By Jim Heffernan
Laura Swanson, my editor and a sneaky woman, flashed this bright object before me. I did not have high hopes for it. I was expecting a fluff piece from a minor celebrity out to make a buck.
I was totally wrong. Chris Hayes, the MS/NBC pundit, has produced a very profound and entertaining book that taught me a lot about the role of attention in our world. It turns out this is his third book.
For the first 350 years of American history, the only things that demanded our attention were basic survival and the printed word. I am fortunate I experienced and was formed by the very end of that period.
These days, it’s as if I’m from a different universe. I value knowledge gained by spending my attention on the printed word much higher than what is available in sliced and diced bits brought to me by television and the internet. I may be a dinosaur.
Chris’ title, begins and ends his book with referencing the Greek myth of Odysseus when he leaves the island of the goddess Circe. She warns him of the Sirens who will tempt him and his crew when they pass close to their rocks. She instructs them to stuff their ears to shield themselves from the call that seeks to draw them to their doom. Odysseus obeys but does not stuff his ears. Instead, he+ has the crew lash him to the mast. When he hears the Sirens’ call, Odysseus frantically tries to escape, but cannot. The crew is oblivious and the ship passes by the rocks safely.
In eight chapters, the author thoroughly explores how “Sirens” call out for our attention. He has a lot to say about the cable television industry he himself works in. He also details the revolutions of television and the internet that have made our attention into a commodity.
Maybe this is cheating a little, but I’m leaving you with an excerpt from his conclusion. As usual, the author has better words than mine.
…… “One of the earliest slogans pushing the eight hour workday was ‘Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, and eight hours for what we will.’ It feels as if more and more of that time is now taken from us, not willed by us. Our control over the space of our mind, stolen away. Are we really spending the precious hours of our waking, nonworking lives doing “what we will”? Or has the conquering logic of capitalism penetrated our quietest, most intimate moments? We don’t have to accept this. It does not need to be this way. We need to use every tool and strategy imaginable to wrest back our will, to create a world where we point our attention where we, the willful, conscious “we,” want it to go. A world where we can function and flourish as full human beings, as liberated souls, unlashed from the mast, our ears unplugged and open, listening to the lapping of the waves, making our way back home to the people we love, the sound of the sirens safely in the distance.”
320 Pages (50 pages notes and index) Published January 28, 2025
Available at Cloud and Leaf Bookstore, Manzanita and Tillamook County Library(5 holds on 2 copies this morning, the word must have preceded me.)
As always, discussion welcome at codger817@gmail.com
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