By Ken Marks[Opening from the original on The Scratching Post, July 26 , 2021, published here by permission of the author.]
For the most part, life is boring. It’s much like a seismograph. It generally shows a flat line, but every so often, a blip appears. Rarely, there are a few small spikes. We experience this as unpleasantness, something between mild depression and vague discomfort. The medicine for this “illness” — yes, we’re all slightly ill — is distraction. We must heap it on our malady to make life manageable.
Many a fortune has been built on this phenomenon. The entire fashion industry depends on it, as does the music industry. It explains why car makers offer so many models and design changes every year. It explains why Baskin-Robbins has 31 ice cream flavors. (Actually, it’s 1,300 since they opened their doors.) It explains why Chanel offers 127 perfumes. These are manufactured distractions. They work because they directly stimulate our senses. They take their cue from nature, which offers peacocks and roses and honey and salt licks and pheromones.
There are also distractions that stimulate our minds rather than our senses. For example, if I told you a fatal disease had broken out in China, I’d probably get your attention. Or if I reported that astronomers have found evidence of a giant asteroid heading right at us, that would work too. But what if I were lying about the asteroid? If you thought I was a credible person, the result would be the same. You’d be uneasy. Maybe you’d say, “C’mon, really? I’ve got to check this out.” Either way, I put a blip on your seismograph.
Before I go on in this vein, I have to reveal something about myself. Like you,....
[Read the whole thing on The Scratching Post.]
| Copyright © 2021 by Ken Marks Ken Marks was a contributing editor with Paul Clark & Tom Lowe when “Moristotle” became “Moristotle & Co.” A brilliant photographer, witty conversationalist, and elegant writer, Ken contributed photographs, essays, and commentaries from mid-2008 through 2012. Late in 2013, Ken birthed the blog The Scratching Post. He also posts albums of his photos on Flickr. |
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