The world today feels more ideologically divided than it’s ever been. The voice of the media is DEAFENING now that it’s on 24 hours a day, across dozens of channels, and we carry it with us in our pockets. We’re never free from it.
Social media platforms have connected us, sure — but they’ve also tagged and herded us according to ‘likes’ and browsing preferences. People are actually given DIFFERENT NEWS based on DIFFERENT ideologies. We don’t so much watch the news today for current events as much as we watch the news today to prove our beliefs are right. That our ideas are better or smarter than other people’s.
Even more alarming: I think we turn on the news to get pissed off. We’re addicted to the outrage, the flush in the skin, the tightening of the fists. We’re filled with a sudden purpose, staging perfectly eloquent arguments in our head. Then we scroll down to the next item that provokes us.
Now I’m certainly not advocating against controversy — difficult conversations need to happen. It’s how we’re exposed to new ideas, it’s how we grow. But that cannot happen in an environment where other ideas (and indeed the intelligence or moral fiber of those who hold such ideas) are not respected. No-one ever changed anyone’s mind by insulting them first.
We didn’t get here overnight. It was a slow drip-drip-drip of progress. (or perhaps the opposite). The frog isn’t aware it’s boiling in the pot when the heat is turned up slow enough.
However it happened — the solution is quite simple. It comes from the same place the problem did, as most solutions do. I believe people are inherently decent, and though not everyone can carry the same weight (and remember, you never know what another person is truly carrying!), I believe all people generally want to do the right thing. If there is a common thread among humans — it is our humanity.
And if mass media can broadcast vitriolic, divisive clickbait, then it can also broadcast helpful, engaging, warming, community-building content.
I’m not naive to the car-crash morbid entertainment of sensationalism in a story. I just don’t believe that’s the only source to get that ‘high’. A new concept, a new discussion, a new recipe, a new way of thinking about relationships — when done properly with engaging, clever presentation, can be just as entertaining.
That is my goal, and that is my modus operandi. I’m not here for ratings — I want to engage and inform people so they have the tools to improve and/or better enjoy their lives. That is my ratings criteria. How much better my audience is living after.
Because outrage cannot sustain us. It’s reactionary, it’s stuck in the past. You can know a thousand things you’re against and still not have a clue what you’re for. I prefer to learn from the past, certainly — but place our focus in the future. What do we love? What do we strive for? What are better ways to get there?
Life is too short for this ridicule, this low competition of character and worthiness. We’re all just trying to live happy, fulfilling lives. We won’t get there by feeding our outrage addictions.