Cross Town Traffic

Cross Town Traffic, a photo by gingerpig2000 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I have noticed that we are creatures of habit in what we talk about, and that it is incredibly hard to break these habits and talk about something else. And secondly - we put rather a lot of faith in people in positions we respect.

In terms of the European Union and national governments, we endlessly talk about the information furnished to us via the media. What the media talks about, we talk about. This is not to say that I do not trust the media, it is just that newspapers, television etc. are there to tell us what is going on in government and sport, at home and abroad - with some 'high' culture and tourism information to round out the experience.

However, if we compare a national newspaper with a local newspaper, what we see is different, with more focus on local people in the local paper than the in the national. They talk mostly about issues that relate to their audience.

So, why do we talk endlessly about national issues and so little about our issues, since we are our own audience? That is not to say we should not talk about national and international events and the players involved, just why do we not figure in their as well?

I mean you and I, we are both valid members of society, so why when a subject of national or international importance comes up, why don't we talk about our roles in them?

I believe the reason is our reliance on habit - we are presented issues from a specific viewpoint, we trust the viewpoint to the extent that we learn the habit of passing on what is said. Trust leads us to limit ourselves by habit, and the habit does not involve talking about our personal involvement in the events unless the trusted source tells us to.

I often talk to people about different things, and they keep wanting to pull the theme back to what they have been told over and over again, anything to avoid breaking a habit and being seen to have no opinion.

You can get a canvas print of this image at: shop.photo4me.com/picture.aspx?id=234261, not just on paper - but on canvas and on phone cases!