Yes, this post is way out of left field but what's been going on Egypt the last week has me completely baffeled.
Despite everything I talk about or share here, I normally don't comment on world events. It's not because I live in a bubble. You'd be surprised to learn that I'm pretty much a news junkie....and maybe one of the reasons I've been prone to depression.
This may be a generalization, but I tend to beleive that most news that we watch, read, or hear about leans towards the negative. Most headlines or lead stories today overwhelmingly have a 'dire' outcome and are over sensationalized. It seems for every one feel good story, or article for hope and human kindness, it is quickly outnumbered by those full of death, disease, destruction, corruption, crime, sexual immorality, whatever.
I'm not sure I'm the biggest fan of the digital age, that news is at our fingertips 24/7. I almost feel we are too conencted. It was only less than 75 years ago that news sometimes took a few days to reach us. Even with the introductions of the telephone, televisions, film camera's, etc., it still seemed to take a bit of time for 'world' events to hit the common person. I think of the films of the 50's where children were sheltered and thier biggest concern was if it was a snow day. Women wondered about what was happening at the local salon, and in general we were all just a bit more isolated.
Then came cell phones, and satellites, and the Internet. Now it's iPad's, and Facebook, and Smart Phones, and GPS in your car. Yes, the technology is great and it stands for progress and moving us forward, but mankind has allowed information to flow too freely. We hear of cyber-bullying (a term that wasn't around 10 years ago). We hear about 'sexting', and all the drivel from wannabe armchair politicians from Twitter and most of it is from reality stars or musicians.
I've often said 'ignorance can indeed be bliss', and we all may be just a little happier if we just stopped listening to the news for a few days.
But I'm guilty of not following my own advice. See, I get bored very easily, especially when it's slow at work. My smart phone doesn't help now that I get CNN updates to my phone a few times a day to keep me abreast of what's going on. I'll be the first to admit, relucantly, that I'm pretty plugged in (I think this comes out of my natural tendency to analyze and raw curiosity) to the world. I'm pretty well informed about about current events.
But Egypt has taken me completely off guard.
I understand the Egyptian people want the gov't ousted. But what started this? Why now? What do the people really want? And other than unstability in oil prices for us, what is the immediate, intermediate, and long term global impact?
I've tried to read a few articles on both CNN and Fox, listen to a few interviews on AM radio....but I still feel cluless. It scares me a bit even though it's on the other side of the world. That whole region of the middle east....it never ending chaos and has been for thousands of years. Granted, I'm not muslim, and this may be a generalization, but for a region that is predominatly muslim, they sure hate each other as much as they hate the west and Christianity.
Oh, there's blights Christianity as well (Crusades anybody?), but this part of the world just can't seem to get it after 3000+ years, let alone our measly 225.
Birthing pains for the end as foretold in Revaltions?
I really need to stop listening to the news for my own sanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment