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Perhaps this is why our participation in politics ends up taking a highly vicarious form, just like our consumption of conflict-based entertainment.
When we watch a movie or TV drama we feel all the emotions of the characters, but those emotions of the moment have little lasting impact. Everything is at arm's length.
And when it comes to politics we complain, whine, and moan - we shout, we cry, we complain, and we even hate. But all of this is, to quote Shakespeare, "sound and fury signifying nothing." It's all a simulation - vicarious and ephemeral. It expends energy but produces no lasting result!
In addition...
Conflict-driven entertainment and politics are both forms of emotional manipulation
Movies and television shows writers, actors, and directors use words and images to evoke emotions, moving us from point to point through the story they want to tell.
The media and the politicians likewise use words and images to evoke emotions they can exploit to control and channel our behavior.
The media and the politicians are both in the drama business, just like the artists in Hollywood.
Indeed, the three groups - Hollywood, The Media, and politicians - collaborate and compete with each other to concoct the storylines that will best manipulate us to serve their purpose. Jim Babka has an appropriate name for this media/political complex. He calls it...
The Conflict Machine
The Romans used bread and circuses to enthrall the masses. Today the circuses are provided by Hollywood, the politicians, and the mainstream media. The modern process can be summed up in a simple paragraph...
Distract the masses with conflicts that make them rage and hate and fear until they reach the point of exhaustion, after which they will feel depressed and apathetic, leaving us (Hollywood, The Media, politicians) to do whatever we please.
This is what the Conflict Machine does.
What's the cure for Conflict Machine drama
I suggest three things...
- Exit the Conflict Machine. Don't be a cog in its wheels. Don't let the media or the politicians set your agenda.
- Set your own agenda. Decide which issues are most important, independent of any media coverage. Focus your learning and your conversations on those issues.
- Don't be depressed by all the bad news. Resist apathy by being alert to good news.
Recent examples of politicians doing the right thing!
All of these reforms may be small, but they contradict the pessimistic claim that politicians can never be persuaded to reduce state power and meddling.
Many reforms are possible, if we achieve taxpayer-lobbyist parity. That means we must be in congressional offices as much or more than K-Street lobbyists are. Then we'll see more of these kinds of positive results.
Today's agenda-setting focus
Meanwhile, on the bad news front, the U.S. continues to lead the world in incarceration. If you want to help us empty the American Gulag, please consider joining our campaign to restore federal parole.
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