Pay Attention

I am going to try to keep this short – attention spans these days are not conducive to long-form posts, it seems.

There are two images below; they are of the same man who tried to attack a judge in a courtroom after being denied probation earlier this month.

Both are from Twitter… and both have all sorts of comment storms a’ brewing. What I found interesting is the composition of both and what that implies for social/traditional media and us as a culture:

Do folks not understand the potentially inflammatory power of cropped images?

I am thinking that some do, quite well; their intentions have been clear for quite some time… at least to those who have noticed that disturbing trend of what is shown (implied) versus what is real (explicit).

Let me offer the first example which came to mind as I saw the story unfold:

I don’t know how to say this any more clearly: if you fall for the message being presented without a second thought or, even worse, if you react viscerally to the emotion bait… YOU ARE BEING PLAYED.

Stop it.

Stop and think.

This is a short post because I have said this all way too many times before:

The comment section beckons in a similar manner – there is no harm in speaking up… voicing one’s opinion, right? Comment as much as you wish… “dance in your red shoes till you are pale and cold, till your skin shrivels up and you are a skeleton!” Comment until the frenzy has consumed you and your attention and unity has been sliced, diced, and julienned… until there is nothing left to protect or dispute.

Political Red Shoes – 25Jan19

The media goes fast and hard for emotions for a reason: they are counting on folks to forget because the next story is slightly different, and closure is something that we just cannot have in today’s headlines.

Argumentum ad Misericordiam – 29Sep19

However, the pace (and profit, really) of news steamrolls voices of moderation or impartial skepticism into submission, or worse, into conformity. Objectively, the tools and arena creates equal opportunity in the political and social conflicts. Taking a step back, however, a larger picture becomes clear: the fight is arranged by the same society which created the venue – it becomes a spectacle for the sole purpose of being a spectacle.

Science Fiction and Contemporary Relevance – 22Apr20

Ethos, pathos, and logos… ethics, emotion, and logic. It seems that we can only chose two and not all three:

            Ethics + emotion = illogical

            Emotion + logic = unethical

            Logic + ethics = emotionless

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Part II – 24Oct21

More importantly, though, READ… THINK… DISCUSS…don’t just consume… don’t waste people’s time being in an ideological echo chamber/vomitorium where the only thing shared is the dry-heaving of predigested opinion which was packaged as “facts.”

Compiling Thoughts – 5Feb22

…Why this is important is interesting, in my opinion, because […] this is the same thing that happens on a societal level… or on an ethical level…or on a moral level; […] once you have that small opportunity of either laziness of thought; laziness of ethics; laziness of morals where you take the easy route… where you take the path of least resistance, then it accelerates because there’s nothing really holding you back… 

Fatigue and Erosion – 24Jun22

You get the idea.

“Milsurpwriter… you’re not doing a lot of writing about history, and that is what brought me here in the first place,” the imaginary voice of the Reader laments.

Ah… the Reader would be missing the point and would require a visual representation of the relevance of this post with history:

You are at now, now, but soon, “now” will be “then.”

Therefore, pay attention.