Increasingly, patients, family and friends have been expressing their dismay to me over what they are seeing and hearing on the news. It doesn’t matter what TV channel you watch, what Internet news source you scan, or what radio station you listen to. Every day brings more upsetting stories on all fronts--environmental, economic and political. The continuing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is on everyone’s mind and the recent attempted bombing in Times Square reminds us the menace of terrorism remains real. There is no end to bad news.
It’s safe to say people are exposing themselves to more news than ever. The term “newsie,” once used to describe people working in the news industry, is now applied to constant news watchers, who have become a prime target audience for advertisers. There has been a continuing shift away from reading newspapers and toward viewing Internet news sources, which bring us the insanity of the world moment to moment and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. TV watching, with its popular news-only channels, continues to rise. According to the 2010 Media Industry Fact Sheet put out by The Nielsen Company, the average American spends 31.5 hours a week watching TV.
People say they watch the news to “stay informed.” This pat explanation sounds good-- at first. But it begs the larger question of why many choose to watch so much news and in so doing allow themselves to become, and remain, upset with the insanities and tragedies of the world.
There is nothing wrong with keeping abreast of current events. As my son-in-law correctly points out, it makes one able to communicate intelligently with one’s peers, it facilitates social interaction, and it makes one knowledgeable enough to vote for those who best represent their beliefs. However, in my view, there is scant journalistic reporting to be found. Much passed off as facts and information is quite biased, and is really “infotainment.” As I see it, unconscious emotional factors are largely responsible for why people elect to keep up with the news.
News-watching can serve a number of neurotic functions. It can alleviate boredom in those whose love and work lives are unfulfilling, it can serve as a distraction from the pressures and hardships of daily life, and it can bring some measure of excitement into otherwise deadened lives. Some are actually addicted to the emotional rush they get from exposure to the media.
The daily news will “hit home” for everyone. There are so many emotionally grabbing stories in a given day that individuals can connect with, and get worked up about. One person, because of their particular character or emotional state, may become caught up with politics, another with the environment, and another with efforts to help children following a disaster. Such an extensive range of reporting is done, in no small part, to bring in the largest audience. The larger the audience, the greater the revenue for those who sponsor these “shows.”
The reporting of tragic events has an adverse effect on people who react in accordance with their specific character types. The depressed, who are often self-absorbed and apathetic can use the news to be roused from their low spirits, or it may drive them deeper into despair, giving them seemingly justified reasons for their despondency. The bipolar individual can be moved to act with poor judgement when in a manic state. The distrustful and suspicious, and those with paranoid ideation, have their fearfulness heightened. The news-involved hysteric overreacts with drama and great emotion. Because they are chronically anxious, the death and disaster scenarios they expose themselves to leave them in a state of even greater anxiety.
From an orgonomic perspective, watching tragedies of all kinds play out in the news is not so different than going to see a movie where upsetting events are portrayed. In both, one becomes excited, the orgone energy in the body starts moving, and one begins to feel. But while a movie can be dismissed as mere entertainment, because the news is real, it upsets us more and has the capacity to evoke strong and deeply held feelings, especially sadness, fear and rage.
If we tell to others about what we think and feel in response to the news, these emotions are allowed a degree of expression. Talking to those we know, expressing our outrage, writing letters to the editor, firing off angry e-mails to congresspersons, chatting or commenting on the Internet--all serve the function of allowing us to discharge some of the emotions that have been stirred up by current social and political events. These emotions are not necessarily caused by news-watching. They are already within us and become stirred-up.
Watching the news and venting about it is an often vain attempt for people to make themselves feel better. Of course, to the extent that one becomes active and actually does something, for example engaging in a rescue operation, the degree of discharge and relief can be significant. However, psychiatric orgone therapy is a far better way to express and release deep, negative emotions. I believe it is the only way to forever remove them. It is my experience that with therapy people tend to become less focused on the insanities of the world and more focused on living quiet, family-centered lives.
There is a dear price to be paid for being “informed.” While we may wish to do something in response to what we see, quite often there is nothing we personally can do. Only you will choose whether to tune in to the news or to tune it out. But, if you are one that regularly tunes in, you might ask yourself why. If the answer comes back “to keep informed” then take it a step further and ask yourself to justify your way of thinking. If watching the news enables you to cast your vote, fine. If it enables you to act in some truly meaningful way, fine. If it enables you to better deal with life situations, for yourself and others, fine. However, if none of the above apply, and if you are routinely upset by what you see, hear and read, then you should consider that there are deeper, concealed motives at work determining why you choose to be made upset. If this is you, consider a two-week experiment. It might not be easy, as detoxing from any addiction is not a simple matter. Expose yourself to no TV, no radio, no newspapers, and no magazines that report on daily current events. Listen to music, go outdoors, read books and spend time with loved ones (but don’t discuss world events). You might feel calmer, less upset and less worried. See how you feel. You can always go back.
I, for one, don’t make a special effort to follow the news beyond local weather, traffic and airline conditions. As a consequence, those I know are sometimes surprised to find I haven’t learned about this or that BIG story. One might say, “don’t put your head in the sand.” That’s fine for those who want to be constantly upset about things over which the have no control. I don’t.
Wilhelm Reich lived through incredibly turbulent political and social times and yet, quite remarkably, wrote almost nothing about day-to-day politics or events. With a few exceptions, when one reads Reich, there is no indication of the time period in which he lived and wrote. This makes his writing timeless and shows how much emphasis he placed on the “news” of the day--virtually none!
As a final thought, many bloggers tie their posts to current events and I may do this on occasion. However, just because another major news story is taking place doesn’t mean that I am going to write about it. My failure to comment doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s important. The fact is my interests, and those of my readers, are broader than the news of the hour. Wilhelm Reich’s ideas have relevance beyond what particular world insanity is taking place at the moment. So I say to those beleaguered and upset by the day's news and politics, you need not fear coming here.
