At the anniversary of the Olympics in London, the BBC News programme 'News Beat' disclosed statistics that were supposed to shock us as a nation; that since the Olympic Games were held here, despite the slogan "Inspire a generation", we had not rushed out in throngs to sign up for the gym. We had not been found running up a sweat through the local park. Every item of loose fitting clothing we posses was not drenched in sweat. I for one, and I very much doubt anyone reading this will be either, will not be shocked.
I avoid listening to and watching the news where possible. For shame, this makes me quite ignorant of current issues in the public consciousness. When the Jimmy Saville Scandal rocked the news, I discovered this through the most reliable of sources; hearsay. You can tell when something is going on though. Your phone will vibrate and some politically incorrect joke will let you know that, perhaps, you ought to engage your human-satellite dish and connect with your fellow men. Mostly, I plod along in my life, just trying to get through.
The sad truth is that the news is a depressing enterprise. Royal births and marriages monopolise the news when they occur and no one would ever attempt to claim that a birth or marriage is a bad thing (Amendment to previous sentence - I suppose it depends who is getting married!). Mostly the news is engrossed in the mistakes of train drivers in Spain that resulted in mortalities, a terrible bus accident in Italy,killing more, and the emergence of the plague in America - in the squirrel population, so I don't need to be too neurotic yet.
In all honesty, what sort of a masochist wants to read or watch that? I would be willing to put money on a bet that most people buy a newspaper in a morning out of a family-encouraged habit, and the same with watching the news. No one really wants to get bad news. No news is good news. Well most of the news is definitely bad.
*Adjusts spotlight* And back to me.
I refuse to believe I am the only one suffering from ignorance based lethargy. I can't be the only one. We turn back to my original point. Despite all the publicity and publications relating to the improvements in your general health and mental well being, are you a regular member of your gym? Are you often found jogging down the local canal? Do I see a crowd forming a disorganized queue for the tennis courts? Do I heck! If you ever wanted evidence that the general population of the country is lazy, you can see it several ways; important political leaflets that get thrown in to the bin, lack of attendance at polling stations, and a lack of exercise despite the Olympics coming to town.
My age old question: Am I being cynical? No, this is me being realistic. The general population are disinterested and lazy. The two are probably far more connected than anyone has ever given thought. We are all a little disconnected from each other and as a consequence, we don't engage as much with society. Perhaps if there were nicer stories in the news... Wait, never mind. I already stopped reading the newspaper.
