I said to my husband last night - firmly entrenched in the couch during a deliciously snowy day of football watching - “Who buys a car as a Christmas present?!”, after seeing the 1000th ad for a new Chevy.
We don’t observe the world around us. It’s more efficient to follow stories and not think critically. (I, too, got briefly turned down the Wahl rabbit hole, until we learned the real, and equally tragic, truth; I’m not sure he would have survived back home, either.)
“It is almost as though the purpose of the stories we are told is to obscure reality, not to reveal it.”
I’m going to make a note of this for future writing. Am I obscuring or revealing reality?
Great perspective Tom. Clearly those dreadful pictures you shared are part of your leftist narrative to support the concept of Global Warming or “Climate Change” as lefties like to call it ( Of course the climate changes - every day I notice it!) to show what a devastating impacts evil corporations are having on the environment. 😜 I plan to start reading TheFP more often - thanks for your suggestion!
I'm an ER Nurse at one of the biggest hospitals in NM there is no doubt in my mind that people are dying from the Covid Jab. You can live in your little bubble all you want but the Reality of these shots are real and killing people.
I spend about ten minutes a day swiping retailer ads out of my inbox and into oblivion. It doesn't matter how many times I unsubscribe. They always find their way back. And they bring friends. 😩
As to navigating the misinformation superhighway, my mother used to wisely quote some other wise person I'd never heard of: "Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear." It's a pretty cynical view, but not the worst advice for our times. 🤔
The email struggle is real! I'm finding myself checking my non-work email less and less. And, now, some of these companies have figured out how to text ads too! Thanks for the calming pictures at the end.
My inbox is clogged enough (thus the reason it's taking me so long to read all my Substack subscriptions!) - all I can say is this season, I'm thankful for the spam filter! Which mostly works. Mostly. Oh, and Ad Block Plus. Which is just a no-brainer.
I'm so with you on this. I think we're all suffering from urgency fatigue. A sense of urgency can also be addicting, I think, too. When I worked in the corporate world, there were always a few people that turned everything into a crisis, almost as if they got high off of it.
All the speculation by the media with a "big" story drives me crazy. I want to scream, "Just get back to me when you have all the facts." I have many, too many, friends who believe the SADs story and with each new death of a "younger person" they are happy to hop on that conspiracy theory right away, and never come back to provide the truth. As for the right tilt to your photos, could it be you're starting to lean right? hahah j/k. A photography rule I've heard is that a slight tilt is more pleasing to the eye.
I said to my husband last night - firmly entrenched in the couch during a deliciously snowy day of football watching - “Who buys a car as a Christmas present?!”, after seeing the 1000th ad for a new Chevy.
We don’t observe the world around us. It’s more efficient to follow stories and not think critically. (I, too, got briefly turned down the Wahl rabbit hole, until we learned the real, and equally tragic, truth; I’m not sure he would have survived back home, either.)
“It is almost as though the purpose of the stories we are told is to obscure reality, not to reveal it.”
I’m going to make a note of this for future writing. Am I obscuring or revealing reality?
Something from The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/03/09/walter-benjamin-illuminations-the-storyteller/. Walter Benjamin, too.
Great perspective Tom. Clearly those dreadful pictures you shared are part of your leftist narrative to support the concept of Global Warming or “Climate Change” as lefties like to call it ( Of course the climate changes - every day I notice it!) to show what a devastating impacts evil corporations are having on the environment. 😜 I plan to start reading TheFP more often - thanks for your suggestion!
I'm an ER Nurse at one of the biggest hospitals in NM there is no doubt in my mind that people are dying from the Covid Jab. You can live in your little bubble all you want but the Reality of these shots are real and killing people.
Great essay! Beautiful photos!
The Christmas one and this latest are great reads. Love the right tilt query. :)
I spend about ten minutes a day swiping retailer ads out of my inbox and into oblivion. It doesn't matter how many times I unsubscribe. They always find their way back. And they bring friends. 😩
As to navigating the misinformation superhighway, my mother used to wisely quote some other wise person I'd never heard of: "Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear." It's a pretty cynical view, but not the worst advice for our times. 🤔
I assumed your photos tilted because of the eagle sitting on your shoulder while you're hiking through the wilderness.
Tom Pendergast: Beastmaster. 🦅
The email struggle is real! I'm finding myself checking my non-work email less and less. And, now, some of these companies have figured out how to text ads too! Thanks for the calming pictures at the end.
My inbox is clogged enough (thus the reason it's taking me so long to read all my Substack subscriptions!) - all I can say is this season, I'm thankful for the spam filter! Which mostly works. Mostly. Oh, and Ad Block Plus. Which is just a no-brainer.
Great essay - and lovely photos!
I'm so with you on this. I think we're all suffering from urgency fatigue. A sense of urgency can also be addicting, I think, too. When I worked in the corporate world, there were always a few people that turned everything into a crisis, almost as if they got high off of it.
All the speculation by the media with a "big" story drives me crazy. I want to scream, "Just get back to me when you have all the facts." I have many, too many, friends who believe the SADs story and with each new death of a "younger person" they are happy to hop on that conspiracy theory right away, and never come back to provide the truth. As for the right tilt to your photos, could it be you're starting to lean right? hahah j/k. A photography rule I've heard is that a slight tilt is more pleasing to the eye.
Beautiful photos. Happy new year, mate.