Smoke and mirrors
It's Tew's day . . . a warming while lovely summer day in Okieland . . .
Duality manipulation at the mediated core of our culture.
In our ubiquitous mediated environment: I'm sick and tired of the “what if” approach media has taken with Joe Biden's presidency and ongoing candidacy. “What if” is the ultimate anxiety producing question: the answers to “What if” are infinite and immeasurable. Any one of us could drop dead at any moment and certainly “if” the sky were to fall. “If” Joe Biden were to succumb to disablement or death, between today and after his re-election, he immediately would be replaced by the best-of-all-worlds vice-President in Kamala Harris. You don't hear the pundits questioning that fact...beyond, the predictable dualities of her gender and/or her racial heritage – as if she had a choice. The only “what if” that makes any difference whatsoever is the “what if Trump seizes the Presidency again?”
The media addiction to duality reflects our own. They treat everything as if whatever the subject is has only two sides and they are discussed as if they were equal – “fair and balanced” don't you know. Biden and Trump, democrats and MAGA are NOT equivalents in any way – except for their addiction to the duality of apparent “choices”: him/her, yes/no, right/wrong, up/down, good/bad, white/black, rich/poor. Another fave media tool, related to the “iffy,” is the “let's you and him (her) fight so we can watch, where equivalency runs the risk of being put to the lie.
Heather Cox Richardson calls our attention to the MAGA manipulation of the 14th Amendment in Letters from an American.
So, what are we missing? Most everything, it seems. – Tara Brach
Mindfulness isn’t about getting rid of anything or trying to feel better. It's about thinking your way to feeling. Feelings just want to be heard. –
Mindful meditation is an intimate relationship with oneself in which we find we are our own best friend. With our “BFF Bestie” we cannot lie and are open hearted to non-judgmental acceptance of “the good, the bad, the ugly.” Even the hardest Truths are gifts. And, it's all non-dual.