In the land of the Distracted, everyone is happy except when
they are not. The people there like to say that they are free, but troublesome
spirits roam the land called Nuances that confuse people into thinking that
things are not as they appear or are not how they seem or are perhaps what they
thought they were in the first place but less so. Or maybe more. This lack of
clarity, or sharp distinction, bothers the people so overwhelmingly that they
eat and drink and look at screens so much that they have become addled. Addled
might be a word that means distracted until the Nuances are able to slip into
an empty space in people’s thinking and cause perplexion and combobulation. And
then hunger and lethargy set in, and people are soon back to their old habits
without thinking. Or of not thinking. Or perhaps thinking about something else.
But the question - and more things should be questions than
you would think at first glance - is freedom. But before we consider the
question more seriously, perhaps we should know more about the Nuances. They
are gray. Some will debate whether they are lighter or darker, as if that
matters, and it does and it does not. They are not black and they are not
white. Nuances are gray. We could be here all night holding up paint swatches
next to each other if we’re not careful. Is this one darker or that one
lighter, or is this third one in between or closer to the black or to the
white. In this light it almost seems as if it might actually be white. Or
off-white. Maybe a cream or an ivory. But if it were an old T-shirt you might
say it seems gray. And if it were hair, you might say it is more white than gray.
And if it were a newspaper or a book made out of paper you might say that it
had yellowed. Not like the sun, of course, but truly these Nuances are
primarily meant to slow us down, driving us to distraction if not despair, and then
it will be time for our after supper snack, or our before bedtime snack - depending
on the words and more words and still more words - that intrude into our sincere
discussions.
If we stick to black and white, we should be clear – that is,
it should be one or the other. We are free people, after all. We are also
social people, which also threatens to confuse the issue. If free people in
their freeness don’t choose to think exactly like one another and come to want
different things, some mechanism must be established for governing society. The
natural order deals with this problem in a straightforward matter. When there
is conflict, the stronger one gets what they want, the weaker one doesn’t. It may
not seem civilized, but that is nature for you.
Society has benefits, but those benefits will come with
rules. And the rules have to come from somewhere. ‘Don’t tread on me’ was fine
when we lived scattered about, but in becoming so fruitful and multiplying,
people’s toes are getting stepped on. Again, it seems that someone must make
some rules, but who? This part is somewhat natural. Usually the stronger get to
make the rules, and the weaker don’t. Unless the weaker can figure out how to
get together and organize themselves into a force that is stronger than the
force that the stronger ones in their fewer numbers can muster. This becomes an
ever fluctuating struggle some have called democracy, but we won’t quibble all
day and all night over whether that is the proper word to use.
For the sake of not having an argument, let’s say (Nuances
notwithstanding) that we are free and that to live together and gain the
benefits of some civilization, we must have some rules and that they should be
fair. Somehow we should balance our various interests so that we can all pursue
happiness.
But in the land of the Distracted, people have become
distracted. Who’s to blame? That’s one of the prime distracting questions. I
say it’s the media, or the politicians, or the corporations, or perhaps it’s a
conspiracy, or maybe it’s just a few greedy people, and after everyone has checked
their favorite screen for someone else’s word for it and gone ring around the
merry-go-ground five or six time, most people realize that they’re hungry or
that it would be nice to get a drink and just follow a bouncing ball for
awhile.
There are real interests and real conflicts after all, and what I want is more this than the that
that you want and if only it were simple we could all just have ice cream and
not get fat.
It is not really the Nuances that are to blame. They are as
real as black is not white. And that this snowflake is not that one. But if we
cannot be clear, we can take the effort to not be distracted by Nuances that
are meant to distract. Finally, you should ask, in whose interests are words
being used? And don’t take my word for it and don’t take the words of the heads
on the screen. Until you figure the essentials out for yourself, you will be
led like a dumb ox by the screen. Not that every choice will ever be yours. The
truth, or at least responsible decisions, will have to come or be made from
listening to others who maybe be honest or who may be lying – or may simply be
distracting you so that they can get all the ice cream.
But begin by breaking things down into who wants what. Don’t
let words and images distract you, although you will have to sift through some.
It will take you more than a day and a night, so by all means, get yourself
something to something to eat and to drink. Laugh with your friends. The work
of becoming free and fair requires attention but you still have to live. Try
not to be distracted from doing both well. Try to live well.
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