Modern
myths differ
substantially from traditional myths. Most traditional myths
were built organically, over many generations. Modern myths have
been changing and evolving much more rapidly. On the one hand,
dissolution of family structures and increased social mobility
have loosened the mortar that used to hold myths together. On
the other hand, the media have created channels for inventing,
shaping and strengthening deliberately selected myths that deliberately
serve the purposes of promoters of products, services, politicians,
religious leaders and others who seek gains through influencing
the masses.
This
brings us into the realm of hype.
Hype
Social
sciences have opened windows of understanding into obvious
and subtle ways we can be influenced to alter our opinions and
behaviors in such mastters as diets, buying
habits and voting. Advertisers and politicians know that
specific techniques can be used to alter our perceptions, beliefs
and
actions. They
use these regularly to enhance their market positions and
socio-political powers.
The
media have created golden opportunities for applying this knowledge
to the great advantage of advertisers. Over the years, we have
increasingly opened electronic windows into our homes, inviting
invasions of hoards of ads - through newspapers, radio, television,
the internet, and now - carrying a constant source of influence
with us - through our cell phones. By extension, one can probably
anticipate a future step will be electronic media implants - perhaps
with deluxe, micro-miniaturized screens under our eyelids, and
at the lower end of techno-hype through audio implants in our ears.
These
media have shaped our culture in major ways, and not always for
the best. To
market a product, advertisers need to inform viewers of
its advantages. This is a real service when a new product is
available that can
improve our health and wellbeing or enhance our lifestyles.
Problems arise, however, when more than one product will meet
the
same needs. Each will want a larger share of the market, so each
will seek
ways to boost the image of its products.
So
we have ads which shout louder and louder at us to grab
our attention - through auditory volume, alluring images, and
intense, rapid-action informational bytes (another
wonderful word which, like a bulldog clamping his teeth
on the seat of your pants, is designed
to grab hold of your mind and is hard to shake off).
As
soon as one ad promoter develops a new hype, you can be sure that
others will soon follow suit, and will develop every possible way
to raise the ante in the hope of grabbing your attention and imprinting
it more effectively with their competing product.
And
the advertising hype is a relentless process. Several decades ago,
Coca-Cola believed that it had achieved a comfortable share of
the soft-drink market and that its name had been adequately imprinted
in the public mind so that they no longer had to spend as many
millions of dollars in daily advertisements. Over a two month period
when they stopped advertising, their share of the soda market fell
by four percent. They quickly resumed their intensive reminders
to the public to drink their product.
Advertisers
go
well beyond the simple promotions of their wares and services.
They not only feed your needs, they create imaginary needs
which they then offer to satisfy. This works best with the uncritical
mind, which
is open to being shaped. Children become natural targets of
advertising
hype - with ever-shifting fads in games, clothing, foods
and amusements, promoted for fun, entertainment and prestige.
As
this process or hyping myths evolves, it takes on a life of its
own and becomes a part of the mythic reality of our modern culture.
Our heroes are sports champions and entertainment stars - living
people whose images have taken on iconic, mythic proportions. What
gets them to the top of their popularity lists? In some cases it
is talent in singing, dancing or in maneuvering a ball better than
the rest of the players around the field of play. In many instances,
however, there is the additional hype of flaunted sexuality (enhanced
with implants, hormones, face-lifts and carefully engineered ad-ops),
put-on endearing or boundary-stretching personality quirks, or
inviting media attention through misbehaviors (avidly sought by
media hounds who surf the waves of mythmaking which they themselves
create and hype even further).
With
the erosion of nuclear family structure, the increasing
financial stressors of single-parent families, and the rapid
pace of modern
life (in which hyped opportunities become sought-after "necessities" of
material possessions and entertainment), we find ever-increasing
number of children parked in front of TVs and Internet
screens for baby-sitting, and adults parked in front of
their screens for sports, entertainment and news.
And
there are further pernicious effects of hyped mythmaking.
Watching TV shows leads to shorter attention spans, as the mind
becomes
habituated to frequent advertising interruptions in the
flow of shows. Children do not learn to spread their attention
across
leisurely minutes and hours of free time through the exercise
of their imaginations, creativity and social skills. They are
habituated
to being passively fed their visual and auditory entertainment,
without having to exercise their minds.
And
most of us have lost the knack of contemplation. There
are no slots in our schedule for quiet time. We jump from one
channel to the
next, not taking time to digest the first enjoyment before
our senses are saturated with the next one. This diminishes and
cheapens
both the first and the subsequent shows, and diminishes
our habitual responses to other experiences in life, which we
taste
ever so briefly but then
rapidly
move
on
to the next hype - rarely pausing to absorb the content, nuance,
import or lessons of any of the masses of media bytes we swallow
whole, unchewed and undigested.
Perhaps
worst of all, we come to view the hyped offerings of the
TV producers as a mythic reality in which we identify ourselves.
We
have whole generations now who have been raised with the
culture of hype, and the cultural myth that this is the best
life available.
Rather than relate to real people in our family or circles friends, we chat about
the happenings on the latest soap operas or news shows. We spend
more time relating to mythic media figures than to real ones,
with whom we can actually engage and interact. We are increasingly
conditioned to a passive relationship to our world, in which
the manipulators of the media figures are the ones who pull the
strings and create the realities of existence.
