If you turn on your television set and look away at a nearby wall, you will discover that the reflections produced by the light from the TV vary constantly in contrast and intensity. It occurs to me that every cell in our bodies has been programmed to respond to light – when a shadow passes over a field mouse, it becomes alert to a potential threat. Abrupt changes in the intensity of light are indications of danger that our neurological system has evolved to respond to. What effects can a lifetime of exposure to this assault produce? It’s obvious that the intensity of visual and audio contrast in our lives has increased through the years. I assume that our brains’ response is a protective deadening of our neural receptors. I am convinced that the passivity of the American public is related to this phenomenon. It is hard to believe, but a poll taken this summer indicated that two thirds of the American public could not name even one of the Democrats then running for president; meanwhile, three times as many Americans believe in Satan than in evolution. We have lost our sense of what is real and replaced it with an addiction to the virtual reality created by television, entertainment and advertising. The constant juxtaposition of images like that of a woman crying over a child lost in a fire and a commercial for Pampers amplifies this sense of meaninglessness and stupor.
One can make the case that we have lost the capacity for abstract thought. When we read, or listen to the radio, the mind forms images in response. The same can be said to occur when an illustration provokes the viewer to consider its symbolic relationship to reality. Abstraction encourages the mind to bridge the distance from suggestion to reality. There are certain tribes in Africa that do not distinguish between dream life and daily life. We find ourselves in a similar condition, but our virtual reality fails to serve our deepest needs.
In our world, reality has been replaced by forms of entertainment that require little mental activity and encourage inertia and apathy. How else can we explain the incredible indifference to their own lives and interests that characterizes the American people at this time? The misrepresentations of government, the outrageous dishonesty of business, the attacks on our civil rights, the collapse of our educational system and the failures of our social safety nets have produced almost no response or indignation from the American public. When Bush orders an aircraft carrier moved at a cost of $1 million so he can land on the deck without San Diego being visible in the background, he is aware that this manipulative misrepresentation will not affect his popularity, even after it is disclosed. I am certain, as it becomes increasingly obvious that we were deliberately lied to in order to justify a war with Iraq, there will be no general sense of betrayal. We no longer understand the relationship between cause and effect...
