Apathetic Culture?

So it is claimed that a great many of Americans are apathetic, even ignorant.  I’ve stated that before (off the air, mostly), and now… uh, Bill O’Reilly is.

Now, it’s picking and choosing, to look at one segment, one poll, thinking the sampling makes some kind of accurate reflection of the whole.

While it is true that many in this country are apathetic, you can find many that aren’t.  You can find studies that suggest the exact opposite of other studies.  You can misread, and the subjects being polled can answer poorly.  Have you ever taken one of these polls that get splashed in the news?

There is no thorough testing, and education isn’t what it used to be.  It took Alfred Charles Kinsey to do a better job on a sex poll by making sure the participants weren’t lying, not to mention over 10,000 samples for better representation.

And surprise, surprise: it’s a CBS poll.  With less than 1,100 in sampling.  …What do you expect?

Breaking News: We Have… No Real News

Too much of the time, it’s a reflection of the mainstream media.  The media are apathetic, ultimately.  They get paid, and… they get paid.  …Mainstream only in the sense of availability…

Recently, they put all the focus on one missing plane, where just about all of the reporting was speculation.  An obsession, a ratings game.  It’s difficult to say that they had any respect for anything.  (Besides ‘a word from our sponsor.’)

What I’ve learned from the MH370 example, an utmost requirement in journalism that everyone, not just journalists, should have: respect for the truth.  I saw almost none of that.  They don’t care.  CBS doesn’t care much of what their audience thinks, and so they attracted apathetic people.

53% think the President shows quality of strength, in regards to the U.S.’s position around the world.  Despite being weak with Putin… Yep, that sounds right for a CBS poll.

But… my claim of apathy in the media— that’s just a theory. … A theory that makes a lot of sense.  A hell of a lot more sense than a plane gone missing because of a black hole.  I mean, seriously?  A black hole would affect the entire planet, to say the least!

(But I know, in dealing with any corrupted society, such as the closed-circle press, my first mistake is… using logic.)

Defining the terms

apathy (n.): lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.

But there’s always appeal!  It’s shown with that goddamned story where no one knows anything, and somehow all of the responsibility came down to the Malaysian government?  “I didn’t know the airlines industry in that country was nationalized.”  Nah, that was the blame, the ‘direction to point the finger’ for the moment.

So much appeal in entertainment, and an emotional investment in the latest, greatest (dumbest) thing.  That kind of thing is most certainly not the definition of apathy.  These are, again, habits of the media, with junkies listening intently.  Like a form of addiction, you may shut out the rest of the world.

Media-prescribed ignorance.  In a box.  A TV box, a tablet, a phone.  One word: manipulation.

It’s not accurate enough to say, take what you hear with a grain of salt.  It makes all the difference, what I had realized.  When it comes to all information, like a journalist you must have respect for the truth.  Knowing the reality takes more than enough information, and it requires taking the time to make sense of things without obsessing over it.

These days, though, at times inundated with information… being overwhelmed can also be confused with that word, apathy.  Being overwhelmed is always the thing to look for when people are less responsive.  Especially when the environment, artificial or not, says the wrong things, provides and covers the wrong things… speculates.

Bringing it home

The other thing— putting labels on people.  It’s not right to pass judgment on others.  Why?  There’s emphasis on the word ‘pass’ with that expression.  In other words, when you pass judgment… are you accurate?  Are you following something that may be instead a stereotype?  Passing judgment means making an assumption.  And that is not right.

For example, and forgive me for doing this: my mother has the nerve to again speak ill of my capacities regarding emotional intelligence.  The whole, I lack empathy routine.  This coming from a person who’s shown to not to be able to recognize my emotions, and instead respond to the grunts I make in amusement.  She fails to respond appropriately to my emotions.

And to follow up, I’m just telling you what the school told me.  Yeah, having it both ways, at one point blaming the school for all her problems, then using what they said, of my naïve former self, against me.

The more you hear, the less responsible she sounds.

…Oh, I get it.  I get why the label is on me.  Because of something else.  I don’t respond the same way.  I don’t do the popular thing, and react as if I’m watching a tearjerker, where, you know, a tear is jerked.  What a jerk!  And how shallow, that I should react as if the fictional character on the screen isn’t fictional!

And I’m still stuck living with this person, with no money, can’t do jack about jack on helping someone next door, let alone “starvin’ Marvin” in some other country.  (No offense; I usually don’t go for something “starvin’ Marvin,” but this is a blog.)  But it doesn’t matter that, under these worse-becoming-worse conditions that I haven’t become a criminal, and still have some kind of code of ethics and principles.  The facts don’t matter coming from me.

Aw, Damn it.  Damn it all to hell.

Let’s get this straight: a) if you can’t actually affect the problem, even by a little, especially by facial expressions (I try not to be superficial)… b) if you don’t agree on how to deal with the problem (I’m an independent thinker); and, c) — and this is the kicker — I have no business in their affairs!  (If, if, if.)  I know it doesn’t work saying it myself, but… I am not apathetic.

Just because I don’t believe what I read doesn’t mean I’m not informed.  (And always, with the USA Today, my mother.)

Just because I don’t go out of my way to act as if I care about anything and everything, like a hippie, or something… it doesn’t mean I don’t care.

And since when does my placing the relationship between actress Paltrow and the singer of Coldplay, that they broke up— how does placing that matter all that much, in terms of life in general?  …And then I heard that Vanity Fair may have affected their relationship.  The media, again.

I could go on, etc.… … …Or should I go further to show that I care?  Just how, tell me, how the hell can I win this argument!?  …Or can I?  Of course I can’t win!  As with the trash, and take too many politicians to spare (please, take them), it’s a one-way street where they can profess and advertise how much they care, and basically lie about people like me, no matter how poorly they treat others!

So I know, to some degree from experience, that being labeled… it’s unfair.  The people that issue labels are often hypocrites.  And sometimes, as with the mainstream media… they are the %*$!ing source of the problem.