29 Oct 2010 by Rob in In My Opinion, Life in General, Our World Tags: Ability, Celebrity, Civilisation, Communicate, engage, Fear Factor, History, Knowhow, Opinion, Our Role in Society, Passage of Time I don’t get the time to sit and write as often as I did these days, and while I miss putting thoughts to paper, I also find that taking the time to sit and think about things over a longer period of time before I write gives me the ability to give a more balanced and thought out spin on the stuff I write, the reason for writing it and I allow myself to give consideration to both sides of the story.While it is easy to sit and criticise, I have learnt that it is just as easy to take no interest at all, and I find that it is more productive and beneficial to pay attention and have an opinion than to bury one’s head in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening at all. Our world is a large, complex place with many intricate and deeply involved issues going on. Many of these are interwoven into complexity through politics or religion or in many cases both. Many are caused by a complete ignorance on behalf of mankind, and a failure to give adequate respect and acknowledgement to each others traditions, culture and lifestyles.I am often mystified at how the world has changed so in the history of time. I often chuckle to think that at one time it was the African Nations that were the leaders of the First World. Their abilities and technological knowhow to this day still baffles scholars and educated men alike. The Aztec’s possibly knew more about building the perfect structure than modern day architects and engineers with all their computing power and fancy education learnt after many years with heads buried in books as thick as my arm. So has mankind really advanced?The power of nations and the ability to use fear as a method of control and enslavement is possibly the true reality of mans progress in later centuries. It was the nation that could control the scholars to work for them, and forced whole communities to work under their demand that has lead to great wealth and ability. I don’t really think that mankind on his own has really progressed that much. Civilisations that have been literally irradiated from the face of our planet knew more about the balance of nature, and ecology than we do now. The Indian and the Aborigines’ understood that to hurt the planet was counter productive and hurt us as mankind in the long run. They knew this fact as long back as the discovery of the West and the colonisation of Australia. So how is it that this fact has slipped from the forefront of our mind?Greed! Modern powers ignore proven fact, founded knowledge, and literal understanding in an insane craving for power at any cost. From the likes of Alexander the Great to modern day dictator’s human nature has trained itself to become selfish and crave recognition. The whole idea of celebrity and the people worship that we pander to in our modern society is something that I really don’t understand.Granted it would seem that through out history mankind has always put people on a pedestal and given them an unadulterated level of attention in some form of warped hero worship, but more often than not in historical times this was a great leader, a leader who forced themselves on society or someone who truly was heroic in some way or other. Today it is wealth and style, arrogance and class, or some other worldly possession that elevates someone to iconic celebrity status.Our epic desire to “Keep up with the Jones” see’s many of us wrapped up and absorbed in fantasy worlds of celebrity gossip, all of which is untrue on some level. Pearce Morgan the once Editor in Chief of the Mirror Rag now sitting across from many of the world’s celebrities of which I am talking admits that much of what is reported is not true. News is hyped up to sell papers, and exaggeration, tweaking and manipulation of the truth is encouraged rather than frowned on in this industry. Cheryl Cole possibly highlights this more than anyone at this point in time in Celebrity Status Worship. According to Peace Morgan’s Life Stories, Cheryl has to endure in excess of 25 different stories in the press about her life every single day. It would be impossible for anyone, no matter how interesting their lifestyle to create enough news worthy information to warrant that number of stories across the media, regardless of how accurate they were.The general public lap it up though in a surprising desperation for what we digest as written truth. It is impossible to have a true understanding, image or impression of a person based on a multitude of contradictions, many of which I truly believe are the cause and element that leads to the ultimate result which makes such sensational headlines. I can equate this over and over with a multitude of examples. Wayne Rooney is a perfect example, as the press love to break stories that must make the football players life a misery. Yes granted he wishes to live the lifestyle of a celebrity and therefore has to accept that his life will be played out in a public arena, and I accept this point acutely. However, I also realise the man is a human being, and must hurt over the stories that question his morality, and sensibility.How many people have been made and then broken by the power of the media. Jade Goodie is another quick example. Even our own Royal Family are constantly fall prey to the power of the media. Brands are made and trashed over night by the words of peers. Yes think about it, it is not a mighty conglomeration that puts pen to paper in its attack on an individual. It’s a simple man or woman like you or me, who uses the mighty sword of the written word to cut limbs from their prey as they hack and slash mercilessly at their victim.It is as if we are sitting in the Coliseum of the early Roman Empire, watching a poor helpless man try to take on a pride of lions, starved and experts in the art of killing. This is our modern version of the Bull Fight, where a single person hiding behind the might of a skilfully operated blind manages to snipe at the bull, slowly wearing him down, till he is foolish enough to expose himself to the full impact of a skilfully delivered killing blow that brings the beast to its knees, and we all lap it up in our endless need for pain and suffering, so we can forget our own dismal lifestyles and hide behind the pretence that as long as others have it worse than us, we can survive.It is important to have an opinion, but it is even more important to be able to read between the lines and not be brain washed. We are not sheep. We are educated people who have responsibilities, we are humans with the ability to consider, ponder and digest a statement. We can empathise, we can emote, we can engage and communicate, we can show compassion, and we can draw a conclusion. Being led as a sheep to the slaughter, is as productive as allowing mankind to convince us we have no worth or use on this earth. Don’t let the press manipulate you into thinking the way the want to modulate you into thinking. You are individual and have the ability to read, digest and interpret what they tell you.
