Many of my friends are having meltdowns about the increasingly depressing news they see on television and read online. Their social media posts are full of anguish and hurt and anger.
“I’ve been watching CNN and I’m so angry about what’s going on at the border,” writes a friend in a typical post. “Is anyone else feeling this helpless? I was screaming at the TV until I started crying. I don’t know what to do, but something has to change. I’m depressed most of the time lately about what this lunatic is doing to our country. What can we do?!”
Do you really want to know? I’ll tell you, but you’re not going to like the answer.
The best thing you can do for the world — and for yourself — is to disconnect from the “news” and other hyperbolic media. Then you can get busy living your life and making your community what you want it to be. You can focus on your own life and the people around you — things that are within your own control — and you can take your attention away from things you can’t change or control.
If you hate the world in which you live, redefine your world — and create a personal world where it’s healthy and safe to live.
If millions and millions of people did that — and quit listening to politicians and media — we would eventually see how utterly unimportant they are to our lives.
You have been taught an enormous lie all your life. You have been taught that every person has a responsibility to be “informed” about what’s going on in the world. We look down on people who don’t know current affairs. We consider them shallow or stupid.
Worse, we’ve created a culture in which most people believe they have the right — and responsibility — to have opinions about what other people ought to do. And we’ve been taught that the majority opinions should be forced on everyone else. It’s exhausting to keep up with it all.
There is so much intellectual and social rot in these beliefs that we don’t have time to deal with them all here.
Why do you believe you need to fill your mind with the outrageous things which politicians and their goons do? Do you believe if you watch more of the outrage, it’s going to change something? Do you believe that making yourself miserable and destroying your perspective is going to make life better for those with whom you have empathy?
Let me tell you a secret.
Donald Trump and other politicians will continue doing whatever they please, whether you wreck your life over it or not. You can’t stop them now, because you and other “well-meaning people” have given them obscene levels of power to do what they’re doing. (Do you understand that? If you support their system, you are responsible for what the system does, no matter which candidate you vote for. More about that later.)
The media is not your friend. They’re not evil, but they are self-interested. Their purpose is to keep you outraged enough to keep watching. When you keep watching, they make money. And you are doing exactly what they want you to do — which keeps cash rolling into their pockets. This is a vile form of entertainment, not something which helps you make better choices or live a better life.
Since politicians are going to do whatever they choose to do, what good does it do you to remain outraged and distracted? Who are you helping? Or are your priorities so out of whack that you are more interested in other people knowing you’re outraged than you are in living a sane life?
Contrary to what most people seem to believe, this is not the worst period of history. If you will quit paying attention to things you can’t control and can’t change — and focus on things within your control — you will find that you are living at the best point in history. Is modern life perfect? No. Has it ever been better, overall? Also no. If you will stop allowing media to feed you the worst possible things — so they can profit from your outrage — you will find a beautiful world and a wonderful life waiting all around you.
You do not owe the media your attention. You do not owe politics your attention. You cannot change either one of them.
The only things that matter in the long run will be how you live and how you love — how you create value and worth for yourself and people around you.
Stop being obsessed with the political nightmare. If you understood the long-term implications, you would understand that it’s a nightmare even when nicer politicians are saying polite words. We are all on a political and social Titanic. If you like where the ship is sailing, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, you might want to consider getting off that insane ride before it’s too late.
I grew up supporting this political system. I was taught to love it and revere it. I worked inside of it for 20 years. I know this beast — and I know how evil it is.
The political evil you see going on all around you right now — no matter which side of the mainstream you choose — happens only because we were taught that it’s moral to give some theoretical majority the right to choose people who have almost dictatorial powers over us. That idea is at the root of the problem. You and I have supported this system which gives power to narcissists such as Trump — and to slicker narcissists who are smart enough to hide what they’re doing.
It stuns me that people can keep seeing the political system do things which they hate — doing things to other people and themselves which they know are wrong — yet still keep supporting the political assumptions and principles which create this chaos and misery. Very few people are willing to say, “Hey, maybe it’s a bad idea to let a majority make up rules and force everybody to obey.”
If you’re overwhelmed and angry with what is going on in this country and this world, your best solution is to disconnect from the evil which you can’t change. Save your sanity. The social and political order are bound to collapse. Things are going to get much worse. And when that happens, it will not have done you one bit of good to have watched CNN or MSNBC or Fox News for hours and hours and hours of your life.
Save your life. Save your sanity. Get the ugliness out of your life. Make your life the best and most loving life it can be.
Saving yourself and those you love is your best shot at saving this world.
Is it persistence or stubbornness to keep chasing uncertain outcomes?
AUDIO: What if she was right? Maybe I am the real ‘product’