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

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