Nothing More To Say

Is there a subject that hasn't been dissected, deconstructed or devalued? We all know there are pundits for any topic, newsworthy or not. However, with the millions of sound bites available without any substantive debate, or the overwhelming "informed" politicos, economists, and media experts to evaluate the latest crisis the general populous has become anesthetized.

Notice, I didn't write "desensitized". That would fan the flames that people are immune to the violence we are constantly exposed to by the media. No, that decision is a personal choice. To watch nightly dramas or news with ever-constant killings and maimings is our right as citizens, though more and more of my friends and I have chosen to limit our television, movie or Internet viewing.

I used the adjective "anesthetized" because our desire to learn about the latest local, regional or national crisis has prompted massive information overload by the media. Most American brains have become numbed and mollified by the multitude of footage or opinions, even those that are well-argued or reasoned.

Take sports, within a day, a team winning a championship has been recapped so often in all the media's various outlets that by the end of that day, many have an inner voice that says, "enough"--though outwardly if its our favorite team, we wouldn't dare admit that truth.

Moving on to more pressing matters, we wonder why many Americans have become so cynical and apathetic. It's because consensus among those who are supposed to know "what's what" is a rare commodity. If you ask the average citizen, for example, what their opinion is regarding climate change, many would shrug their shoulders and say: "Who knows?" Intermittently, scientific data about global warming will be discussed, briefly, on news programs or talk shows, but there will inevitably be dissenters who crunch the numbers to appear as though the issue isn't that serious. Or at least that has been true until, recently, within a wisp of a moment, news programs reported that the majority of the world's scientists have concluded climate change is real, and humans are mainly responsible for the rapid ecological and meteorological crises emerging in our world.

Next, I'll ask if anyone remembers when that report regarding scientists' agreement about climate change aired? Who can say what the many anchors, correspondents, experts and so on reported about that issue? Most can't, as with any news story viewers or readers will react accordingly: "Aha! Knew it." or "Can't trust those so-called experts!" or "Now what?"


Though environmental awareness is a pet cause for me and many others, we fight an uphill battle. Yes, we can find the ammunition--facts, data, real-world examples—and we can speak to an audience who may for moment be open to hearing our platform; nonetheless, most will automatically respond: "So, what else is new?"