If there is a word that describes the people of planet earth, that word is dysfunctional.
Long, long ago Yesterday, pre-internet, pre-TV, pre-radio, pre-press, pre-pony express people lived in insular communities and when bad things happened to one or several of such communities, the rest of the world had no clue. People didn’t have to be deliberately dummied down as to world events, such events simply did not exist for them, unless of course, they were happening to them – be it war or plague or famine. When such happened the people did not expect the rest of the world to be aware of their problem and to come to their aid, either as volunteers of charitable organizations or as uniformed members of some global para-government institution. Basically, it was all explained as acts of God.
Then came Today, or the Age of Information. All of the Bad Things – and even some Good Things – are shoved right in your face. Whether you own a computer or not, there is no escape from Information. Internet, TV and Radio (The Media) are, of course, the major creator, designer, promoter, and disseminator of Information. They are the masters of Operation Information Overload. These are quickly and thickly followed by The Press, flyers, billboards and labels on everything, in a variety of languages, just in case. To make this Information Smorgasbord effective, i.e., to ensure that practically everyone anywhere can access and absorb said information, you have public, global “education” designed in such a way that the “educated” numbties will know just enough to gorge themselves on Global Gossip but remain utterly unequipped to mentally digest and make some personal sense of what it all means.
This is where I must make a sweeping curve in this and talk about my observation of the average North American Earthian. An interesting creature that got lost in the gears of the industrial revolution and Henry Ford’s assembly lines and that stuck its neck out of that grease pit just enough to have a quick shampoo before being once again plunged into another intestine of the Matrix: technology. Except for the highly paid high priests of T and IT and their acolyte slaves, few people understand the workings of technology and its spoiled brat, information technology. People don’t know how it works, why it works, nor what its purpose is . They simply accept it on faith. Another Earthian religion, one that is quickly supplanting the old “Act of God” religions that still cling to the horse and buggy faith of their forebears or foreskins.
Problem with faith is, it bears no scrutiny. Believe and don’t question. That’s it. Your emotions may be manipulated to jump all over the barometer but that’s intentional. It’s entertainment. If you have a few seconds of feelings for the victims of a war or a slaughter house; for greed and injustice in high place; for people displaced in a tornado or hurricane or for whatever other disaster The Holy Commercial Media and The Holy Commercial Press drive into your senses with their battering rams, don’t worry, the effects are mercurial and leave no visible scars. By dessert, beer or party time they will have blissfully disappeared to be replaced by a whole different set of whirlwind realizations.
The miracle of IT is having made all of life practically meaningless, pointless, irrelevant. The more information and disinformation spread over the world, the more confused and irrational they get and the less power they have as individuals. Under a constant barrage of minute by minute invented awareness the individual mind gives up and seeks solace in mindless entertainment and drugs. Quite a few even manage what, a few decades ago, would have been impossible: they can suck in all the gross and bloody drama of the planet and at the same time smile benignly at their little circle of progeny; of family, house, pets and friends and pretend that as long as “my family” is OK, the rest will take care of itself. They enjoy the shock and awe of horrifying “news” as long as it doesn’t interfere upon their personal comfort zone.
And that is collective dysfunctionality. More to say on that subject later.
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