“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” Mark Twain
What is the truth today?
I’m not sure anymore. I most certainly can’t believe much I hear on most forms of media.
At the foundation is the need to create an impression with anything that is said, for if there is no reaction within you, you won’t care enough to keep listening.
Every big storm is like the biggest storm to ever hit the coast. Every fire, the worst we’ve seen. And yet, that said, the destruction is unbelievable, but because it’s been hyped over and over again, I’ve become numb.
Salacious sells.
The ludicrous is celebrated.
The lie told again and again becomes the truth we come to believe.
The best pizza in the world, the best coffee in the world, the world champions, the biggest ever seen?!
Really?! We know this without a doubt, do we?
My favorite statement is, “It’s the first time since 2022 that this has happened…….”
Then it’s not the first time. But it sounds important. Rare, near impossible, but suddenly possible.
I guess it’s always been this way. We like to be entertained by something we perceive is unbelievable and yet happening. The truth is boring. The truth is rare.
How about this one, the murder rate has skyrocketed in the last year, a 100% increase! Do they tell you last year there was one homicide, and this year two? Nope, that’s the truth, and it’s BORING!
We get what we ask for in the end.
We react and respond to things that seem to be just a little or a lot out of the ordinary. We think that something new and different is more meaningful. So when it isn’t really out of the ordinary, those who wish for us to pay attention paint it to be so.
Ever seen the reporter leaning into the wind like it’s 120 miles an hour, and then some people walk by in the background like it’s just a regular day? Oh yes, they do exaggerate the weather.
The unfortunate side effect is the same old story. It’s the story of the boy who cried wolf. We get tired of hearing how unbelievable everything is and then we begin not believing anything. Only when it does turn out to be the truth, it hurts so bad.
Lulled into a false sense of security, or worse, whipped into fear and frenzy, we can no longer think rationally.
Then they’ve got us. We are all ears because we crave truth, and the ones who can make us believe become the all-powerful.
It’s a recipe played over and over again through the annals of history, only now, technology makes it nearly impossible to differentiate.
Maybe quite soon it will be impossible.
Then what?
I wish I knew.