7days7authors

Friday: "Sensationalism" by Peter W. Knox

Since I was a child, at the end of most every family dinner, milk drank, holding up our empty dishes as badges of membership to the ‘Clean Plate Club’, my father would rise and begin to clear the table, casually remarking in his own familiar brand of sarcasm, sincerity, and humor: “Best dinner I’ve had today.” The thing is, what he said was true and he no doubt meant it, but by placing the compliment into that time frame, he took more than genuine meaning out of it – he took that meal out of the perspective that comes with “the big picture.” This routine was just a family joke to my father, but I grew up applying it as a personal philosophy.

Some philosophies you can pick and some philosophies pick you. “Sensationalism” no doubt picked me. I’ve self-diagnosed myself as a “Sensationalist” three years ago but I’ve always displayed the symptoms. It helps if you spend a great deal of time inside your own head, consume as much as possible, and have a terrible time managing your own expectations. It goes like this:

You get excited about something when you decide to do it; usually right around the same moment you first hear about something happening. This can be a theatrical movie release, the purchase of a video game, getting in line for a rollercoaster, or buying tickets to a musical. Money concerns are completely overlooked for sensationalists – the reaction to hearing about something you always knew you’d do before you knew it existed is to reach for the wallet. Then as you wait for the event (ride, show, purchase) to begin all you do is talk about it, consume as much information about it as possible, and regurgitate all of this info at anyone you can get to listen to you. You already have a lot of reasons to be excited for it and why it won’t disappoint, anticipating any opposing opinions and refusing to consider them as real possibilities. You don’t hear from others doing a better job of managing their own expectations. As the event occurs, you’re pumping yourself up the entire time, feeding on the shared excitement of others sensationalizing the exact same thing. Afterwards you keep telling yourself and others that it was the right thing to do/buy and your high expectations were completely justified. You continue to post-rationalize the entire thing, no matter the general consensus, until people have moved on to talking about something else.

That is the behavior of a Sensationalist. We think, well, I’m going to own/do that thing eventually anyway so I might as well build it up even bigger, turn this into a social and culture activity and be a part of the national conversation and get it done now. Then, regardless of how good/fun the product/experience was, the Sensationalist has bought into the hype (his own and the media buzz) and cannot reasonably rate it within the perspective of “the big picture.” The Sensationalist’s worst enemy is cognitive dissonance, and you spend all the time leading up to the actual consumption pumping yourself up and afterwards justifying your earlier feelings now that it’s too late to do anything about it.

As most philosophies, religions, and cults are populated by similar types, Sensationalists are born of their own brand from those who eagerly exhibit the following positive, negative, and neutral qualities: optimism, post rationalism, justification, opinionated, wants to belong, easily excitable, bandwagon jumper, influencer, egotist, consumerist, revisionist, critic, judgmental, prejudiced, and wanting to please everyone. My own beginnings as a Sensationalist came from proposing, petitioning, and defending every purchase of my childhood through adolescence before my parents would acquiesce. It would be my money but every item I’d buy would go on trial for my parents’ approval. I’d stand there defending why I want a new Lego set, and I’d be damned if I didn’t enjoy it once I bought it, hence the need to sensationalize the purchase and use of the item. For years I’d be two or three years behind my friends in having the hot new toy or fun gadget everyone was talking about and now, with my own spending power I will revel in all of the Batman coverage, show up at midnight with my best friends all wearing Harvey Dent propaganda, and even if it is as bad as Batman and Robin (impossible), I’ll pretend it changed the way comics are made into films. That’s being a Sensationalist.

Most people can put an experience in “big picture perspective” immediately following the activity, but a Sensationalist needs a much longer time to calm down, reevaluate the experience, and finally rate it along the “big picture scale.” Ask a Sensationalist what they thought of a movie, game, or show right after it’s over, and they’ll tell you honestly, while they’re still riding that high, that it was one of the best they’ve ever experienced. Someone else might be able to say, “eh, it was okay,” but a Sensationalist needs to justify the expenditure as well as their own existence in taking part of it.

My friends are always questioning me, calling me on it, and making me defend my recommendations, because, well, they know me. And eventually they bring back down to their reality, a reality where everything isn’t the “best ever” just because they liked it.

“Yea maybe Matrix Revolutions wasn’t the best of the three. Or of all time. Ok. Yeah, Return of the Jedi was a lot better. Ok, you’re right, it sucked. No, no, I agree, it was OK.”

And that’s the thing for a Sensationalist. We live on extremes. Either the movie was as bad as The Sweetest Thing and Glitter (both I saw in theaters) or it was as amazing as the first time you saw Fight Club or American Beauty. But, fortunately (or unfortunately), most fall somewhere in the middle of Freddy Got Fingered and Goodfellas.

The formula, in understanding a Sensationalist’s recommendation is as follows:

(expectations) x (snap judgment)

——————————————————

(most recent point of comparison)

against (big picture perspective)

And yet there will always be things I’m particularly closed-minded and eternally passionate about, such as: Apple products, Kevin Smith movies, Barack Obama, Hunter S. Thompson, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Matrix, Nolan’s Batmans, The Wire, FoTC, and many more things. Sensationalists are the reason for product launch days, unveiling events, movie midnight releases, and long lines. We’re a people that can get excited about something, anything, and latch onto it passionately. It’s not a bad thing, but something that should be taken at face value. Sensationalists make up much of the internet that isn’t porn. We’re the early adopters and loudest mouthpieces. Marketing/Advertising needs us like we need marketing/advertising. We keep the world working.

And yet there are ways to better handle your Sensationalism. Refrain from snap judgments. Listen/Read negative reviews. Be open to discussing obvious faults. Relax and approach it with minimal expectations and don’t be disappointed when it fell short of being the next Empire Strikes Back, because let’s face it; even that movie had its flaws. Nothing’s perfect. Have rational friends to engage in debate over its merits. Don’t buy into, create, or perpetuate unfounded hype. Let it be. But if you’re going to be blindly passionate, commit damnit.

I’m pretty sure this is the best essay I’ve ever written. But get back to me in a month or two.