If not, you’re far better off than I. Exhaustion set in about the third set of primaries and, like a rolling tide, has overwhelmed the beaches of my mind. In the “good old days” we had none of the inundation of campaigning. There were no primaries . . . what a blessing that was! The candidates were chosen at party conventions which were a real contest. As high school boys we volunteered to staple party posters on telephone poles and pass out campaign buttons at grocery stores (as they were called then).
Campaign trains rolled into the city and everyone gathered in South Roanoke Park (as it was called then) to hear Ike speak from the observation car of the train pulled by two Class J locomotives. And the whole shebang was concluded on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The next day everyone got back to normal living from which we had been pleasantly diverted.
We were not subject to the mind-numbing repetition of news but no one suffered from lack of information. The two daily newspapers plus the network evening radio broadcasts kept us abreast of what was happening. Incidentally, in those days should an announcer, while on the air, slip and utter a “damn” he was fired before the vacuum tubes in your radio could even cool down.
Before you, informed readers that you are, turn to another column with the thought that “that was then and not relevant to now,” give a thought to this: Review in your mind all the lies, half-truths, slander, explicit sexual remarks, personal character assaults, vindictiveness, racism, xenophobia, personal insults. . . the list goes on . . . to which we have been subjected. That applies to both sides and offered nothing to the promise of good governance. No wonder we are exhausted.
Unhappily, there is little optimism that all that will magically go away on November 9. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we can be fearful that civil discourse in the political arena has disappeared from the face of the earth.
What we have experienced in the last 18 months is akin to the visual violence we so enjoy on TV and the movies; this is a cerebral assault from which there seems to be no escape.
It need not be so. The next-to-the-last thing we need is an uninformed population. Heading the list, however, is a misinformed and exhausted public which is fostered by the media’s need for sensationalism and constantly “breaking news.” Most appalling of all, neither candidate has stated an ironclad promise on anything they will do other than solve all our problems.
Instead of allowing ourselves to be pilloried, pick four news sources of different persuasions (two visual, two print) and devote five minutes a day to each. There is zero likelihood that you will miss out on any significant data but you will reap great benefit from not expending massive amounts of emotion agreeing with/objecting to the avalanche “information” to which you have subjected yourself. You will still be well-informed, but you will not be exhausted.
Whatever happens this week, stay calm and don’t break the news gathering rules suggested above. Who knows? Such an approach might even influence the way news is delivered. If you think we’re worn out, just imagine how Wolfe Blitzer, Sean Hannity, et al, must feel!
Hayden Hollingsworth
