Second Sunday in Greentime
The M-Syndrome (Part One)
Time Magazine tells us that “You” (and I) are the “Man (sic) of the Year”. However, it might not be that easy. The Technological Revolution makes bloggers and web surfers a new force in life. We communicate and share ideas differently. However, we are still malleable or manipulated in many ways by the media culture to which we are addicted. Indeed, there are those who say that the media is the culture and the culture is the media. Exercise caution, therefore, with the award from Time-Warner.
As we wind down from our Christmas (Dare we say “Christmas”?) celebrations, we begin a new year in which we traditionally make resolutions. Most people realize that something is not right with our world. As one theologian said, “Whatever the Kingdom of God meant to Jesus, it certainly did not correspond to Western Civilization.” There are those who suggest that Western Civilization, the engine of life on both sides of the Atlantic, might be suffering from a Collective Attention Deficit Deficiency (CADD), a so-called “M-Syndrome”. Characteristic symptoms of M-syndrome, viz., CADD are manifold. Does my culture manifest these symptoms? Does my family manifest them? Do I manifest them? What can we do to counteract any pathology?
CADD might be symptomatic of a culture that is media-dominated. We allow news commentators (or worse, later night monologists) interpret reality for us. We allow others to tell us what is significant in our world this day. Just a sad example of such would be scanning the headlines of New York tabloids each day. The sad and telling headline in the Daily News the morning after the execution of Saddam Hussein, “Saddam Swings” was captioned with a subtitle, “Evil Madman Executed”. Does that make his executioners good and sane? We hear now that television shows are dumbed down to the level of an 11 year old child and then, they add the spice.
CADD might be a mainstream phenomenon. It is so prevalent that most accept it as ultimate reality. Who in the world would not want to live the way that we do? There may be trouble in cultural River City, what can one do about changing symptoms?
CADD might be symptomatic of a culture that is still materialistic. So many of us have achieved a bourgeois lifestyle! The culture has been good to us. Often, creature comforts numb our thinking about the fact that not everyone shares the dream. The American bishops said twenty years ago, in 1986, that we have lulled ourselves into thinking that even 4% unemployment (which was a statistic then) meant that in a work force of 100 million people, at that time. 4 million people would be unemployed at any time. The bishops reminded us that the measure of the morality of an economy was the way that the morality answered the needs of the poor among us. How do we measure up? (to be continued) 011407AD jfq
