Amusing Ourselves to Death

For those many who have not read Neil Postman's groundbreaking work on the limitations of media, among other topics, may I recommend it highly; Along with the book, You Just Don't Understand by Deborah Tannen, these are among the most enlightening books I have had the pleasure to read re: our communication proclivities and inevitable misunderstandings. We may all speak English; but beyond that, we all speak different languages and one must struggle to understand others, realising that only imperfection is in reach; no matter how we try, we can never quite understand what it means to be another person. Call it our gestalt or whatever, the universe has built in limitations not just physically but esp. metaphysically and interpersonally.

But given such a resistive universe and our short lives, it is no wonder that most of us most of the time revert to entertainment.  It's easy, it's fun, it's shallow,it's quick; and even though our tastes in it vary considerably, we find that it relieves the pressure of considering our mortality and our teleology.  It is of faintest comfort on one's deathbed, to be sure; although a few can't resist  still wisecracking as they shuffle off their mortal coil.

(As a silly demonstration, one of my band names while I was in high school was, "The Mortal Coils" teehee; --but death was the last thing on our minds!  It was, ahem, mildly amusing at the time.)

But I re-pine and repent!

I have demonstrated time and again that amusements are one of my chief distractions and addictions, from Calvin and Hobbes to As You Like It (also an ironic title). 

But there does come a time to re-examine the serious side of life--beyond Tragedy, since that too consists of amusement, just the other side of it, as the two masks of theatre represent--but they are still onlly masks. We do like to hear about others' misfortunes so long as it doesn't hit too close to home, and we can still enjoy pointing the finger...

Time today only allows me to raise the subject--I would solicit other views on the matter before I go on with this end 'o year meditation/medication...."Nu?"  (Look that up in your Yiddish dictionary)