Superficiality of Attention, The President, and US

A big problem of human beings is the superficiality of our attention.

Superficiality of attention is a supreme problem. This piece illuminates the problem and uses the President of the United States as a highly visible example.

Obvious in the existence of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), superficiality of attention appears commonly in the tendency to interrupt in conversation, inability or unwillingness to listen, in bogus economic theories, corrupt politics, abusive Capitalism, climate catastrophe, poor product quality, in "multi-tasking" (which, in reality, isn't multi-tasking, but switching from task to task to task with superficial and passing attention to all), software bugs, and even in typographical errors.

People pay superficial attention and move too fast.

People are largely untrained in how to manage attention and so incapable of intelligently doing so. Though "attention management training" should be a major component of education, education, in that sense, has failed us.

For that reason, people lack discernment and miss the obvious. We make avoidable mistakes. Information overload and the pace of change contribute, making training in how to manage attention all the more urgently important.

The Presidential Case-in-Point

A case in point is our present President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Before the election, the evidence was there of a self-indulgent and abusive personality. His reputation as such is well-established in New York, from his abusive business practices -- refusing to pay vendors and using prolongation of lawsuits to drain plaintiffs dry. It was evident in his declaration that he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it."

But the information didn't penetrate people, and people voted for him and still support him.

Their attention is superficial and that superficiality prevents their intelligent discernment. It undermines their ability to recognize their mistakes and to correct them.

So, the problems pile up and troubles compound.

Superficiality of Attention, Witlessness of Speech

His own lack of attention and superficiality are evident in his speech about others and in his treatment of others. He is insensitive, excessive, and unintelligent -- even about himself -- and so are those of us who fail to recognize that.

Too bad.

Superficiality of Attention, "They Don't Deserve It"

Of note is his antagonism to social benefit programs, such as food stamps, free school lunches for children, Medicare, Social Security, NPR funding, and sanctuary for asylum-seeking immigrants (whether illegal or legal).

His actions in relation to these programs is consistent with the attitude that "they don't deserve it", and so he moves to deprive people of the protections.

As an illustration of his unintelligence about himself and others, due to superficiality of attention, I will illuminate the origin of his superficiality and of his self-righteous antagonism.

It Starts with Shame (the Hidden Side of Egotism).

In actuality, the feeling of "not deserving it" pertains to himself. His wealth (such as it may be) is the sign of his father's generosity to him, not of his capacity to earn wealth. He doesn't deserve it.

He knows it -- but the recognition is unacceptable, to him, laden with shame. The sign of this shame is his unwillingness to disclose his tax returns and in his boasting about things that don't deserve to be boasted about, but are actually shameful.

Even in hiding the evidence and his shame, the feeling of shame, of not deserving it, persists. But because it isn't admissible to himself that he doesn't deserve it, and the feeling of not deserving it persists, it must not be that he doesn't deserve it, but that others don't deserve it. The feeling of not deserving it has to apply to someone. He shifts the blame onto others, while, in his own mind, exempting himself. (Ring true?) This also applied to the impeachment: In his own mind and speech, he didn't deserve it (as long as no one, including himself, looked too deeply). (Ring true?)

The superficiality is intentional to protect himself from self-recognition and self-generated shame. He "stonewalls" himself as he "stonewalls" others.

Self-Repression Makes One Repressive of Others

The abusiveness matches the effort of repressing self-recognition, in intensity; the abusiveness seems allowable and justified by the desensitization to his own condition, which also desensitizes him to others. He is insensitive, unintelligent, abusive.

By the same token that he falsely asserts his deservingness (of everything he wants), he asserts the deservingness of "fat cats" of fat tax breaks -- those "already wealthy fat cats" being like his own self-image. It's a bit like the perception of homosexuality by a heterosexual -- giving to those who would rightly be on the giving end but not giving to those who would rightly be on the receiving end.

That may take some contemplation on your part to see the validity of the metaphor -- political correctness notwithstanding. Feel the polarities of the two possibilities -- giving to those who would naturally be receptive (attraction) vs. giving to those who are potent to give (repulsion).

That's why the action of "tax cuts for the rich" is repulsive, at a deep level.

It may make one wonder if his sexual excesses (porn stars, pussy-grabbing) are an overcompensation for sexual shame of a certain kind.

Someone with a deeper sensitivity would never engage in such acts, recognizing the inherently unsatisfactory feeling of the experience.

Superficial attention leads to all of that.

What to Do about All of That?

The superficiality is intentional, if sub-conscious.

So, any attempt to get him to wake up would be working against "loaded dice".

Negative public opinion (and impeachment) trigger feeling beseiged -- a feeling that comes from within him charged by his own repressed shame.

The same is true, in general, of people whose attention is superficial and who support the superficiality and irresponsibility of others.

I have made reference to education and to shame. Lest someone get the idea that I am recommending "self-esteem" measures (a bogus solution, since such measures really involve "other-esteem" strategies that cultivate approval seeking and may involve false praise and exemption from consequences), I say, what is necessary is cultivation of attention-mastery (free attention) so that self-recognition and self-correction become possible. With self-recognition and self-correction, self-esteem isn't a problem -- and people become more intelligent.

However, people are largely resistant to self-recognition and self-correction and attention-mastery isn't a feature of current-day education. People even resist the intelligence of others.

For that reason, a major calamity may be necessary to extricate people's attention from habitual superficiality (complacency, self-defensiveness, and irresponsibility).

Two are looming:

climate destabilization (well underway)
the coronavirus pandemic (still at the beginning stage as of this writing)

Others, related to overpopulation and military possibilities, loom.

Better to "wake up and smell the coffee."

#TetraSeedAwakening
Deepening Attention