Why I Don't Watch The News

Of course, at my age, the assumed response would be bias. How many times have you heard a twenty-something rant about how biased the news is, "blah blah blah" and that's why they claim to refrain from participating. This isn't a rant on media bias. This is something else entirely. Of course the news is biased. Behind the scenes it's function is purely entertainment value. However,  I do occasionally watch fake news, because it doesn't pretend to be something that it isn't. The fake news comes right out and says "for your entertainment pleasure" and I like that. The catch is when individuals en masse start taking it all too seriously  (the "real" news, per say). Even the twenty-something's that rant about how they discredit the news because it's biased believe in it. Does that make sense? Why else would they get so worked up about it? In fact, it seems like everyone gets worked up over the news, and angry, and does it not drive most our daily lives? 

I don't watch the news because it prohibits originality. I interact with a lot of individuals  from multiple demographics. Earlier this week I was ridiculed because I hadn't heard anything about the little boy who was supposedly trapped in a hot air balloon that was made to look like UFO- the little boy that was hidden away in his parents attic to purpose a publicity stunt. Almost ashamed I disclosed that I don't watch the news. "How can you not watch the news?" I was asked. "Don't you even listen to the radio?" I don't... and apparently this is the kind of conversation I miss out on.

This feeling of shame is the same feeling I have when I'm asked why I don't regularly attend church. It's like I'm breaking some sort of standard expectation of how one is to life their life. It's hard to lock me into an argument over religion/Christianity because I don't fall into the normal binary opposition of believer/non-believer. A great example of this dynamic was provided above: the twenty-something that discredits the news for it's bias vs. the individual that believes in the news as a concrete truth. There are many philosophers that have talked about originality being dead. "There is nothing new under the sun." But in way, that isn't true. Each one of us has the potential to be original. But much like the news, prohibiting original meaningful thoughts and conversations, so does Christian dogma limit what can be done. 

I think the most revolutionary thing Jesus ever was credited to have said is that "I and the Father are One." This was an invitation to originality. It was the misinterpretation of Paul's statement to the Ephesians (5:1)- to be imitators of God that Christians lost out. Rather than making new paths, one path was established, and originality became prohibited- as a song lyric by David Bazan says, "Jesus only lets me do what's been done before." And rather than approaching Christianity for what kernels of salvation, there is a binary opposition that has been established of the believer/non-believer. But is there really a difference between these two? Are they not two sides of the same coin?

Originality is possible- in you and in me. We are the news. We are the believer. We are the atheist. We are the Christ. 

The Importance of True Love in Ever After

“The fairy tale is future-oriented and guides the child –in terms he can understand in both his conscious and unconscious mind –to relinquish his infantile dependency wishes and achieve a more satisfying independent existence (Bettelheim).” According to the definition of what constitutes a fairy tale, as defined by Tolkein and Bettelheim, all tales must be composed of fantasy, recovery, escape, and consolation. The most emphasized of these elements is the consolation. It’s the “Happily Ever After” ending. True Love is the key to an Ever After. It’s also the key element we desire most in life.

I always believed that somewhere in the world, waiting for me, was my one true love. I always believed that there would be something magical that drew us together. And I always believed that I would know without a doubt, upon catching her gaze, that she was the one. Fairy tales always reinforced this hope and belief.

Ricky of the Tuft completely adheres to the Tolkein/Bettelheim definition of a fairy tale. There are definite examples of fantasy, recovery, escape, and consolation. The tale begins with “a queen who bore a son so ugly and misshapen that for some time it was doubtful if he would have human form at all. (Perrault. Tuft)” Immediately we start off with a great loss. The recovery is found in a fairy that happens to be present at the child’s birth. She promises that he will be extremely intelligent with an ability to bestow the same wit upon his true love. This is a perfect example of fantasy.

Just short of eight years after the Tuft’s birth, twin girls are born to a queen in a neighboring kingdom, one is beautiful and the other one is ugly. As they’re born the same fairy is there. She declares that the beautiful daughter shall be stupid while the ugly daughter will be a genius. The stupid beautiful princess is promised to be able to bestow beauty upon her true love. The ugly sister is only promised to be intelligent.

One day Ricky of the Tuft meets the beautiful princess and he makes her intelligent in exchange for her hand in marriage. Later in the story, though hesitant, the princess marries the ugly prince, and he becomes valiant and full of masculine beauty. The paradox here is that although beauty and intellect are temporary solutions for recovery, the true escape is found in true love, and in that ideal is the consolation.

Characteristics don’t bring true happiness. Beauty seems worthless without intellect while intellect seems like it might be torture without beauty. But even with beauty and intellect, no one is truly happy in this story and there’s no justice until true love is found, the opposites attract, and then there’s an ever after of pleasure and happiness. True love is magical.

But what happens when the story skips ahead, for better or for worse, when the treasures of royalty fade away? In The Ludicrous Wishes the detritus of what was pleasure can be interpreted as the antithesis of Ever After. What if we pretended that Ricky of the Tuft made some bad regional ally choices and through a cycle of loss and recovery he found himself a poor old woodcutter? Time has passed and the beauty of the former prince and princess would have faded. The man has found himself at a point in life where he has become dissatisfied with his life. He wants more. If only he could do it over again. And “in his unhappiness, he declared that in all of his days heaven had not granted even one of his wishes. (Perrault. Wishes)”

In this tale of wishes, the poor old man is granted three chances to make his life better, however instead of being wise, he gets drunk and uses his first two wishes recklessly. The third wish he used to restore back to normal the things he made wrong. There is fantasy in having three wishes, there is a definite loss and recovery cycle, but the escape seems for like a final recovery back to the way things were and the only consolation is that everything is how it was when the story started. Change is found in the attitude of the poor woodcutter. It seems that he has realized how blessed he is to have such a treasure as his wife. What sets this fairy tale apart from many others by Perrault is that the consolation isn’t pronounced it has to be assumed. The ending isn’t consolation. It’s a moral.

Growing up comes with confrontation. We have to confront the realities of mortality, loss, and abandonment. Early on in development these issues can prove to birth incredible anxiety, the most common being separation anxiety, and the fear of abandonment. Any child and most adults can quickly relate to this stressor. Throughout life stages the fear of isolation and the threat of abandonment become our key motivators to bring change in our own lives.

One thing we can be certain of is that we’re all going to die. It’s reality. A fantasy would be immortality. But immortality can’t be achieved, however, true love can be attained. That’s the hope we carry on for. Because love is supposed to never fail and anything that fails obviously wasn’t true love. Fairy tales give us this hope. True love is the greatest wish a man could have and it’s more precious than anything else.