Stupidity in the Media

October 19, 2008 by Keli.

If I believed everything I read in women’s magazines, I’m likely to have a deadly disease, my butt needs boosting (in five minutes or less!), I need to wage war on cellulite and stress (hopefully simultaneously), my nose should be thinner, I should engage in sneaky ways to achieve my dream weight and Botox is my only hope. Is it any wonder that the only women’s magazine I subscribe to is Town & Country? All I need to be worried about within those pleasant pages is the sizzling art scene in Paris, English gardens and Cartier watches.

“New diseases emerge more frequently than people realize” states a boldfaced, Self magazine article. Why are they telling us this, dear readers? Because they want to kindly keep us informed about calories and health threats while offering the latest fudgy Brownie recipe (all on the cover of Shape magazine)? Or are they hoping we’ll obsess, garner self-pity, give in to fear and maybe even self-destruct, so they can write about us in their unhallowed pages?

These magazines are highly presumptuous. My butt does not need boosting. I don’t have cellulite (none that I can see anyway and isn’t that what matters?), I weigh the same as I did in high school, I like my nose, thank you very much, and I don’t need their generic, life-saving advice. Even if it is allegedly from “real women” (as opposed to what? Mannequins? Lab rats? Are they trying to convince us that they actually conducted research?).

The media tends to prey on our emotions and weaknesses. They seek out our Achilles’ heels. It helps their unworthy cause if readers are stupers (short for unswervingly stupid persons). They hope to instill panic; they want us orphaned by common sense and reason.

Are you wondering right about now, intelligent readers, if persons truly exist who believe these articles? I present to you, Exhibit A: one of my stuper relatives, Scarlett. She is an attractive businesswomen in her late fifties, who reads these magazines. She advocates and uses Botox because Vogue said so. In fact, she told my mother that “all normal women use Botox.” Hence, Mom is not normal. Need I say more?

And don’t think for a moment that the broadcast media is any better. They thrive on criticism and hopelessness.

On my way to Los Angeles last week, I searched through Talk Radio stations, hoping to stumble upon some stimulating, and possibly even charming, discussions. Yes, I was stuck in heavy traffic and becoming increasingly delusional by the second. I learned that Senator McCain is a fading war-monger with senility sitting heavily on his shoulders, and Senator Obama is a socialist, possibly even a card-carrying member of the Communist party, who keeps a half-brother in poverty in Kenya. Then I was told that not for a moment should I doubt that the economy is crumbling. Warren Buffett’s encouraging words were meaningless. To hell with Buffett! The stock market will not revive. Don’t you dare carry any hope!

Listen to me, dear readers! We can rise above, conquer and outsmart the media. To do this, ironically, we must go on a diet. But this type of diet is never discussed in mediocre magazines. I speak of a mental diet. Or perhaps more precisely, a mental adjustment.

We have unlimited potential. Our potential is often like a treasure chest hidden atop a high mountain, covered by shrubbery, dirt, bird dung, dead branches and an assortment of undiscriminating insects. We need to clear away the rubbish that keeps our treasures concealed. This rubbish consists of our own negative thoughts and detrimental, jaundiced external feeds, such as that found in the media and the stupers among us. We must hone our ability to focus on that which falls under our control. (No, I am not standing atop a podium). Our minds fall within our own grasp. We control what goes in.

We need to flood our minds with positive and constructive thoughts. So much so that all dark shadows within the mind take flight. It’s too easy to droop in the face of pessimism or unfavorable news. Our mental faculties will grow only if we deposit good-will. I’ve said it before: Focus on your good, so your good will grow.

Surround yourself with loving, kind and thoughtful folk as well as reading material. Exile the stupers. They won’t notice, but you will.

Thoughts are everything.

Keli

Keli@counterfeithumans.com

Posted in Plain Old Fashioned Stupidity | 8 Comments »