Diagnosis: IDD

No, it's not a real term. I made it up. It stands for Information Desensitizing Disorder, and I think nearly every American has it.

A comment I made on Guiroo's blog in response to his entry about the commercialization of Easter brought it to mind. This entry is a slightly expanded version of my comments there.

I don't think we even realize the extent to which commercialization is taken in our culture. We certainly aren't aware of its impact. Even Christian radio stations that claim to be "listener supported" (i.e., no advertising) advertise simply by virtue of the fact that they tell all their listeners who their "underwriters" are. Wouldn't it be nice if there were no expectations of an on-air acknowledgement on the part of the giver, and no sense of obligation to do so on the part of the station?

Our culture's middle name is "Cheap". We cheapen everything, and we have a powerful motivation for doing so. The process of cheapening insulates us from the sharp edges of reality and responsibility. I do it all the time, without even so much as a second thought. We have a deep-seated fear of anything significant. Nothing is private, nothing is off-limits. There is no intimacy nor is there profundity. Everything, be it trivial or life-changing, becomes information to be consumed, from Terri Shiavo's last days through every excruciating detail of Michael Jackson's aberrant behavior to how many people died in Iraq yesterday. To put everything on a level field like this is a reductionism that serves to very effectively decouple the information from any personal responsibility to act on it. The outcome is physical, spiritual, and emotional numbness.

It's a hefty price to pay, but hey, since we're numb it won't bother us, so it's all OK.