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Hi. Yes, this topic was from the previous entry. I happened to have days upon days to think more about it, decided to add a few more points and call it a whole new entry. Really it has almost nothing to with the physical events on tour, but the thoughts have been flowing in tandem with each revolution of the pedals. In that way, maybe it has a lot to do with the tour... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is the News? I despise the media. You think you're in touch with the world when you watch the news, but the truth is that you're just eating the hand-picked bullshit they choose to feed you. I envision the producers and executives compiling a list of daily events around the world and sitting down to filter out which ones they will choose to talk about on the air. Which ones are they going to pick? Which ones are going to pull you in or get you riled up? Which ones are going to bring you a sense of wisdom when they report on the shortcomings of individuals or the bad apples of society? Sure, we all want to feel intelligent. We all want a sense of "knowing better", a kind of mental superiority. Does it matter which stories are truly important? No, of course not. Could they even come to know which events were truly important? All that matters is that you watch it, continue to watch it and take notice of their corporate sponsors when the commercials come on. What is most deranged about the news is that they can govern what issues you become passionate about. You work 60 hours and juggle a hundred separate tasks in a given week -- you don't have time to delve into discovering deeper truths. Catch the news in the morning or surf the net at work, and suddenly one of their topics strikes a chord in your heart. Odds are, it's got something to do with the money, crime or politics. Reporting on anything else during prime hours is risky. It can take too much time or become too complicated to easily grasp in 5 minutes. Is this all that's worth knowing? Speaking of delving for a deeper truth, I took some time to read up on such a topic after writing the above paragraphs. This text is quoted from the first issue of Alaska Humanity News (April, 2005). Who is to say what is news? A newspaper validates and fixes reality. The headlines themselves are news makers. Conventional papers are interesting, but they report the news of our blandness, our petty struggles, our sour certainties. They report our inability to grasp subtle explanations or higher truths. Who is to say what is objective, what is real, what is sensible? The press presses the status quo onto our personalities. Society imposes itself on us, and suppresses our hearts and souls. What if the actual news were right before our eyes, but we didn't see it? And what if we woke up one day and realized that all along we had been seeing false images and thinking with incoherent thoughts? The Inspiration Station I'm sick of people telling me to "be safe" or "be careful". If I wanted to be "safe", as they see it, I would have stayed in Princeton. Really, I think that's the most dangerous thing I could have done with my life but I guess that's just me. If I ever have too much money, I'm going to start a 24-hour news channel that only shows three things. The first will report solely on middle-aged people dying in regular and highly frequent car accidents. The second will tell you about the latest people who have all died from unexpected and sudden illness. With the third piece, I'll interlace stories of people living for their dreams. Sure, they'll die too, but I bet you Steve Irwin wouldn't trade in a single day of his 44 years to ensure he made it to old age. We'll call it "The Inspiration Station" and when you're done watching it, either you'll cower in fear or set off to do something personally meaningful. Because really, the way I see it, you can take all the precautions necessary to out-live your own natural health or you can "go out with your boots on", cram more life into each day and live far more than any number of years can define. "Death is just a transition", Catherine said, "and there's no point in fearing or mourning it." -Sir Chuckles No comments have been provided. Leave a comment on this entry: |
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refuse to be just another cog in the machine. There's too much important work to be done and too many eyes to open for us to be content with personal goals or riches. In late 2006, I managed to escape the machine, and now I'm setting off to help bring it down.
