On Understanding & Respect

Torres, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 23 February 2022

All my life I've felt the need to understand how the world ticks. In my younger years, this meant to go to the nearby kiosk and buy the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, the Tagesanzeiger, and the NZZ. Such was my Saturday ritual that made me feel like an educated and thus a better man. 

This, however, has changed; I do not take these papers seriously anymore. Nowadays, I switch on my laptop and read the news online. Well, I do not really read them, I merely skim the articles for I have learned that the media are not out there to educate me but to make loud noise that accompanies events that would also take place without it,

Needless to say, this is not the reason that I believe the news are mainly a distraction. Media makers present me every day with an array of attention seekers I have no respect for. To really understand that means to turn to something or somebody that deserves my attention and respect – me, and what's in front of me.