with no synergy and little coherence. He spends almost nine
hours preparing to leave for, traveling to, engaging in, and returning
from work. Work itself is a self-contained reality with laws,
relationships, hierarchies, and consequences entirely divorced
from the outside world. There, the sun rises and sets based on
things like dividends, profit margins, sales goals, and overhead.
When he returns home, more demands upon his attention await. Spouses,
children, and friends gnaw away at his "free" time with
narrowly focused games that may have had evolutionary roots, but
have been yanked so far out of context they are often malignant.
How is he to worry about issues larger than himself? He turns
on the TV. Or the computer. Or the radio. He turns off part of
his mind.
Rarely, he might
read a periodical not unlike this one for his daily dose of enlightenment.
But it's not enough, just a pang of guilt that opens his eyes
a sliver, only to drift shut again shortly thereafter.
He sleeps. He
rinses and repeats. He is an average American.
THE MANY
FORMS OF ESCAPE
Recreation...escapism...diversion....whatever
manifestation it marauds under, it is a collection of multi-billion
dollar industries. The average American spends more money on entertainment
than on health care, groceries, clothing, or gasoline. Peyton
Manning is paid $875,000 per game so that grown men can vicariously
throw touchdown passes with his arm. On Sundays we pay through
the nose to define life as a 100-yard field or as Wimbledon's
center court. How dare Pete Sampras not exhibit the exultation
we feel? After all, it's our victory, not his.
Go to the mall
on Sunday and you'll see capitalist princesses prance euphorically
as a million merchants beg her patronage. It is a world designed
entirely for her; and, well, the girl right next to her. Phrases
like "the customer is always right," and "customer
service is our top priority" reinforce the notion that shoppers
can rightfully demand the materialistic world revolve around them.
The simple opium offered by celluloid muses looks nearly antiquated
by comparison. Watching films has always been akin in spirit to
identity theft. Now we shun it for being too rigid. We like our
stolen lives to be interactive. Hence the rise of games like Grand
Theft Auto, a cathartic rampage that would have caused Freud to
rise from the dead if only such indulgences didn't seem commonplace.
Twenty-eight
million Americans regularly take mood elevators like Prozac, Zoloft,
and Paxil (compare that to the paltry two million Americans addicted
to Cocaine). The very ethos of drugs in the Prozac family is to
make the user numb, so as not to be disturbed by his or her role
in an unsatisfying reality. And perhaps the most potent and destructive
legal drug is not a pharmaceutical product at all. Advertising-a
mood-altering barrage meant to instill cravings, manipulate perceptions,
and create euphoria-impacts most of the domestic population. And
in contrast to illegal drugs, which often cause a disassociation
with or diminishment of the self, advertising intends the opposite:
it is a steroid for the ego, designed to place us...you... I at
the center of multiple independent, artificial realities.
Contrast that
with...
THE REAL
WORLD
If the average
American was asked to draw an empty field, few would leave the
canvas blank. Most would render a nondescript expanse of grass,
rocks, and soil; oblivious to the fact that such places are typically
home to countless forms of unseen life. The truth is that very
few places on Earth are completely devoid of living occupants.
What makes a place "empty" in the mind of the modern
human is its lack of orientation toward humans. In an empty field,
many things may be at play, but little significance is affixed
to a lone primate. There are no neon signs or intense marketing
devices present to make one feel important. Such a setting cuts
through the mythology of our bloated self-worth and mocks our
deification of the individual.
But few Americans
are able to have such an experience, trapped instead in a circumscribed
alternate reality of arbitrary morality and sensory overload.
Between cell phones, ambient freeway noise, email alerts, radios,
and television, our senses are bombarded with far more stimuli
than evolution prepared us for. When salient points like overpopulation,
urban sprawl, pollution and mass extinction do manage to penetrate
the infinite daily distraction faced by the common citizen, those
messages manifest as an annoying buzzing to their splintered senses.
Further, modern social settings typically do not allow for swift
conflict resolution via the "fight or flight" response.
As such, individuals tend to carry unresolved stresses that strain
their emotions and decrease their ability to react properly to
new stimuli. Thus, a pertinent news story about the scientific
validation of global warming just becomes "one more thing
to worry about."
Even those who
try to step back and see larger truths are overwhelmed by the
sheer size of this world. Reality is, sadly, quite uncomfortable.
Perhaps that is why, set against its somber hue, the allure of
diversions like sport-with its crisp rules and clearly defined
boundaries-becomes overwhelming. Diverting attention is a well-known
method for distracting children from pain caused by injury. It
would appear that the same approach works to soothe a throbbing
conscience.
THE NICE,
TIDY CONCLUSION
Diversions underlie
the otherwise inexplicable disregard westerners show for their
part in the degradation of the biosphere. Still, escapism is not
inherently evil, nor a product of technology. The human brain
is able to generate its own fantasies and alternate realities
through imagination. Storytelling and role-playing are as old
as humanity itself. Rather, technology augments and facilitates
our ability to escape from and construct multiple realities, and
our position relative to the ecosystem makes that ability disastrous.
In essence, the civilized way of life builds a wall between its
patrons and the natural world. Diversions close the proverbial
curtains, making us not only divorced from reality, but relieved
of any impetus to consider it.
Written
By Les Beldo
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