I was thinking a lot over the weekend about the question:
To what extent do we get more of what we pay attention to?
And feed our emotion and energy into?
Which is a tough question after a weekend like this.
Because you don’t want to go ignoring serious problems.
That certainly doesn’t make them go away.
But at the same time it also seems true that we create a lot of our reality by the way we frame it.
So even though probably no one I know would ever go to a Nazi march…
When I look and see a Nazi march for a few days, and I see everybody talking about it, and people say this is how it is all over…
I might start to feel like this is more common than it really is.
And I might get curious about why it’s so popular.
And I might start reading some of their literature.
And if I’m a lost soul, and full of resentments and bitterness…
I might latch on for the same reasons they did.
And so all the media attention helped it grow.
But if no counter-protesters showed up...
And it was all quiet around these sad weirdos.
And no one paid them any attention.
And they made no headlines except for in the local paper.
And were basically completely ignored.
It might have really knocked some wind out of their sails.
What happened instead gave them a great jolt of excitement.
And adrenaline, and fame, and reinforcement for their belief that they are leading a revolutionary movement.
And probably millions and millions of dollars worth of free advertising to all the sick souls that are watching...
And attracted a couple more to their cause.
