DailySkew

DailySkew Post #900: 2008 Year in Review

2008 lived up to its billing, but ultimately it was no different than 1864, 1919, or 1983 or any other year- people lived, people died, and the world will never be the same again.

Eneagram Personality Type #8 (It was his year, 2008) is the Challenger, and personification of a “dog eat dog” world, with skewed notions of fairness and justice.

Before I get into this, my condolences to everyone who lost a family member this year, dealt with sickness or injury, or painful circumstances beyond their control.

2008

From the cultural standpoint in America and other countries- it’s official: the Internet is here, and here to stay, and has never been more influential in our daily lives. We truly live in an instant digital world. Whereas the Internet and digital world has been here very strong in recent years, in my view 2008 was 100% fully accepting of this world, and the new technology and systems became the NORMAL state of business: Google, Facebook, myspace, youtube, friendster, JustinTV, craigslist, ebay, amazon, webcams, streaming video, downloading torrents, instant messaging, Twitter, Yahoo news, e-mail, surfing on mobile phones, iTunes, photo albums, blogs, etc. are no longer niche geeky things.

In fact, digital communication has become the norm for me, now that my friends don’t live nearby and my extended family lives overseas. It’s my habit, for better or for worse, and this is how I express myself now.

The MEDIA and its role in feeding us what “THEY” determine to be newsworthy [marketable] never ceases to get my attention, and the presiential election and economy were the two major problems I had with MEDIA coverage this year, in addition to the MEDIA’S Scale of Importance. The Snapshot Joe reporting by the MEDIA generally frustrates me when I speak with people who have been spoon fed everything, and regurgitate to me the “facts” at face value without questioning. I’ve learned to bite my tongue in “real life” when interacting with people (blogging and reading comments just doesn’t seem *as* real to me).

The fact that the MEDIA is an Unhealthy Type 8 (short sighted, jumping from topic to topic, no memory) just added to the chaos this year.

Ultimately, I don’t believe humanity in general took a step forward this year, and I kinda stopped worrying about it as much. Many of the comments posted here and other sites seem to demonstrate the futility of it all. It seems that in this world of terrorism, sexual slavery, poverty, and economic recession, Lazy Man Ethics (LME) is the spiritual currency.

As much as people like to criticize patriotism, organized religion, or the post-war “good old days” that we experienced in the late 40’s and 50’s, there is a lot to be said about feeling part of something greater than yourself, and to have an identity and purpose.

What’s 2008’s identity? “Change” and “Bail me out”. Great.

Thanks to the Internet, we have many options to choose as to what we want to be bombarded with. When I was a kid it was just local radio, 5-channel network TV, three newspapers, and magazines. Now, I have a multitude of options and variety.

I haven’t listened to conservative talk radio since around Nov.5 and actually feel good about that, especially since based on the shows I listened to, Rush Limbaugh was more accurate than CNN. I’m not saying I’m I look down upon political junkies, or that I’m somehow “evolved”- because discussing the issues is good, but I’ve been staying away from the Talking Heads in general since November due to the fact that I personally have no control over anything that they are fear mongering. I mean, everyone is an economics expert by the water cooler. I never knew we had so many experts walking around, with all of their contradictory theories.

Fear and panic- that’s what millions are buying right now, after buying hope and change all year. Greed and materialism are at the roots of all of the suffering, as is the attachment to security and status. I’ve been expecting the anti-matter cloud to come and wipe everything out since July 1985, and it hasn’t come yet. When it does, it does; it can’t be stopped. I understand it’s human nature to panic, complain, speculate, and try to control, but 2008 made me a bit tired to constantly rant and rave about every presidential policy, bill proposal, economic theory, regulation, and who should be blamed for the latest injustice, etc.

To me, all of this noise blocks our true perceptions of reality: we have our health (hopefully), and if you don’t or are living with a handicap, you still have enough energy to find Skew.DailySkew.com and read this post. You have a computer, Internet access, or a mobile phone. No matter what your situtation is, you are blessed. Don’t let the MEDIA or the inner demons that we all have tell you differently.

Let’s hope 2009 is a bit more peaceful and stable.

Happy New Year.

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