Distracted living: Breaking News always breaking….

In December 2017 we finally crossed the barrier, the barrier regarding how much stimulation the human brain can tolerate. Another word for over-stimulation is distracted living and I fear this is the life we are all leading.

The constant sexual harassment stories has brought the volume and intensity of news to the awareness of the American population. I cannot speak for the entire country but now I notice even the newscasters have been nudged beyond their comfort zone.

Breaking news… maybe this phrase was magnified by CNN and around the time of the first Gulf War in 1990? A grim, serious face newscaster like Bernard Shaw would intone news about the war in Kuwait and/or Iraq. A sudden audio cue would emanate from the screen and the phrase “Breaking News” would cross the screen in a large font. We were being cued like Pavlov’s dogs to respond to the aural cue and the catchy phrase that some event had just occurred and was even more noteworthy than whatever was being discussed previously. Switch to new topic. With bated breath we get the new, bigger story and we sponge it up like one of Sponge Bob’s underwater buddies.

So now we get the list of Sexual Harrassers and it grows rapidly, seemingly every day. As for the present count, I list a few—and not in any particular order:

Matt Lauer—host of the “Today” show for nearly 20 years, an icon of early morning TV when the stories are cheerful. The accusations of locking women into his office for sexual activity cost him his job—ending his career in the blink of an eye.

John Conyers—88 year olds, U.S. representative from Michigan since 1965, allegedly use public monies to buy the silence from his female victim/employee. If true, that’s a wicked case of political manipulation.

Louis CK—a brilliant comic performer who liked performing after the show, taking off his clothes in his hotel room to show female guests his latest schtick.

Charlie Rose—“Jurassic” -- a term which would seem to apply here and to several others. These patriarchs rise early for work but still have a fire-in-the-oven for hiring and pursuing interns in the after-hours. 

Glenn Thrush—NY Times reporter, apparently not always a mild-mannered reporter. Drinking helps with social inhibition but got Glenn is some trouble.

Al Franken—another U.S representative, this one from Minnesota. Another Midwestern reps from the north country, up where Bob Dylan and the Coen brothers, famed filmmakers known for their noir perspective--  people finding themselves in dark situations. That’s where Al Franken, allegedly a serial butt-grabber, finds himself now.

Roy Moore—candidate for U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, showed that Southern proclivity for finding the least appropriate sexual partner (often a cousin or other family member). Roy is accused of soliciting teenagers when he was a 32 year old man prowling the malls for high school girls. Alabama voters prefer an accused child molester to a Democrat, a sign of the times if there ever was one.

That’s enough on the Sexual Harrassment front… there are other names—Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Kevin Spacey, and Jeffrey Tambor—but let’s quite while we’re ahead… or is it behind? Weak pun, I know. Oh, and Garrison Keeler, retired host from "Prairie Home Companion", 75 years old and the only man in the bunch to make an effort at self-defense. 

That’s enough distracted living for the moment. More “Breaking News” will happen before long. Stand ready with your phone, or by your television set. The host has changed—Stephanie Ruhle (she’s no Bernard Shaw)? But the news has only learned to break faster and faster. The pace has quickened in the 27 years since 1990.

We, the audience, demanded it, but now we may truly be sick of it. Distracted living takes a toll.