Or is it possible we can't decide because we are too conflicted and caught in a double-bind?
I am of two minds, or more accurately, two half-heads. The upper part, pinned in the trap and dead to my situation, can only answer yes, sir, now that I am trapped, my life is better. I can debate endlessly the minutiae of every issue thrown out like pieces of meat for caged lions. I can check the weather forecast for every hour of every day of the week, even though I know they will probably be wrong. I can get directions even though I know you don't need a director to know which way the roads go. I can research issues quickly and pontificate as if I were an expert on every matter from a to z. I can feel I am informed while feeling deformed by the contradictory information that appears and disappears every few minutes. Essentially, I can feel in-touch and worthy of respect from friends and neighbors because I can exchange empty words with them about nothing. I can feel so very normal and rejoice in that. I can feel sane.
On the negative side, well, my lower half-head, the one that's still thinking lead-pencil thoughts, the slow and easy stuff, the calm cool breeze oh what a lovely day dreams - you don't really need to hear what it has to b*tch about the Internet. You can probably guess.
In a fine article, "Vicious Cycles: Theses on a philosophy of news," in Harper's Magazine, Greg Jackson writes the following about our addiction to so-called "news" (the Internet):
"When we turn away from the news, we will confront a startling loneliness. It is the loneliness of life. The loneliness of thinking, of having no one to think for us, and of uncertainty. It is a loneliness that was always there but that was obscured by an illusion, and we will miss the illusion". And we will miss tuning in each day to hear that voice that cuts boredom and loneliness in its solution of the present tense, that like Scheherazade assures us the story is still unfolding and always will be. I don't know whether we can give it up."
Nor do I.
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