Today’s passage, is taken from the novel, “Hate, Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another,” published in 2021,  by Matt Taibbi. On the cover is a picture of Sean Hannity Colmes shouting on the left, and Rachel Maddow shouting on the right.  I would have switched these locations, but ok. On how the book took shape, author, Matt Taibbi states, “I have been in the business for nearly thirty years now.  We were never not encouraged to aim content at your outrage center...I was the Comic the Insult Triumph Dog of journalism...even winning an award for a Rolling Stone article about Mike Huckabee called, "Your favorite nut job". He goes on to describe how he also called Huckabee a "Christian goofball of the highest order" who resembled an "oversized Muppet."

We live in a disturbing time for media consumption.  So many of us parents are concerned with our children’s gaming, without examining or considering our own media consumption via our iPhones, iPads, TVs.  With ‘I gotcha’ media content on both sides of left and right networks; there is really no escape. We are fueling ourselves with a cup discontent in the morning and night, so we are fully on edge. It might do us all some good and turn off the TV and join our kids in a game of Minecraft.

We are so concerned with maintaining a sound body and spirit but how do we protect our minds? We aim to eat healthy, organic, nutritious foods.  We exercise and many of us try to maintain a consistence spiritual practice, whether it’s attending a church, mosque, synagogue, gurdwara but how are we protecting our minds from divisive, hate spewing media? Why do we consume content that is terrifying, exploitive and intended to target our outrage center?

Have we become addicted to fear?  Are we worried that if we’re not watching, we’ll miss something that we ‘need to know’. 

What if we all turned off our TV and devices and decided to use that time for conversations with our kids about something unique or special that they experienced that day. Or, if there are not children in our homes, what if we stepped outside and made it a point to speak to strangers or do something nice for someone else. We could meditate, sit for 10 minutes and just breathe. How much calmer does it feel in just visualizing what that looks like.  To sit beneath a tree, to play some jazz, to go for a walk, to have a laugh with a friend.

Have we become addicted to fear?

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