d Blog

Welcome to d blog, also known as Dan's rant. The content herein is essentially comprised of miscellaneous ramblings and random thoughts on the nature of contemporary existence.

"The Hive Mind"

I was kidding around when I sarcastically mentioned the impending creation of an all Anna Nicole all the time channel. There is enough coverage of the burial debacle and custody issues in this case to populate a full fledged course in journalism school. Judge Seidlin does both South Florida and society as a whole, a big disservice by turning the somber proceedings into a sideshow, stretching out testimony and discussion to suit his own desire for celebrity. I suppose this nauseating turn is to be expected. After all it’s hard to discuss the real challenges of the day, because the difficult answers are not directly forthcoming and also the issues of importance frighten us. It’s much easier as well as more accessible to talk about Anna Nicole and apparently this pervasive topic generates audience that translates into revenues. The mantra of the day is. “You can’t go wrong underestimating the intellectual integrity of the audience.” Every nuance of every new development seems to be immediately picked up by all media outlets simultaneously. Don’t the media managers consume media themselves? Cannot anyone be so bold as to ignore this story and leave it to the rest of the pack while providing us information and ideas of a higher nature? Are they not aware that the ubiquity of this story is more than annoying it’s unhealthy? The news gathering machine of the media seems to be watching each other more than investigating or commenting individually. Dynamically we appear to be witnessing a “Hive Mind” phenomena. The more I ponder this the scarier it is. For the last decade or so big media’s backbone has been weakening. Where were the media before we followed Bush into Iraq? Where was the independent investigation and the questions challenging the unsubstantiated claims that supported the worst foreign policy decisions in history, which we followed like a nation of blind sheep? Where is the editorial prioritization? What has happened to the truth? We are a nation sorely in need of bold leadership on every front. I could go on about the changes in every area of our culture that are not for the better. The bitter attacks from the right that peaked with the impeachment of President Clinton have polarized society and led us here. The bile spewed by Ann Coulter and her ilk have all but killed the beneficent spirit that made this country great. At last recent scandals such as Ted Haggard's have all but pulled the rug out from under the evangelicals without whose support the right would be nowhere. None too soon if you ask me, as the right’s eschewing of all things egalitarian has among other disturbing trends, led to a popularized but emotionally unavailable youth that prefer temporarily ” Hooking Up” and participating in what they don’t believe is sex to more difficult but vibrant relationships that depend on attachment and commitment. Hoist by their own petard the right wing's own lack of faith in the positive nature of humanity has sufficiently weakened their hegemony as to create an opening for the rest of us, if we can get off it and stop running scared. The media’s abdication of its critical role in the system checks and balances that run the operations of the culture has to end. The time has come for individuals to stand up and defy the Hive Mind.

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