Within
this culture of hype, short attention spans and passivity are
increasingly extending outside of TV-watching. School teachers
who have been
in the field for several decades complain that to be
successful, they have to entertain their classes - in order
to keep the students' attention. Learning is no longer experienced
as a goal that is worthy of personal investment by the student.
Indeed,
many students passively absorb school materials rather than
questioning or debating
the topics and issues.
The
media are spreading their influence around the planet, creating
a global village. People of other nations and cultures, drawn by
the glitter and sparkle of material benefits which are hyped in
world-dominating western media culture (promoted by advertisers
who are seeking to develop mew markets for their wares), are often
drawn to cities where they believe they can enjoy the mythic advantages
of the modern world.
Competition
and hype has created a culture in which the myth of the measure
of our success is in the material possessions, power and fame that
we have amassed. Clearly this is not a new issue, as is noted amongst
others in the Biblical prophets who railed against rulers who had
lost touch with their God and their populace, and the parable of
Jesus and the moneylenders. But the scale and proportions of the
shift in mythmaking and myth absorbing is increasing rapidly.
$pin
Where
hype accentuates or even exaggerates aspects of a real subject, spin seeks to create a totally mythic reality
that has no real foundation other than in the presentation of the
promoter. Spin is a hype that is souped-up to the point that it
is a quantum level beyond the exaggerations of the best (or worst)
of hype.
Spin
has a sinister, hidden motive behind it to enhance the
power or profits of its creators.
President
Bush and those working with him have demonstrated masterful
skills in the art of spin. The Neo-Conservatives openly stated
in the
early 1990's that control over Middle-Eastern oil reserves
was a goal worth pursuing. Seizing upon the attacks of 9-11 as
an excuse,
they immediately started to create a spin about links between
Saddam and Osama bin Laden. Both in actual statements that Saddam
was
gathering weapons of mass destruction in the service of
terrorists, for use against the US, as well as in cleverly stated
implied connections,
Bush & Co. built this myth that enthralled the majority
of the US public, as well as our Senators and Congressmen.
Now
created myths that are spun from hype have to be sold to a thinking
audience. Were they to think clearly, people might demand the sort
of evidence that is lacking (otherwise there would have been no
need for the hype and spin in the first place). So the spin merchants
will systematically rely on non-reasoning ways of selling their
myths.
One
way to do this is to play on people's feelings. Heightened emotions,
particularly fear, create instability and tensions. We seek ways
to reduce these unpleasant feelings - and the creator of the spin
is ready with simple solutions to reduce our emotional discomfort
and anxiety. Bush & Co. presented the spin of Saddam as a villain
linked with Al Quaeda and possessing weapons of mass destruction,
and the counter-spin that the US would be better off if it attacked
and removed him. A further spin is that Iraqis are eager for democracy.
The fact is, most Iraqis have no experience of democracy and very
little on which to base an opinion about whether they would want
it. But the majority of Americans, used to accepting what they
are told through the media, and unused to seeking out alternative
sources for news (such as foreign media), accepted these spins
as truth. We gave Bush & Co. support in attacking Iraq.
The
deliberateness of the spin is evident in the careful manipulations
of the media presentations of the facts. For instance, horrendous
as it is, the body count of over 1,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq
is another spin. It is a spin by omission of the fact that over
10,000 more troops have been evacuated to hospitals for serious
injuries. (And most of these were seriously injured or killed after
the spin of Bush standing on the decks of an aircraft carrier and
declaring victory.)
It
is clear that President Bush believes firmly in the myths of his
own creations - that his spins should be accepted without question.
He becomes agitated and angry when questioned or confronted over
inaccuracies in his spins. People who believe their own hypes and
spins are often mentally deranged. This is not reassuring when
the person we are discussing is the leader of the most powerful
nation in the world.
In Summary
There
are myths which are growth-promoting and healing, and myths that
can be self-serving for a portion of the population and damaging
to the rest.
The
meta-myths in various cultures around the world, stating that the
locally prevalent myths are THE TRUTH, are being challenged as
our planet becomes a global village. The very media which facilitate
the spread of dominant-culture myths are also provoking confrontations
between cultures.
In
my studies of healing for personal, family and societal ills, I
find that there is wisdom in each and every culture. I find that
I am personally richer for having lived for ten years in Israel
and another ten in England. I have come to appreciate that there
is always more than one way to understand and deal with challenges.
Where there are conflicts between Arabs and Israelis, Northern
Ireland and England, the pursuit of only one side of the conflict
in the hope of eliminating the other leads only to escalating conflicts
and bloodshed. The myth of the best goal being victory over our
enemies is a costly one, and one that rarely leads to lasting,
healing solutions.
In
these challenging times, moderates in western, Judaeo-Christian
culture would do well to seek out moderates in the Muslim world
to explore our differences and how we can best co-exist in this
world - creating ne, healing myths of a world in which we co-exist
peacefully - before we mass destruct ourselves through attachment
to poisonous myths, hypes and spins.
The
challenge is to find ways to return to myths that are nurturing,
growth-enhancing and healing.
Suggestions:
