the News is Cheap Tequila for the Mind
They weave wickedness,
they hatch violence.
They compete in the race to do evil
and run to be the first to murder.
They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil,
and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them.
They know nothing about peace
and less than nothing about justice.
-Book of Isaiah Chapter 59 [1]
BUILDING TOLERANCE
Last August marked the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were what some consider the grisly climax to World War II - though the violence continued elsewhere. Today, the thought of an atomic bomb being dropped on a major city is almost unthinkable. Yet, at the same time, you can feel the violence bubbling just beneath the surface of our society: sense it in the checkout line at Costco, see it on people’s faces at the gas station, read about it in friends’ social media posts.
Do you see it? Can you sense it? Many cannot.
We have been given a thorough education into the benefits and utility of violence. This education begins at a young age, is systematic, and builds a tolerance in us for violence. Not tolerance in the sense of “I tolerate my kooky aunt’s sweet potato casserole each Thanksgiving”, but tolerance in the way the term is used in addictions medicine: tolerance to a foreign substance, that requires more over time to maintain the same effect, and triggers withdrawal in its absence. It reaches a point where CSI: Miami can play in the background as we eat dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant. Chalk lines and chicken parm. [2]
From a mental health perspective, the News is like cheap tequila for the mind. The depictions of violence are simply intoxicating. It does not matter which channel or political persuasion, they all follow roughly the same outline for a News program:
Who’s been murdered internationally
Who’s been murdered nationally
Who’s been murdered locally
Sports (or if you’re a Lions fan – who murdered them on Sunday)
Weather
Cat videos or other feel good stories
In college, I heard rumors of a fellow student who ran an experiment by drinking a shot of vodka every few hours for a month. He would even set alarms throughout the night to wake up and take a shot before going back to bed. This guy wanted to keep his BAC (blood alcohol content) above a certain level for a sustained period of time. By the end of the month he wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t even acting weird. He felt nothing.
Many folks are like that student with the News. A happy hour post-work News session will not suffice, rather News is consumed morning, noon, and night. They need that bloodshed in the streets, that illness in the air, an impending sense of doom. People are glued to the television because they “need to know what’s going on” or “want to stay informed”. There’s even a show called The Situation Room, as if the president is sitting down in the bunker with his generals and they’re going to let you in to receive some insider information!
***
So, think back to the dropping of the atomic bomb – the biggest, blowout bender human violence has ever seen. I reflect on whether or not we are still capable of murdering each other in such large-scale fashion. That day seems so long ago. It feels so distant, like something out of a movie. Yet, COVID era life kind of feels like something out of a movie as well. Therefore, my answer is ‘yes’ we are still very capable of that kind of violence. Humankind has not lost its murder mojo. In fact, we are being groomed for violence such as this. Twenty-four-hour news cycles have allowed for a steady stream of chaos and violence. Our mind is soaked and eventually pickled in it. Like the washed-out wino, sleeping under a bridge, we need a good eye opener just to get the day going.
Have you ever had a friend or family member that struggled with alcoholism and you could just tell when they had relapsed? There was something about their actions, their mindset, maybe you could even smell the alcohol on their breath? In my counseling work I can usually tell within 5 minutes of talking to somebody whether they consume a lot of News or not. Much like heavy alcohol consumption, they’re just in a different (often toxic) headspace. The nervousness and anxiety are practically coming out their pores.
SUGGESTIONS FOR DETOX
In my early twenties I had a passion for smoking pipe tobacco. A well-packed pipe of black Cavendish, big cup of coffee and a good book, oh it warms my heart to think of it! There was a time when I had a week off of work, no obligations, and no plans to go anywhere (this was also PRE-CHILDREN!). I decided to read the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West (Xi You Ji)[3] in its entirety. I packed my pipe, settled down and began the one-week trip through this 2000 page gargantuan novel. Every chapter is basically the same. There are four characters and they fight a new monster each chapter. Honestly, it’s kind of boring. It is violent and repetitive (like the News), but the overall goal of their journey was to make it “out West” (i.e. India), become enlightened Buddhas and live clean, non-violent lives.
We’re normal people, living in the real world and part of a culture with a strong bent towards violence. I’m pretty sure none of us will become Buddhas or saints overnight. But nevertheless, here are some suggestions to help you “detox” from the violence, wherever you find yourself in this journey to the west.
Go into your living room and smash your TV with a baseball bat
Haha, not really. But seriously though, that would be awesome if you did. Send me the photo and I’ll post it on my Twitter, where it will get viewed by nine people. Just as the answer for tequila is ‘just stop drinking it’, the answer for the news is ‘just stop watching it’. I challenge you to not watch for a month and see how you feel afterwards. When you’re not being told how to feel, you’ll begin to feel for yourself. The networks have a vested interest in keeping you hooked, but if you give it up you’ll achieve increased mental and emotional health. Watch as you take in less violence, how much more affected you are by the violence you do see.
Engage with your “enemies” from a place of curiosity
When I say “enemies” I may mean confronting that mean uncle who murdered your dad by sending him into the middle of a stampede of wildebeests and then became king of ‘everything the light touches’, but in this specific instance I’m talking about those that think differently. Ask questions, laugh together, and find commonalities. You’ll probably find that there’s an element of truth in everybody’s opinion. In other words, no one can be wrong 100% of the time.
Embrace your inner playfulness
Fill a party balloon with water and throw it from a high place. Blow off some steam by putting on a puppet show based on events at your office. Prank call Home Depot. Go play tag at the playground. Life is too serious. Put down Twitter and build your own soap box car. Don’t worry, the darkness of this world will still be waiting for you when you come back.
Reject violence in all forms
For Christians, it SHOULD be very difficult to get roped into partisan politics because the way of Jesus is always “the third way”. (spoiler alert: we failed). He sat at the table with Rebels and Government Agents (awkward…). This third way is inherently a way of non-violence. In Matthew 26:53 Jesus scolds Peter’s violent self-defense in the garden of Gethsemane: “don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”[4] Thus said Jesus hours before his brutal murder. There are always justifications given for violence, what could be more justified than the defense of God himself?