“It is a great thing to know the season for
speech and the season for silence”.
Seneca
We are in the season of hyperbole otherwise known as speech.
My fear is that there will be no thoughtful silences in our future. It seems considerate silence may become
extinct. Not the silence that allows
injustice to take place by not speaking up, but rather, “silence is golden when you don’t have a good
answer”. Thank you Mohammad Ali for a mantra that should be uttered
silently by all of us.
The 24-hour news cycle reached a deafening roar last week as
the Romney video hit the airwaves. Network talking heads have become annoying
neighbors. The couple we smile at in
passing, occasionally taking in a paper but nothing more. No direct proof but suspicions of oddness
start to waft from across the fence.
Holding a baseball
hat lined in aluminum foil, a gift from your neighbor, to block out alien
thought waves, confirms craziness lives next door. Part of the intrusive neighbor syndrome is
benign conversation that begins innocently and shifts to conversion. “Yes, I am saved, no, I don’t think the world
will end in 2012, and I don’t care if the government is or is not hiding
anything in New Mexico resembling a space craft”. You nod; you smile and double lock your doors.
Last week I let the media talking heads into my home, from
both sides of the political fence. In
massive doses you recognize that there is a huge repeat loop, again and
again. The same media neighbors keep
popping up on different shows. I started
to recognize special guest analysts and realize, like holiday fruitcake, there
have been a finite number created.
Most fruitcakes (other than yours, dear readers) have been re-gifted
for a century. The majority of guest gurus are on almost every news channel, as
a specialist or someone to be mocked. Content equaled 25 minutes, and then dragged
on for most of the day, on continuous repeat.
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| "With silence favor me" Favete Linguis |
In a world where we vociferously pronounce, “there are no stupid questions”, we need
to face reality there are mostly stupid questions! Lately rather than ask smart,
topical probing questions of the candidates, we have become a nation that
specializes in senseless question and puffy responses. It seems news folk and audiences have signed
a conspiratorial agreement to live with aerated answers.
Such an indictment smacks of outrageous exaggeration and
even prevarication. Sweeping statements
qualify me to become a guest media analyst. I could listen to the sound of my
voice on 24 channels – 24 hours a day. Call me; let’s talk nonstop and eat fruitcake.
Any questions, anyone, don’t be shy; we all know there are no stupid questions,
don’t we?
Along with silence I crave humor and have created a humor
collection of cards. Moved by all the bad news levity seemed the balance
needed.
My collection can be seen on my
website.
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