Distraction and Reality

I have yet to hear someone, anyone, say that all distraction is created equal. Not George Orwell, not Joesph Campbell, not even Rachael Maddow. 

I am saying it now, and you can quote me on it. 

There is distraction of the political variety, something the current administration has successfully morphed into an art form, with the goal to establish plausible deniability and misdirection as they slowly trick the American public into a false narrative of cunningly brilliant slime. They might as well use the trail of a banana slug as a logo. We take the bait, scream in response and pledge support for whomever is leading the local blue-wave charge. Meanwhile laws are signed further incriminating the innocent, penalizing the venerable and jailing the poor, those of color and those not card-carrying members of the old boy network of monied white males. All this carnage as we look in the direction their bidding. 

There is distraction of the socio-economic, a type of modern keeping up with the Jones’ distraction where it is more important to drive a 60K car than support your community. Where our outrageous disregard for the homeless, the disenfranchised and those keeping heads above water on fixed incomes is less urgent that a 900K house that only a few years ago solved the problems that they have now created. If you need evidence of this please keep tabs on your local paper’s headlines as they cheer the hot real estate market with headlines and report the rise in homelessness on page six. 

And then there is my favorite distraction, sports and entertainment. This is a tough one for me because I am a big fan of both. I am a film buff, screenwriter and videographer. I am also a college football fan. I am not sure if I have properly related to you, the vast PB and RCVman audience, how exactly I came to be ONLY a college football fan, but it is important to note here that I have only a single vice in all the sports galaxy, and that is one team in one sport. I do this as a discipline. There are simply not enough hours in the day for me to follow all sports, even casually, with the focused zeal that I share with that one team. 

With that as back-story, here is my defense:

My sports related distraction, my single allegiance to that one team, is an emotional release, an outlet that I rely on to manage a stress overload that seems to be like a recurring nightmare. Every morning I wake early, meditate and hope like hell that when I reach my desk and log on the the news feed that the nightmare will be over and we can all return to normal. 

No more distractions of sexual digressions, kids in cages, school budget cuts, collateral damage, road-rage, multiple shooters, environmental devastation, lying politicians and their obedient minions, overpopulation, pollution, hate crimes, racism, rape and a thousand other crimes that go unreported as the media spins the cycle as regularly as my front bicycle wheel. 

I cannot keep all these fear based power plays in my head. It hurts. I am so ashamed of what we have allowed to happen. We have been distracted by those who profit from our in-attention. The 1% is winning because we are give them the power to do so. By looking in the shadows when we should be, need to be, staring at the light. That light needs to shine brightly in November. 

Use your distraction as a tool. We all need down time to decompress and debrief, to rest and recover. That is not distraction at all, it is a positive response to a negative circumstance. The secret is to not get used to it and take refuge in its transparent security and hollow image of safety. 

Watch your game. Take the lessons. Leave the rest. Get back to work. We have a lot to do. And it’s the fourth quarter with the clock running, on a playing field that is anything but level. Do not allow the distraction to become the reality. 

With apologies to Ms Maddow, (but I know she would agree.)