Time to Panic
We are too busy to concern ourselves with problems too small. So we keep our problems at bay until they get out of hand. And then we they get out of hand, they get out of control!
And then it's time to panic. And despite what anybody says, people love a good panic.
If you think about all the news stories that have occurred over the past year, of any that come to mind, none of them are subtle. All of them are extreme! And the way the media has reported things, it has been one crisis after the other.
First global warming, then the economy, job losses, bank bailouts, auto industry, and swine flu. It never gets old. The news has no sympathy for its public when it comes to reporting their stories. They have neither a shortage of shameless journalists willing to take on the task nor shortness of breath if they can keep you listening. They'll do it anyway they feel like. As long as they get people to watch and read.
So when it comes to figuring out why it has come to this point, when all we pay attention to are emergencies, crises, and panics, who is to blame? Is it the media for giving us the news the only way we'll hear it, or is it us for building up a deficit to attention so large that we only really heed information when it is beyond our grasp?
We have too many watchers and waiters, and not enough doers and problem solvers. People need to realize that they are responsible for whatever action they take, even if is inaction.
We can't keep piling crises on top of one another because we will never get anywhere. There is a reason that "haste makes waste" is a saying, and it is because the saying is. And time and again, it gets proven.
Take charge of something before you actually have to, otherwise you'll get caught in a position you don't want to be in.
And then it's time to panic. And despite what anybody says, people love a good panic.
If you think about all the news stories that have occurred over the past year, of any that come to mind, none of them are subtle. All of them are extreme! And the way the media has reported things, it has been one crisis after the other.
First global warming, then the economy, job losses, bank bailouts, auto industry, and swine flu. It never gets old. The news has no sympathy for its public when it comes to reporting their stories. They have neither a shortage of shameless journalists willing to take on the task nor shortness of breath if they can keep you listening. They'll do it anyway they feel like. As long as they get people to watch and read.
So when it comes to figuring out why it has come to this point, when all we pay attention to are emergencies, crises, and panics, who is to blame? Is it the media for giving us the news the only way we'll hear it, or is it us for building up a deficit to attention so large that we only really heed information when it is beyond our grasp?
We have too many watchers and waiters, and not enough doers and problem solvers. People need to realize that they are responsible for whatever action they take, even if is inaction.
We can't keep piling crises on top of one another because we will never get anywhere. There is a reason that "haste makes waste" is a saying, and it is because the saying is. And time and again, it gets proven.
Take charge of something before you actually have to, otherwise you'll get caught in a position you don't want to be in.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 5:12 PM
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