14 May 2009

Some of us take things way too seriously, and particularly ourselves.  But some not seriously enough.  Way too broad a subject to cover in a couple of paragraphs, although it seemed to start out simple enough: we take ourselves way too seriously.  Let's try to limit to that (although I seldom succeed).

Opinions, material things, image - is it our competitive nature?  Americans have always been known for a competitive nature.  How, serious?  Being so sure we are right about everything for one - and to believe that is really important, and should be to everyone else.  Sports talk shows are a perfect example.  But any kind of celebrity talk show, or message board - we KNOW - or at least a very large number of responders seem to.  And they want to be heard - they seem almost desperate to want to make their opinions known - and heard.  Then look at twitter; we want our friends to know EVERYTHING about us - now.  Is that weird?  Apparently not.

I suspect the ego thing drives it as much as anything, and lord knows we have driven that into the ground with esteem training for the young.  Talk about a group that knows everything; more than it used to be, no?  Yes, I think so.  Of course I would.  Political correctness is another vehicle for egocentric positions - you had better, by god agree.

But in the end it seems to go a little further than ego; the word I favor is self-absorption, but the symptom is being too serious about ourselves, and the media gatherers feed on it by offering us the chance to comment on anything and everything.  But then those are the same folks who give us the targets on which to comment - almost always celebrities of one kind or another.  Celebrities seem to dominate our waking lives - maybe sleeping too.  Which is why we have a celebrity president.  What's the matter with us?  I guess there is just not enough really important to hold our attention, but then maybe that's because our knowledge is to shallow to know or be concerned about that, since it's not about us.