Distractions
Below I bring up political figures. I am not trying to argue who is good or bad. I’ll leave that up to you. I mention these people and things because they help me understand how I am being distracted.
What sparked this entry
Recently I watched an interview clip from Shawn Michaels (hall of fame wrestler) that was filmed in front of a bunch of fans. I am not exaggerating this quote. He pretty much said, “The wrestling fan is the easiest person to emotionally manipulate.” Everyone in the crowd started clapping and cheering. His face couldn’t hide how dumbfounded he was.
I also just watched the Mr. McMahon documentary on Netflix. He openly talked about how getting the audience to feel emotions was the key to business. It didn’t matter if they were good feelings, bad feelings, or sexual feelings. Any one of them would make money. They kept pushing the envelope, especially during the “Attitude Era.” Invoking emotion was like a drug that needed a higher and higher dose to have an effect. I watched wrestling for a couple years as a kid during this time. You could watch bra and panty matches, hear Vince McMahon use the N word, witness violence against women, and see alcohol abuse. The wrestlers and Vince McMahon even admit that at the time and especially looking back it was crazy. Nobody seems to regret anything because it made money.
One of the guests back then was Donald Trump. The documentary insinuated that this was where he figured out his political formula. Imagine him seeing Vince McMahon slap his daughter and the crowd going wild? McMahon was a character that would do anything to create emotion in his audience. I believe Trump is a character that would do anything to create emotion in his. McMahon did it for money. Trump does it for political gain.
Let me reiterate I’m not trying to argue these guys are good or bad. Most politicians and business leaders are characters. They are exaggerated versions of their true selves. Some people’s true selves may be close to their character. Some people’s character may be extremely exaggerated versions of their true selves. The point is it is intentionally exaggerated.
I like to think about Trump for this topic because there is nobody that creates more emotion than him. He is a master at this technique. He has die hard supporters. He can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and people will still love him.
He also has die hard enemies. Even enemies are beneficial to him. CNN gives him a platform in town halls and spends all day talking about him. CNN loves him because it brings their ratings up. This cyclical symbiotic relationship benefits them both.
So again, the key is the extreme emotion he can create in people. Both supporters and enemies bring him closer to his goal. Even his enemies benefit from the emotion he creates. An emotional response from you and me. Even hatred of him helps him, which ironically is the last thing someone who hates him would want.
The political system also benefits. I was just at the gym yesterday when someone said loudly at the desk, “Are there many Trump supporters that come here?”
“No, thank god,” the person at the desk said.
“Good! They are so illogical and I don’t have time for them,” the member said.
This is exactly what the political system wants, two sides that never sit down to try to understand each other. If they did they may come to the conclusion that maybe each other are not the enemy and someone or something else is?
I apologize, I said I wouldn’t get political! But this isn’t about left or right, it’s about the system. Something else that benefits from our emotions.
Back to the documentary
There was also a brief moment in the Mr. McMahon documentary that was very easy to miss but is one of the most important things to understand about the world. When McMahon took over his wrestling business he did some things that were considered taboo in the industry to get ahead of his competitors. Years later one of his competitors did the same thing to him and it hurt his business. After McMahon criticized his competitor’s tactics the interviewer asked him if he could see how it was a little hypocritical for him to say that after he did the same things earlier in his career. McMahon paused for a moment, smirked, and said something like, “You have to understand that what I say as Mr. McMahon (the businessman/character) is not what I believe or would say as Vince McMahon (the real him).” The businessman/character will say anything to make you feel like the other guy is the bad guy.
I have let other people distract me for their gain
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I was very emotionally involved in politics around 2016. I slowly started to notice these things and was able to break out of it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t stay informed and vote, it just means that I don’t have the TV on CNN or Fox News all day to hear about the controversy and gaffes.
This realization has helped me to start questioning other things in my life. What other things are trying to distract me? Dopamine is a hell of a drug. People who make things like food, social media, dating apps, and sports and news shows all vie for our attention. They are in the brain chemical arms race, just like wrestling during the Attitude Era. The more emotions they can invoke and the more brain chemicals they can get us to produce, the more money and power they can get.
The problem for us is that all this takes up our time and attention. It’s possible someone’s goal in life is to trade their time and attention in exchange for making someone else rich and powerful. That’s not my goal. For me, politics, social media, TV, and other things have just gotten in the way of who I want to be. At least now I logically know these things are designed to create intense emotion and brain chemicals in order to make me addicted to them. That understanding has helped me break away a little more often and help me stay away longer but I still struggle.
Who do you want to be?
I have finally come to understand no one is perfect, including me. There is no one on this planet who hasn’t made mistakes or who doesn’t have the ability to disappoint you in the future. The key for me is the trajectory someone is going in. Because I am not perfect it inspires me when I see someone try to make up for their mistakes and try to become better. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an example of this to me. There is a video of him on the internet that I watch that gets me so pumped up to answer the question, “Who do you want to be?”
When I remember who I want to be it makes it easier to stay focused. Sometimes I can avoid distractions by asking myself, “Is this social media notification popping up on my phone helping me become who I want to be?” Or, “Is watching anymore news today making me more informed (which I want to be) or just more negatively emotional?” Filtering things like this helps me get my attention where I truly want it to be. Epictetus spoke about the importance of this. He said,
“You become what you give your attention to. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.”
A few others that have helped me
“Stop whatever you're doing for a moment and ask yourself, am I afraid of death because I won't be able to do this anymore?”
- Marcus Aurelius
“Your ability to control your thoughts—treat it with respect. It's all that protects your mind from false perceptions.”
- Marcus Aurelius
“When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”
- Viktor E. Frankl
“Know thyself.”
- Socrates
