I recall as a young child, feeling remorse over old people loosing patience over simple things. Now I wonder if I am that old fart loosing patience with society? I have lost tolerance with our politicians, people and especially the media.
The first time I remember ever being confused by the media was in late 1978 when I lived in Tehran, Iran as a high school student. I personally witnessed the upraising at the Shahyad Monument only to come home and listen to three completely different versions of what I witness depending if I listened to the local Iranian stations in Farsi, or the American stations, verses listening to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
I coined my first phrase as a Senior at Tehran American School . . . "Selective Perception". This is where the media "selects" what you are allowed to perceive!
Haven't you ever wondered why during some "storms" all the competing media broadcast from the same vantage point? Contrast that to Hurricane Katrina, when there was so much devestation, you couldn't help but get different viewpoints!
Why was it that during a "surprise invasion" to overthrow Sadam that Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw had front row seats with perfect vantage points for their cameras?
Haven't you ever wondered when someone is the "first" person to climb a certain mountain, why the camera angle is still from uphill pointing down?
When I finally realized the power of the "edit" button in media, and how they can control what we see about as effectively as controlling a puppet on a string, I boycotted them. I didn't watch the news or read a newspaper for years.
Then, I finally came to the realization that being 20% mislead by the media is not as bad as being 100% ignorant.
Therefore, I now get my education from incredible sources like Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update!
I have learned that I really don't even need "friends", since I can just go to the library and check out an entire season on DVD (commercial free).
I realize now that I should have never paid for marriage counselling . . . all I needed to learn was "Yes Dear!"
Heck, I don't even know why I have my CRS, GRI, EPRO designations or even my Brokers License since my clients already know it all already.
No wonder my teenagers think education is useless!
I read an incredible book a while back. I think it was called the Genious Factory. It was about a Nobel Prize Sperm Bank. The fundamental reason behind it was that brilliant people understand the cost of having children on their careers and their future and therefore elect not to have as many kids early in life. On the other hand, the people with substandard IQ's just grab a sixpack with their welfare check and went back to the trailer park and had some fun. Therefore, we were consistantly degrading our gene pool and "survival of the fittest" was becoming obsolete!
If you don't believe me, just grab a six pack (or preferably a bottle of Bombay Saphire or Crown Royal) and head over to my house and lets watch an episode of "Jay Walking"!
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