It is hard to think of something to write about today.
I spent time going over my
Etsy sale, my Facebook pages, my emails, and team digests. I sorted and filed, watched another video from
artbizcoach.com on writing about your art, ordered a PayPal payment reader, tried to plan my work, and had to rest because I was not well. The Christian radio station is on most days until the news starts most evenings. I don't go out much because of my health issues, so my social calendar is pretty empty. It's not a good thing, but I think that is what seniors face as they get older.
Today I didn't pay attention to the news. It was in the background as I worked on the computer. I caught some of the financial stories from NBR... like the stock market falling because of economic issues in Europe. I heard some of the major events from national news, like the plane that crashed right after take off, and was recorded as it crashed. Plus I heard some of the news from the local TV station -- including the fact that some parents with drug issues left their children locked in a house that was like a garbage dump for a very long time, until the littlest one was near death. If I start, I could probably get going on a lot of topics, but I don't know that I want to focus on the news or Facebook or Etsy.
I was impacted by the news reports featuring dashboard video of a car traveling down the highway at the same time a plane crashed in front of it. It reminded me how much our lives are affected by the ability to record events as they happen. I'm not sure I like this kind of progress. I don't want to have my brain filled with memories of people burning to death in metal cages, or planes crashing, or fires and other disasters, or crimes. I still cry about the pain of abused animals and people. I get angry at one-sided political agendas.
I don't like the idea that people have a right to record you in public spaces. I don't like the reports (which seem to be increasing) of people hiding cameras and microphones in their neighbor's houses and watching them without their knowledge. I really hate that
anyone can record things that should never happen (illegal and immoral) and sell them on the internet...creating an industry that feeds on the worst parts of Mankind.
We can't turn the world around and make it good again. Cameras aren't going away. Instead, they are getting better, smaller, easier to hook up to the internet, and less expensive. Imagine the future... when people have no moral foundations, they don't get better, they get worse.
I still remember when the focus on video recording was just beginning. I remember seeing videos I thought were staged violence. Sometimes I thought the authors were setting up acts of harm and violence to innocent strangers just to film them and see them on the internet --- or sell them to news sources. Then came the idea of going viral on the internet and the challenge to be the top video. I think that challenge still exists.
The problem with violence is that it usually goes in one direction
--- it usually increases in frequency and intensity.
The problem of domestic violence is an example of how violence escalates. The first act is often small and often easily forgiven. Then it happens again, a slap turns into a fist, words become weapons, controls tighten. These may also be forgiven. Then it happens again, and again, and again, until the abused is unable to escape. Like any other kind of violence, it always increases and rarely stops. Depending on the circumstances, I might advocate forgiving the first offence, but if it happens twice, you better RUN out the door. Love is not about abuse.
Terrorists and dictators are pretty much the same kind of people as a those involved in domestic violence. They "grow" in power by the level of violence they can get away with. ISIS is just one example of how violence increases. Cameras and the internet are tools of the process... and we feed them every time we do what they want us to do :: watch.
Privacy and freedom are going away, constant surveillance and control are growing.
