Do What I Say, Not What I do

God may be dead for most of the so-called "enlightened" West, but He appears to still be alive and well(?) in the Middle East. The battle over the Holy Land between Israel and Palestine continues to rage on and is a very contentious issue that I think would be better for me not to weigh in on because really neither side is innocent nor more guilty than the other. I will stop with a simple recommendation of this doc, which was very well done and is getting all sorts of international recognition.

Last week I went to a screening of this movie that was attended by the director Julia Bacha, as well. After the film she did a question and answer portion about the film and about the climate of the news media and entertainment today. I have nothing but respect for people who risk their lives to help "bring the war home" in movies like this one, as well as another really good one I saw recently about Afghanistan called Restrepo. It is very easy, from our comfortable haven in America, to forget the dire struggle our service men and women are going through on a daily basis, especially as our current wars have kind of lagged on and have lost the attention of the news media.

What I really want to talk about though doesn't really have anything to do with these movies, nor the wars that are going on, but instead with this "Attention Span" problem. On the surface, it would seem to be a slightly more trivial issue, but I feel that in the long run its consequences will be felt much more acutely than any sort of blowback resulting from these latest "foreign policy adventures." It has to do with a disconnect—not just the average citizen's from the realities of war, but, even more deeply, the average Individual's disconnect from reality itself.

During the question and answer portion, the topic of Attention Span of the average American today was brought up. The typical demons were blamed: commercials, multi-tasking on the internet, text messaging, the increasingly quick cuts used in Hollywood-style films. Bacha even admitted that one of her next projects would be a series of Shorts because of this very problem. She said she had found that even Budurs' meager 70min running time seemed problematic for some people.

And then, to really drive the point home, I looked to my right at the attendee sitting next to me and, I swear to God, the jack-ass was on his Blackberry checking his Facebook! I was completely astounded that this moron, first-off, could not see the irony, but even worse was so oblivious or obstinate that he did not find something wrong with his behavior. I mean this is a no-brainer; even if he had something really, really important to check on, he couldn't at least wait another 20 minutes till the talk was over? Or if he was so uninterested in the discussion, why wouldn't he just leave? And don't even get me started about how many phones rang during the movie and the discussion, as well. How hard is it to remember to turn off the ringer?

The degeneration in Attention Span is definitely a most worrisome trend, but this lack of even the most basic level of respect is absolutely abhorrent. This problem goes all the way to the top of our social hierarchy too. Remember our esteemed members of Congress tweeting during the President's State of the Union address last year? I realize that we have a Culture War going on that disagrees on just about everything, but can we at least use a little bit of Common Sense and form some sort of consensus on this issue. Agree or disagree with the President, he is still the Commander in Chief and deserves at least some basic level of respect. These esteemed members of Congress were acting like bratty little Middle Schoolers passing the 21st Century equivalent of notes behind the teacher's back. Is it a wonder how our children act in schools these days?