Once a year, years ago, the circus ‘came to town’ and among other highlights, set up a midway featuring exotica not found down on the farm. For the price of admission, folks could “Step right up!” to gawk at freaks of nature otherwise isolated from everyday life – a controlled glimpse into the unusual, the strange.
The circus phenomenon seems to have declined along with other public events like Wild West Shows, Roy Rogers,“Hi-Yo Silver!” and, and, and, and. But somehow, we seem to have evolved an internet version of the same. Facebook, and others along the daily-info line, are the extended family of The Greatest Show on Earth…okay, minus the roar of the grease paint and the smell of the crowd, not to mention cotton candy and a parade down main street. But the internet feeds the universal drive of curiosity seeking, inveterate interest in the unusual. Once we get past the weather and “Just In!” political flashes, online copy basically panders to curiosity-seeking-seekers.
Somehow it seems like legitimate, open-minded openness to international news and worldwide exotica. But is it really? Okay, some reporting is current news and some is technically educational but it comes sandwiched between fishermen in the far east trapping eels and hyenas harassing zebras in Africa and elephants fighting off lions. It’s like a meal of too many over-rich treats: horses humping, surfers slicing mountainous waves, not to mention automobiles colliding, sailboats racing and folks jumping off towering ledges into bottomless bays. And, of course, add an endless variety of wild animals demonstrating survival of the fittest fit for a zoology class.
So, Facebook is somewhat educational with an element of redeeming encyclopedic information, like used to be encased in our Junior Britannica encyclopedias. But it all comes in a blitz of information, staggered and random. Nothing like an academic class with related facts in chapters and sub-headings. It’s a class that a student with attention deficit disorder would find exciting. Lots of data and details that don’t have to be ordered or remembered…give me more.
So, today’s internet is a jazzed-up version of the circus parade coming to town. Lots of exciting shows and information…never saw that before. The only difference is that it doesn’t cost $.25 to see the show…just have to pay for cable on a monthly basis.
Retired trainer, and writing instructor, Joe Novara lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Writings include novels, short stories, a memoir and various poems, plays, anthologies and articles. Read more at https://freefloatingstories.wordpress.com/
