It’s a fact – depressed people are better consumers…..

You know, I started a bit of a “discussion” on Facebook a week or so ago about the media. I suggested that the media (and I’m including TV, movies, games, social media – the entire media) have us deliberately swimming in a sea of negativity because depressed people shop more. And I’ll tell you that’s a truism – depressed people do shop more – and they also eat more – and, generally, they’re just better consumers than happy or content people. And you didn’t read that here first – it’s well documented. And that’s really the fundamental role of the modern media – it’s got very little to do with keeping you informed or entertained – it’s all about getting you to consume more, to drive our capitalist economy until it’s white hot, and the rich people are squeezing as much cash as possible out of us. That’s the way it works.

I know I’m always harking back to the olden days when the world somehow seemed a different place. These days, there is a vast quantity of hopelessness on the planet. Suicide and mental health issues are sort of running rampant through our societies, especially among young people who should be filled with nothing but hope. The way we were back in those same olden days I’m always talking about. I mean there was a lot of negativity happening back in the decade of love – assassinations, war, race riots, the nuclear threat – lots of negative stuff. But, somehow, most folks back in that other time felt we were moving forward to a better world situation – and the young people especially thought that.

And a major difference between now and back then was the role the media played in our lives. There was a lot of media that just made you feel better…lots of TV shows and movies that were just simply fun and games – no serious messages, no dark foreboding in the plot line….TV shows like the Beverly Hill Billies and Gilligan’s Island, Green Acres….I’m sure there are plenty of folks who can find something evil or nefarious about this type of programming, but I always remember it as sort of good, clean fun and something the whole family could do together. Remembering when there was actually family programming on TV and it was an important part of most families’ social time together.

In the world of music, there was certainly darker material, but I also remember a really huge amount of just plain, old feel-good music. Tunes like Good Morning Starshine, the Age of Aquarius, Here Comes the Sun…..lots and lots of examples of music that just seemed to brighten your soul and lift your spirits. Granted, I’m not that familiar with a lot of new music, but the stuff I do listen to is not generally what I’d call “feel-good” music. A lot of the new music that young people listen to seems somehow aggressive and sort of hostile….at least that’s been my experience….however limited.

The news media is, of course, almost an entirely negative entity these days. It herds us along using mostly emotions like fear and anger to keep us moving in the right direction…too much of the media these days is controlled by far too few people and that is an enormous problem. Even on a local scale, as community newspapers have died, government accountability has pretty much been abandoned. The less effective the media is at holding government and “the Establishment” to account, the more both of these giant monoliths take advantage and rape and pillage the ordinary populace and stack the whole socio-economic system against the common people – something that’s been going on pretty well unchecked since the beginning of recorded history, but is now happening at a frenzied pace as the poor get poorer and rich get grotesquely rich. The less diverse media ownership is, the less effective the media is. It’s a no-brainer.

I mean I just sort of can’t understand why we don’t seem to be getting smarter as we’re supposed to be evolving. I mean I think we’re losing our little toes and there is other physical evolution, but intellectually we seem to be sliding steadily backward. Sure we can build great and sophisticated computers and cell phones and we’ve invented this great internet thing, but, generally, a lot of stuff – some of it pretty important – is ending up in the dumpster – stuff like morality and respect and trust and decency and tolerance….overall, our societies have the morals of an alley cat….that’s what my Dad would have said.

Anyway, I guess it is what it is -and it’s a bit of a mess. It’s always been a bit of a mess but things seem to be getting a trifle more serious these days. And that’s because it’s getting fairly crowded on this old planet. And we’re seeing a whole lot more of each other. And that’s for sure…..