Brains vs. News: How damaging legislation goes unnoticed in the age of data

With the Internet's constant availability and the 24-hour news cycle, we are not really able to synthesize information over time. This allows politicians to ram through legislation under the radar while we are busy looking at other distractions. It's called Shock Politics and it is well-documented worldwide.

Reading a newspaper or magazine takes time. Reading a long-form Op-Ed online takes time. Reading a book takes longer still. Watching a cable news network yell-off and finding the view you agree with takes seconds and does not give your brain time to think about what data it just received. Here is a video demonstrating and explaining how thinking works.

Back from that?

Great! So the constant, steady stream of data from news, blogs, and social media mean our brains get to wallow in that delicious short-term snap judgement that isn't difficult at all. EVERYONE experiences this because it's just how our brains work. There is nothing wrong with that.

However, sociopaths and other such manipulators are very good at intuitively understanding what folks want. As a result, many become politicians and business leaders. Do you start to see where I am going with this?

Let's leap forward a little bit. Legislation was passed on March 14th repealing the Dodd-Frank act. That strips away protections put in place to prevent another banking crisis like the one in 2008. Why were so many Democrats involved with passing this? Why didn't we hear more about it?

My inexpert opinion is that our brains prefer stories about people. When we hear about some clown getting fired, it's easier for our brains to place that person into our camp of thought or into the "other." It is much, much harder to parse all the information in a piece of legislation and decide whether or not we should be angry about its contents. We rely on other people, our chosen experts, to tell us. It's basically the same reason we trust Google or Yelp reviews: it's easier to agree with someone's opinion than to form one of our own.

The only way we get past this is to slow down and do the uncomfortable things when it comes to forming opinions. Do not stop at the first article you see because the story is ALWAYS more complex. Or, if you must stop at the first article, refrain from posting about it right away. Tell your cat what you think, or your doggo. Maybe even your mother, if you must. But slow down.

Your sanity and sense of well being will thank you.

Life as usual

Shock politics as usual. Pay attention to what's going on behind the curtain, not to the blowhard talking in front of it.
 

Today, our sound bites tell us that children are being ripped from their parents' arms at the U.S./ Mexico border as a result of Jeff Sessions' directive to detain and prosecute every single person coming into the country without proper papers. The truth of the matter is that those violations have historically been prosecuted rarely in the event that the asylum is granted, but Sessions has gone full crazypants with his "zero tolerance" policy, to the outrage of millions. While all that is happening, damaging legislation is being put up for votes to a group of harried, beleaguered Senators and Representatives. Budgets are being set and...

...Meanwhile in the most populated state in the nation, a measure has gotten enough signatures to go on the ballot to split the state of California into 3 separate states. This isn't the first time it's gotten attention, but piled on top of everything else that's going on....

...Oh right and don't forget all your safety nets for old age are going to go away as a result of the feckless government's inability to cut military spending for its endless wars or to stop giving tax cuts to the people who have/have donated the most money.
I've never been a Republican, and I've only recently signed up as a Democrat, but it's always a "lesser of two evils" choice for me and I hate it.

Right now, this is a country of whole evil and I have no voice left at all. The Repubs are swayed by religion and the Dems are swayed by money. Two party system is NOT working. One side or the other is just going to strip away what the previous administration did and only a scant few things will truly stick.

But, what are we supposed to do? We can't stop looking. We have to witness and record the atrocity that is our country in the hopes that history won't repeat itself for the umpteenth time. We'll either make it through this next 2.5 years and start to repair the damage, or we'll tear each other apart into a new something-or-other. We are living though something terrible and dramatic and awesome, in the most literal sense.

Now I go back to not thinking about all this and living the day-to-day, but also feeling supremely guilty for not thinking about all this. Words on a page are all I have left, because it offers me a chance to step back and organize myself. So I'll see you at knit night, game night, work, or whatever social outing we're doing together, because if I don't keep doing those things I might just pack a bag and walk away until I can't walk any further. Thank you for reading/listening. I can't afford therapy.