It’s frustrating.
I watch the scenario play out on TV all the time. People are given some information and accept it without question.
Right or wrong, true or false, intentionally deceptive or accidentally misleading. Blind acceptance from someone in a position of perceived power or beguiling intrigue.
It’s frustrating.
It seems so obvious to even the most casual observer that individuals are being lied to and manipulated for some as-yet unknown end. I’m not one to yell at my television, but it’s tempting. “You fool! You’re being played! Can’t you see?”
Or worse: “You’re being played, AGAIN! Can’t you see?!?”
All I can do is watch and think, smugly, “I told you so!” when the scenario plays out as it has time and time and time again.
The information presented is frustratingly and obviously incomplete, and people won’t ask for clarification. People won’t ask for more information. They follow blindly.
They won’t stop and ask, “Wait, what?!? Why?!?” even as I mutter the same under my breath, watching the train wreck.
People won’t look where they’re headed.
I’m sure you’ve seen it, too. It happens in the movies all the time. The young nubile teenager walks into a dark room looking backwards because all she cares about is what she’s seen so far, only to be caught and devoured by the monster lurking ahead. The one she could have seen had she been paying attention. The one she could have avoided had she been looking forward.
Now it happens every time, every day, in a multitude of ways. All I can think is “Why don’t you see?!? Look right in front of you!!”.
“You were warned!”
Or “Why won’t you question the lies this person is known to tell over and over?!?”
Sometimes it makes me frustrated enough that I want to switch away and watch something more comforting.
And yet, I keep watching. I need to see how it plays out. I need to see how the story ends.
The Magicians is a frustratingly entertaining television show.
(Wait, what? Well, what did you think I was talking about? 🙂 )