Another reason we don’t do anything
I hope this post find you well.
I placed my aluminum bus box onto the table and started grabbing the plates, utensils and paper place mats. I had cleared half the table when the waitress came over and grabbed the rest of the items in one grab and stuffed it into my box. I think she was pissed. The look she gave me, yes, I was assigned to her tables. Apparently, grabbing a plate at a time was not fast enough. The idea here is to clear the entire table for the next group of customers in as little time as possible. There had to be a minimum of three sitting per table a night.
I learned a lot in the summer of 79, like clearing tables, table turnover, removing plates from the customer to signal the meal is ending, and smiling at the right time. Yes smiling, it turns out, A great smile and a few choice words can be the difference between a 10% tip and a 20% tip. The smile seems to smooth any rough spots and reduce any tension that might have occurred during the meal. Words like thank-you and have a nice day with a nice sincere smile, and oh yea, that’s spoken right after you hand the bill to the customer. It works most of the time.
Lately, I have been trying to figure out why we have literally done nothing to save the planet. Human induce climate change caused by CO2 emissions and pollution, to name a few. After reading through the book “common sense” by Thomas Paine, I thought it’s because we are not on the same page. But as I was watching the ABC Nightly News one night, I saw a clip showing a waitress doing her job. This triggered a memory, one summer I was a busboy. Reviewing all the advice I received, it then dawned on me that maybe the news was using the same trick, you know the smile.
In the end of the evening news, we do nothing. After a half hour of watching news, you do nothing. Nothing! You, go about your life as if everything is OK.
Why is this? …
So, this is my news cycling theory. The evening news has these 5 to 15 second news worthy information bits. These information bits are read to the viewer one after another. Interspersed with 5 – 15 second commercials. The sequential reading of information bits along with images and are what I call news cycling. I believe the news companies are engineering the shows and commercials so that at the end, you will be in an emotional state where most likely you will purchase the products featured. It makes sense, if the news was presented in such a fashion that inspired you to actually do something about it the next day, well, then you would be too busy and would not buy the commercials product. So, the commercials for that evening would not produce results and the companies that purchase time slots would be pissed. Commercials on prime time are very expensive. Maybe the commercial producers and the News producers coordinate to transform you into a buying customer.
The businesses want you to think everything is OK. They want you to continue on with life so you will buy their products. This is OK, but I don’t want to be manipulated into thinking everything is OK, when it is not.
I decided to record my moods during the thirty-minute, ABC Nightly News show with David Muir. I consider David Muir to be the best evening news commentator. He shows emotion when needed and has a Made in America section showcasing small American companies, our economic backbone. I wrote down whether it was a commercial or news bit and indicated what emotions I felt after. I did this for four nights. After the end of the second night, I found a pattern.
In the first section, the tempo is fast and you are riddled with an intro to tonight’s news bits. Spending no more than a few seconds each, resulting in being transformed into a fully awaken state with a heightened curiosity for more details. I guess this section is to keep you on the channel.
The second section is the news we have been waiting for, of course. Including the first section, this takes up about one half the show.
The next section are the commercials. There are more commercials than news bits. All the commercials show people in the background as happy, confident and with not a worry, carrying out life as normal. Designed to give you the feeling that buying their product will cure or enhance your life. Of course, the commercial time slots are very expensive. Only companies with big profits advertise here, health, auto, health, financial services, and more health, you get the idea.
Last, but not least, the tempo is slowed, and the news bit gives you that fuzzy warm feeling everything is just fine. In this case it’s the Made in America news bit. Interviewing all the companies that are successful, no failed companies here. Followed by David Muir signing off with a thank you and a big smile. Leaving you wanting to get the products from the commercials. It’s all about manipulating your emotions, to ensure profits for the big profiting companies. Maybe monetizing the news industry was the wrong thing.
The waitress gives you a smile at the end, whether you had bad or great service. David Muir smiles at the end regardless of the seriousness of the news. In both cases you are being manipulated, all to extract money from you. You pay and go on with your life. You do nothing.
This is another reason we are not achieving our climate mitigation goals. We just don’t do anything. So, we end up following someone that professes to know what to do. Resulting in nothing being done.
Below are my notes. Notice the sloppy hand writing. I wrote this while watching the news. You try this. Columns: News (N) / Commercial (C) / Subject – Mood – Demographics, BB (baby boomers).