from Stencil. The funny part is this quote showed up twice there with Albert Einstein also accredited with it... does that mean he plagarized? ;)
Dealing with my own upset over what's going on in the world and country (some of which comes from not being sure exactly what is going on) has led to keeping two blogs. This one is apolitical and aimed at peace. The other is where I write about the issues of today-- when I feel I just have to or blow up. My motivations kind of fit a quote from the movie Red, where two ex-agents are talking.
Frank Moses: How'd do you do it?
Victoria: Do what?
Frank Moses: Make the transition? You seem so calm.
Victoria: I love it here. I love the baking, I love the flower arranging. I like the routine... Well, I do get a bit restless sometimes. I take the odd contract on the side. I just can't stop.
For me, the occasional contract is writing about my irritation over something I will have read somewhere. Sometimes a small essay happens because of wanting to find out if this or that is true. There is soooo much distorted news out there.
Add to the distortions, the fake new, which looks as though it comes from an authentic source, and the chaos is doubled. What I have come to believe is even if the reader finds out that the story was false, it's too late-- the emotional reaction of rage or fear has already impacted body and spirit. The mind can handle those articles better than body and soul. Sure we mentally know it's not real. We though have inside us when we thought it was.
One way to combat this is putting other things, equally strong, inside also, like meditating, lighting candles, inspiring music, uplifting books, finding a movie that is about the goodness in life-- not the horror, watching birds, going for a walk in nature. In future blogs, I plan to write about some of the positive ways for me. The benefit of being sure we are doing such is that they stay with us just like that false news but in a helpful way.
Reluctantly in Facebook, I finally reconciled myself to unfollowing the ones who were constantly sharing their rage and fear (often without bothering to check if it was false news). The good news is it's much more peaceful when I visit there. The bad news is some of those I'd really like to know how their lives are going are hidden (at least for now). Their need to constantly attack conflicted with my need to have peace.
When I take out the occasional contract at the Rant (like this one), it's a place readers are warned what they will find. Early in my life, I learned if I let out what was upsetting me, wrote it down, dealt with it in whatever way I could, then it gave me peace. We can't change it all. It's enough trouble to change ourselves.
4 comments:
I think my political views are different from yours but I do agree that things have gotten out of hand. I've done the same as you with respect to Facebook and yes, it is troubling that I am now cut off from certain peoples' lives. It's hard. We have a similar thing going on in Canada, our Prime Minister heads up a centre-left party and as my son says, they run for office from the left but govern from the right. A lot of people are disillusioned that certain campaign promises are being jettisoned. I am too, but realistically it is hard to expect everything promised will be delivered. I have developed an appreciation for silly cat and dog videos on Facebook, they don't rouse strong emotions.
At Facebook, I always like hearing how people are doing. I really don't need to know their political views. I wrote in that rant that if I know where you get your news, I will pretty well know your side of the political divide. Moderates are the toughest because we will lean left on one thing and right on another.
What I want from any leader is responsible behavior and to not promise or do what cannot also be paid for. That often seems to be too much for which to ask...
You once responded to a comment I made on a blog. You told me it was too early to worry. I did not stop worrying and now it seems my fears were valid ones. I'm still very worried.
Worrying doesn't help us much and it hurts us a lot. I feel that the government was going the wrong way under Obama also with the increasing debt, regulations that made it very difficult for some businesses (Ranch Boss is a consultant for some of them) and heading toward globalization with no clue what that would mean for most of us except less local control and more given over to the federal government and maybe a world government. So many disturbing things were happening, hidden things, like the value of the dollar which has led to an inflation that we all know is happening but the government tells us it's not. If you were a very strong liberal, a lot of what was going on seemed good. If you were a very strong conservative, it was very scary.
I understand the upset some felt over CNN; Washington Post; and NY Times being shut out of a press pool event (two others shut themselves out over it to make 5 excluding or being excluded). If you trust those sources for fair and unbiased reporting, what happened seemed insane. If you have felt they are very biased and only print what suits their agenda which now is to destroy Trump, you didn't see it as bad at all.
I have my own concerns about Trump based on his personality and it's much of why I didn't vote for him-- not to mention disagreeing with conservatives on some key social issues. Certainly what is happening now is not going to make him more stable if he's not... but is he not? I don't know because those who have long known him have differing opinions on what he's like. I sure didn't like hearing we need more nukes and a bigger military; but he ran on a more powerful military but not wanting to use it-- still more nukes didn't sound good.
Trump's not a politician and that's why many wanted him. They wanted change and that wasn't happening with Hillary (it's why many like us voted for Bernie in the primary-- for all the good it did us). He has appointed to his cabinet those who are also not politicians and that has the establishment very worried. But the establishment hasn't been doing the workers in this country any favors; so ...
Anyway the rant goes into topics like immigration and looks like it'll have to do something on the news media and why this isn't all about Trump and yes, it's scary to me that I can't know where to find reliable news as to what actually happened without all the scare tags added to it. If I wanted MSNBC, I'm sure I'd think the world as we know it was ending. Just remember, they had a political agenda that left out Bernie for much coverage, while they very much wanted Hillary and made no secret about it. Their rants since the election have been unrelenting (I don't watch them anymore (they used to be my go-to station) but see the headlines and a few clips now and again).
The thing is the establishment does not want what Trump wants. It's not just about him but his agenda. The establishment is most media, news and entertainment) as well as many politicians on both sides of the aisle, and government bureaucrats whose jobs are on the line. If Trump goes too far, he may not have enough who back his policies and with the professionals in government in positions to sabotage his programs, I don't know who is most at risk.
I don't know if I will write about this for the rant as I just pretty much did lol. You know in some ways I worry more about the entertainment world than the news as it has been so invasive with making movies and TV shows that seem destructive to me. Are they intended to destroy people's spirits and what the heck do these reality shows do to those who watch them thinking they are real when they have an agenda...
Now, you have me worried *S*
Post a Comment