Sick World
by noize on Mar.06, 2008, under Misc
100 Photographs that Changed the World, take your time and thumb through them. Now what did you notice?
How many of those photographs where of violence, of pain, of suffering, and how many were of awe, beauty, and joy. Kind of a sick world really. These are photos chosen by Life Magazine (that is apparently a sub of Time Magazine). What is it about the negative side that is so life changing? What is so fundamentally wrong with us that it takes something wrong for us to act. I really wish I was kidding, but from what I’ve seen we are a very negative group of beings. Our news, our entertainment, our actions at times.
If you showed a group of people a picture of a sunset over a pristine valley with lush growth and just natural awe, you might expect a comment on it looking nice. Show this picture to enough people and you might find some that will want to protect it. Show the same group of people a picture of a strip mine and the scar that creates and you’ll likely find more that want to fight to fix the problem. Show them Alaskan wildlife, then show them the Exxon Oil spill. I fear you’re going to get more a reaction from the spill.
At other times maybe it comes down to envy. If on the news you see that someone has won a jackpot. A fair amount of people would probably feel a bit of envy or the “why not me” question. If they see someone wrapped around a pole in a traffic accident, they’re glad it’s no them. It becomes about comparing ones life to those around it. Yes we all do it to some degree, on some level, don’t go exempting yourself.
We are flooded every day with information and ideas. It would only seem natural that we filter it some how. To me it seems we filter it on “what will make us feel better by comparison”. Only to find out that road can lead to a hell all of it’s own. We forget to look at our own lives. What we have, what we can do. Some might argue that we focus to much on the larger picture, it gives us a sense of escapism. It allows us to feel that even if we tried, we couldn’t change the problem. Might be true sometimes. Hell, ya never know what you can do, and might be surprised when you try.
