To Build From Here

Craig Maciolek

May 2

A father came home from a tough and frustrating day at work. Almost immediately he snapped at his wife about something that was rational. His wife, who was trying to cope with plenty of stress of her own, was pushed over the edge and went to the other room where their children were playing peacefully. She yelled at them to clean up the mess, a mess that was not any worse than usual and mostly went unnoticed. The children then began to fight over who was more responsible for the usual mess, thus who should do most of the cleaning. The youngest, being outmatched in this fight, began to cry. The shrieking noise of which amplified the anxiety and aggression of everyone in the family.

The media distorts, exaggerates, and sensationalizes events to create an energy flow. Pundits and late night comedians work to manage the flow of energy in a way that gives politicians little choice in what to do with it. The disenfranchised, the people who are most excluded by this process begin to protest. These protests increase the level of anxiety and aggression in everyone and become the events that the media distort, exaggerate, and sensationalize. Pundits and late night comedians work to manage the flow of this amplified energy in a way that gives politicians little choice in what to do with it.

It is far more important to be able to manage the flow of energy in a healthy and balanced manner, than it is to be the source of energy. Up to this point in human history, societies have been built around the constant battle by individuals to be the only source of energy flowing through the people. All of our culture, media and politics, is focussed on the illusion that one person could be the source of energy that changes how an entire civilization functions. This illusion is being maintained by the people trying to manage the flow of energy to their advantage.