For many, many years, my focus on the world was directed by the media – for the media fascinated me. In my younger years, hardly a day went by without newspapers and magazines, later came televison (from Good Morning Britain to Channel 4 news to the various talk shows); the time I spent reading the news online during the last couple of years does border on addiction. From The Guardian to The New York Times, from the Tagesanzeiger to Der Spiegel – I simply could not get enough.
Although I knew enough about the mechanics of the media to not fully trust them, my worldview nevertheless depended largely on what I read. My focus was mostly on politics and on culture. And, while I often felt appalled and bored by what l learned (it essentially all boiled down to vanity), I did not seem to be able to let go of something that was unduly consuming my time.
And then, November 6, 2024 arrived: the morning news predicted that the American election would be won by a man who was not only utterly unfit to run a grocery store but whose character was a total disgrace, an insult to any decent being. My faith in humanity not only took a beating, it was gone.
The public performances of this old man were a lesson in savegeness for which the media provided a platform. Sure, they checked his statements, criticised him, and made it clear how dangerous he was. However, their reasoned information had no tangible effect, yet their providing a daily platform for this man had – for the media cannot tell us what to think, they can however direct our attention. I can't think of anyone who was more showered with attention than this moron. He was given exactly what he needed – and it payed off.
On November 6, 2024, my attention shifted. Since then my daily TV-news ritual (BBC, CNN, Sky News) ceased to exist, likewise my online news intake (from The Independent to The Daily Telegraph to Watson) was gone. Skimming what I'm told are news is now enough. To my suprise, no conscious decision was needed, it happened automatically.
Little by little I started to understand (understanding is a feeling) that the responsibilty for where to direct my attention was with me. Also, contrary to what I had been taught (and believed), there was no need whatsoever to be politically informed (I cannot recall a single political event that has affected my personal life). To be free to choose what to focus on however isn't easy if you're as media-conditioned as I am. Nowadays, I'm in the process of trying to figure out what to concentrate on. Richard Rorty once indicated the direction: "... the emphasis falls less on knowing than on imagining, more on freeing oneself up than on getting something right."
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