The first thing that must be said is this, “It’s our fault, we are the ones who feed the beast!” Every day our insatiable appetite causes you and I to click on things that mean nothing; but because we click on them, these worthless stories begin to grow. Like the 1958 movie “The Blob”, stupid news, celebrity “navel gazing’, and the “Theater of the Absurd” is beginning to swallow up and destroy our collective sanity.
I am just as guilty as everyone else, I must feed the beast. It is so interesting.
One place I go to to find the beast is the search engine “Yahoo”. Daily, this left-leaning, pop-culture driven news source discusses the current interests and trends of America. It is “New York Times” lite, which of course, like Fox News, MSNBC, Entertainment Tonight, so on and so forth, are all different tentacles of the beast. Just yesterday one of the articles on Yahoo was so mind-numbingly vacuous I got mad at myself just for reading it. Here is the headline:
“Gigi Hadid lost a shoe on the runway at NYFW, but sister Bella saved the day.”
Can you believe it? In the midst of hurricane wreckage, nuclear threats and budget deficits, Gigi Hadid lost her shoe? Could there be anything more tragic? Why did I even click on that?
USA Today is not one to be beaten when it comes to pointless garbage. Over the weekend they had a vapid article on the recent Miss America Pageant. Their headline read, “Miss Texas slams Trump.” Oh no! If a beauty queen doesn’t like him, he must be a horrible President? Impeach Impeach! Wasn’t it just a few years ago when people were mocking the overall intelligence of any beauty contestant after Miss South Carolina couldn’t explain why “A 5th of Americans couldn’t locate the U.S. on a world map?” and it turned out she was one of them?
And the most recent headline you can’t get away from is “Hilary’s Back!” Why do we care? Because we like to get angry, we want to fight. The beast feeds off of our infantile frustration. Here are some more titles that will drive you crazy:
– “Hurricane Telethon Turns Political”
– “Cities Swimming in Raw Sewage”
– “Planned Parenthood Teams with Satanists to Promote Abortion”
– “Starbucks Sued for ‘Killing Customer’s Dog'”
Don’t you see, the beast is calling you to feed it.
– “Looters Armed with Sledgehammers”
Feed Me!
– “How Russia Used Facebook to Create Unrest During Election”
The beast is on the prowl. Like “Little Shop of Horrors” it wants your blood. Get angry, get mad, ‘click me!'” Why do we do this? Is there any rest from this constant onslaught?
Psalm 64 reminds us not to worry, or get caught up in fighting the evil beast because God has him under control. Listen to what he says…
Hide me from the plots of this evil mob,
from this gang of wrongdoers.
They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim their bitter words like arrows.
They shoot from ambush at the innocent,
attacking suddenly and fearlessly.
They encourage each other to do evil
and plan how to set their traps in secret.
“Who will ever notice?” they ask.
As they plot their crimes, they say,
“We have devised the perfect plan!”
Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.
But God himself will shoot them with his arrows,
suddenly striking them down.
Their own tongues will ruin them,
and all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
In other words, don’t get caught up in words that are meant to make you angry, furious and wanting to always fight. God has this! And by the way, this post was meant more for me than you. I have realized as of late, that I let the news get to me too much. I need to go back and soak in God’s word, take a walk in the woods and turn off the beast. It is shrinking my soul!
How about yours?