QUARANTINING THE MEDIA?



A gentleman shared this wise thought in one of the WhatsApp groups I belong to:

“Quarantine the media for 14 days

and 80% of our problems will go away.”

 

Instantly, a dozen fellow-members in the group responded with thumbs-up.

Of course, that statement made pure sense.

But, then, I wondered: How many things can we quarantine from our life? Every WhatsApp group or other social media group I belong to, is bombarded with forwards, and about 99% of them is utter rubbish! The members who had greeted the statement with instant thumbs-up were the ones who have been blindly forwarding the rubbish stuff, round the clock, and round the year!

So, which ‘media’ have we to quarantine for 14 days?  

Obviously, the statement is referring to the relentless TV news!

But, when we shut the TV, the ‘crap’ still comes from our own li’l mobile screens, you see…

Therefore, just as we shut the windows before the night falls, so to keep the mosquitoes away when we go off to sleep, we need to shut ‘every window’ that brings in ‘these mosquitoes’…

But, will we?




As human beings, we are a very, very gullible lot. We become more concerned – rather, obsessed – with what is going on thousands of  miles away from us… but, remain least concerned with what’s going on within us. Just take our current obsession with the Covid-related news and information…

It’s insane!

As alert citizens of this world, yes, we need to be reasonably informed. But, through this incessant bombardment, from left, right and centre, we only end up becoming gullible – the puppets, the sheep, the tools, the products!

Today, if at all this Planet needs desperately, anything, it’s silence…

We do not need this ‘excess’… this ‘noise’… this 'pollution'!

We are all locked inside our houses. Agreed, that fatigue and boredom seem to have taken over our senses. Reckless sharing and forwarding and the obsession to know what’s happening in the outside world - rather than spending some quiet moments reflecting on what’s happening inside us – yes, it is the fall-out of this fatigue and boredom…

Senses badly need to be sensitized… sanitized!

Every media needs us… The dumber we are, better for it… It thrives on our dumbness!




So, whoever wrote that statement - “Quarantine the media for 14 days, and 80% of our problems will go away.” -  has made a very valid point. It only needs to be understood properly: ‘Quarantine ourselves from the media for 14 days, and 80% of our problems will go away.”

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic's.: pixabay

 

Video: Masaka Kids Africana Vlog

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or painful that
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...