Editorial #186 The Depression Caused by News
The emotional state of the country and the world seems to be at an all-time low and very fragile. The list of things that are wrong, incredible or depressing seems endless. But, if we were not told about this madness, few of us would notice it in our corner of the world.
Why listen to any news, if it is so depressing? Sooner or later someone will tell you about it, anyway. News is closer to gossip and, like gossip, there is very little we can do about it. The adage: “Ignorance is bliss” makes more sense every day as we are bombarded with gloom and doom every time we are exposed to any social media or network news.
The adage: “knowledge is power” it true, but it only applies if one can do something with the information. Education was intended to teach how to handle things that happen to us. This is the reason baseball games are played with a score board. The score board is not for the fans. It is for each player so they know what to do when they get the ball.
News is like the “trash talk” at the ball games where players try to get inside the heads of their opponent. It is where the anger starts so the fans of those players become more engaged so there are more eyeballs watching the advertising.
It is really not important to watch the game, but if something is upsetting or irritating about the competition it is hard to look away and, in the case of today’s madness, it brings anger, disgust, fear and resignation. None of these states of mind are comforting.
News should be educational but the need to be educated by the news is no longer seems important or possible. To be completely educated on any subject is impossible today. Today the total amount of information in the world is doubling every 13 months and is expected to double every 12 hours by 2025. It is no longer necessary or possible to know much about anything. The only thing anyone needs to know today is how to ask the right question and have enough extrapolative skills to determine if the answer is logical.
The bottom line is there is nothing different today than has been happening for past six thousand years of civilization. The only difference now is there is so much information that is instantaneous, it overwhelms us, giving a feeling of being out of control and insecure that leads to the depression and fatigue we are all experiencing in these: “The greatest of time and the worst of times”.
This too will pass. Things have been worse. Right will prevail and we still live in the greatest country on earth if we stop listening to all the trash talk from those who don’t believe it and are doing their best to have you lose faith in our God and our Country.
This is Keith Kube wishing you the best in making the world a better place.
Keith has a regular commentary on WJAG 780 radio at 7:40 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Check his website www.keithkube.com for past editorials.