Dean's World

Positive And Negative Brain Inputs

Dean

Our friend Michael Levy has a rather poetic piece on the brain and how it reacts to positive and negative information in our modern world. I found this part particularly insightful:

In today's world, the hunger for information is magnified by a media who are hell bent on reporting all the dregs of humanity it can find. Any true philosophy of life, that can help folks enjoy their lives on earth, is ignored and neglected. Some sections of the public are now (mistakenly) trained to feast on other people's downfalls and derogation. More demand for negativity fabricates ... more sick minds and bodies.

The Yiddish word for this is "schadenfreude." I know I often take this guilty pleasure, although I usually do it only in cases of people genuinely worthy of being detested--mass murderers, torture-happy tyrants, that sort of thing. It does seem to me that this can develop to the point of an unhealthy obsession though. Jut like anything can.

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Arnold Harris (mail):

Schadenfreude ("schaden" = damage + "freude" = joy) comes directly from German, not Yiddish. Although Yiddish (Judische) is a dialect of German written in Hebrew orthography.

As in "Republicans and other Clinton-haters watched the president's news conference with a sense of Schadenfreude as he struggled with his attempts to explain his relationship, sexual or otherwise, with Monica Lewinsky."

(Courtesy of dictionary.com.)

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

7.7.2004 3:02pm

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Paul Burgess (www):

Oh shoot, Dean, you'd be able to remember this one... escapes me right at the moment... what was the Heinlein story about the fellow who was driven crazy by the news media??

7.7.2004 3:50pm

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Lamplighter (mail):

This was all readily apparent from the amount of people who downloaded the Nick Berg video clip from various places around the web...

-Lamp

7.7.2004 4:53pm

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Janelle :

Oh so true, so true. That is a lovely site you referred your readers to. I can tell you I have done so much to avoid all that negativity. I got rid of cable for one. I almost put on my answering machine an addition to the current one that says, "Well Hell-o, this is Janelle and Mr. Pips, if you have a problem...Call Dr.Phil, if you are looking for money, Call the IRS lost claims deptartment, if you are a relative... I sincerely feel sorry for you and I especially do refer my loved ones to Dr. Phil!"

No, I don't have that on my machine... Perhaps Oneday... giggle giggle

7.7.2004 7:32pm

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Dean Esmay (www):

Paul: Do you mean Double Star?

7.7.2004 9:46pm

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Paul Burgess (www):

Dean, Double Star was the novel about the actor who has to impersonate the prime minister, and ends up having to remain in the role (and eventually grows into it, too). The one I'm thinking of is a short story— what sticks in my mind is that it was also one of a number of plot ideas which Heinlein passed along as a "freebie" in a letter to Theodore Sturgeon, at a time when Sturgeon was suffering from writer's block.

Have looked through my science fiction bookcases in the upstairs hallway, still can't find it.

7.7.2004 11:32pm

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Paul Burgess (www):

Okay, I just turned up the Sturgeon story: "And Now the News...", in Sturgeon's short-story collection The Golden Helix. Very much worth reading, and bullseye-on-target to the topic of our thread.

In a brief introduction to this short story, Sturgeon mentions that this was one of twenty-six short-story ideas Heinlein sent him. Still am convinced, though, that Heinlein also wrote a (very different) short story built around the same theme.

7.7.2004 11:48pm

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Arnold Harris (mail):

I made the smart-ass comments on the etymology (According to Google, one of your favorite words, ain't it, Dean?) of the term "schadenfreude" befoe I even took the trouble to reach Michael Levy's beatifully-written short article on how the brain selects and digests information in the omnimedia age. The fact that he is both a gifted commentator and poet makes his copy shine like a string of pearls.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

7.7.2004 11:58pm

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Steven Malcolm Anderson (www):

"Schadenfreude". Yes. One of the most dominant -- and unadmitted -- emotions in the human psyche. I certainly see it in myself all the time. My whole sense of humor, such as it is, is based on it.

7.8.2004 2:19am

Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.

Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.