It is only rarely that an item catches my attention for more than the three minutes allocated to it by the media people. And those media people choose what is to feature as that day’s News. So, for more than an hour each day, my mindbrain is fed a fast paced stream of stories from silver tongued journalists, smooth talking politicians and freelance creative types. Talking heads.
I am not immediately aware of being hegemonically got at by the power mongers. But it seems likely that shadows of their stories will become part of the ongoing churn which is my unconscious. My point of view will thus become culturally synchronized with the collective unconscious. Another sausage through the machine. Keep the peasants in ignorance. Elegant power. Paulo Friere where are you now?
SO, from an enlightenment point of view, I allow my mindbrain to be abused by the media mindbrain douche.
There is a double sin with the Radio 4 news. I cook and eat while listening. I am not thus fully awake to what is happening in the kitchen. The Mindbrain is split. There is less focus than there might be. ‘I’ become an unintentional robot managed by a stream of unconscious churn that incorporates the decoded signals from the wire-less airwaves.
To be focused is a good thing (ref Goleman)
“Focus in the midst of a din indicates selective attention, the neural capacity to beam in on just one target while ignoring a staggering sea of incoming stimuli, each one a potential focus in itself. This is what William James, a founder of modern psychology, meant when he defined attention as “the sudden taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.”
Goleman, Daniel (2013-10-08). Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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