The New Abnormal

In the wake of recent events – the Covid-19 pandemic, widespread social unrest, and an economy which has nose-dived – many have suggested that what we are experiencing is “the new normal”.  As one dictionary defines normal as “conforming to the standard or the common type”, wouldn’t the begged question have to be: What exactly is or isn’t standard and common?  There have been epidemics and pandemics throughout our history; there has been social unrest; our economy has ebbed and flowed with regard to unemployment, productivity, the stock market, etc. 

While there will undoubtedly be changes in our day to day lives going forward (hopefully we can finally do away with the handshake, a germ-sharing practice which originated in the 5th century B.C., and social distancing will become part of our culture to some degree), I wonder how “normal” our lives were before. When one looks at things like the buying power of the middle class (sometimes referred to as the “middle 20%”), which has stair-stepped down since the early 1980s, the undeniable fact is that the rich are getting richer and poor poorer. Over half a million Americans were homeless for at least a portion of 2019. Our government is wracked with corruption and ineptitude. Many of our customs and beliefs are steeped in ignorance and narrowmindedness. And this is normal? 

Whatever the “new normal” becomes, it is my sincere and fervent hope that it includes a generous portion of compassion, and empathy, and fairness, and integrity, and critical thinking. A desire to grasp that our journeys are not the same and our modes of transporting ourselves along this trek vary widely. The ability to connect on a deeper level, and understand that we are much more alike than different. 

The new normal: may it not be like the old.

America the Distracted

Okay, so I was thinking, there’s this… wait, that’s my phone.  Okay, my team’s up two nothing in the first, good.  But anyway, I was- the door.  Who’s at the door?  Oh no, it’s the Lawn Rangers again.  How many times do you have to shout obscenities in Mandarin out the window before they get the message?  I’ll just duck in here until they’re… Dang, my phone again.  Oh, it’s just a video of a Panda playing a banjo.

Where was I?

Here’s the thing: Is it just me, or have we lost like 75% of our attention span?  I mean, you can’t even have a conversation without the other person donning that faraway gaze two minutes in.  My last attempt went something like this:

Me:  Hey, what’s up?

Them:  Nuthin.

Me:  Nothing huh?

Them:  Yep.

Me:  Really? Nothing at all?

Them:  Have you seen that video of that Panda playing a banjo?

I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone focus on anything for more than a few minutes, unless it was binge-watching the latest flavor-of-the-week Netflix release, or immersed in some video game.  Engage in conversation? Pooh-pooh the thought.  Having a barbeque?  Better collect the phones at the door.  Trying to organize a neighborhood clean-up day at the local park?  Good luck with that.  Unless there’s Wi-Fi.

No, we have – through conditioning, apathy, or some combination of the two – pretty much lost our ability to think about one thing for more than fifteen minutes, twenty tops.  Yet we are captivated by the most trivial, inane, and immaterial of shiny objects; it’s like junk food for the brain. 

A series of tornados tears through the Midwest sucking a few hundred people – and a handful of tractors - up into the vortex, but that’s soon forgotten when some reality show chucklehead tearfully reveals she was forced to eat lima beans as a child.  Life-changing events are occurring all around us, often right on our doorstep, but social media is abuzz over a couple of celebrity’s Twitter feud.

Some have suggested that we’re being manipulated into focusing on some things, to distract us from others.  And, they’re probably right - to some degree.  But, we can only ascribe so much blame to others when we are ultimately responsible for the choices we make in where to invest our time, energy, and emotions.

So, that’s it.  In closing, I’d just like to say- WHOA! A METAPOD JUST SPAWNED LIKE 600 YARDS FROM HERE!  Gotta run!

 

Stay focused out there.

The Man Behind the Curtain

One of the more iconic scenes in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz is that of the Wizard refusing Dorothy and her friends an audience, until Toto pulls back the curtain, and Dorothy discovers the sham; this man is not the great and powerful Oz after all, but a simple conman from Nebraska.  “Pay no attention”, he utters in desperation, “to that man behind the curtain.”  The fire, the smoke, and the bellowing, disembodied voice are all for show.  Alas, the jig is up, and the Wizard is exposed for the mere mortal he is.

We see that same sham on a daily basis.  Those supermodels in our favorite magazines are air-brushed, the products we buy are no longer “new and improved”, but have become “revolutionary”, and those we naively elect to represent us are lackeys for the ultra-wealthy.  Ours is a society where image and perception have trumped substance and reality.

Take the average corporate mission statement; a hodgepodge of pithy corporate-speak which bears no resemblance to the actual corporate “culture” which exists.  Our typical election offers the voter a “choice” between what I like to call the man wearing the blue tie with a red stripe and the man wearing the red tie with a blue stripe.  They are simply two sides of the same coin, and the notion that there is a choice is therefore a ruse.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is credited with the saying: “There are no facts, only interpretations”, and I tend to agree. One could substitute the word “perception” for “interpretations”, and the phrase would still hold true.  It’s all window dressing; it’s sleight of hand.

We are free to see the world and its machinations as we see fit, and to those who prefer to view it through rose-colored glasses, I wish you peace and serenity; you have made your choice.  To those who would label me jaded and cynical, I offer no argument.  But to those who’ve not yet made up their mind: Pull back the curtain, punch through the façade, scratch the surface and examine what’s beneath.  It’s not what you think.