Relative Something

Imagine if you wanted to avoid a popular subject. Say, a really popular television show about a singing contest, or a show about a contest to vote people out of a competition? Consider the intention of steering clear of news broadcasts, especially the ones that include “news” features on the subject of the television programs afore-mentioned being broadcast by the related network. How about if you wanted nothing to do with the excessive attention being focused on the wedding of two people from another country? What if some guy was able to create public excitement over his opinion that the end of the world is just days away?

Actually, if what you are intending to do is keep from feeding the frenzy, it doesn’t matter what the hot item of the moment is. The trick is in the avoidance. To do nothing is hardly rewarding. It makes little difference against the maelstrom of the masses. The crucial truth is, if you want to stay out of the fray, you have no real, effective weapon to wield.

If you try to lobby a case for purposefully staying out of the brouhaha whipped up by the media and the citizen gossip/analysis, you still contribute to giving time to the subject which you are trying to avoid. The only real way to not play into the latest media attention getter is to refrain from speaking (or writing) on the subject altogether. Silence.

It drives me nuts. How do you know if what you are not doing is providing any value?