Political Overload

When does political junkie-dom become an issue of addictive over-indulgence and a way to avoid real life life issues? I can't say exactly, except if you suspect this may be happening, it's already happened.

I noticed over the weekend that whenever I was upstairs on my desktop, where the Huffpo website is saved as my opening screen from Safari, I would get sucked right in to the Clinton/Obama/McCain/Huckabeee races in the next cluster of states in the endless run to the conventions and on to the the election of 2008!!!!!

It didn't hit home fully until I got my achey body over to the gym to grind away on the elliptical, and I glanced over at CNN to watch excerpts from Hillary and Barack doing what sounded like tired stump speeches in Washington State or in Virginia. They both looked bored and sounded boring. They both had the same old, same old sound and look.

Is this the post Super Tuesday super-sized media bloat? I thought I had recovered from CNN during the first Gulf War. No, I watched more than anyone's fair share during the Iowa and new Hampshire primaries, and followed Super T on PBS (oh, how tame and dull; how deliciously dull). Now it's not such an overwhelming number of primaries to follow: how dare the Democrats make this such a long, drawn out process. I have to go back to the disinterest of July 2007. But, there was something good about last summer: I got things done for myself. I paid attention to the issues of my life that matter: making a living, staying in touch with close friends, taking care of my home, wardrobe, diet, etc. It's not that these things have disappeared; they have just taken on a dull quality, not because the competition from electioneering is more important, but just because it's packaged with bells and whistles that make it seem of compelling interest.

It always comes back to balance. We must ask ourselves every day, before the veil of illusion covers our conscious life in the excitement of media magic: what's the world for me now? Am I drowning in entertainment, masquerading as political urgency, or am I advancing my conscious mind and personal equilibrium to put the stimuli of the media in its proper proportion? I know today where I stand on that question. Adios for today.