Gifts From The Gods

 

I drove up to Columbus on Sunday for the Ohio Junior Classical League annual convention.  My son is interested in participating in it next year and we wanted to catch the flavor of it.  I loved the theme for 2009, “the gods play with us mortals like toys,” or “ Di nos quasi pilas homines habent,” and all of the entries had to reflect it.  From art work to plays and carefully crafted models, high school students from all over Ohio created variations on the theme which, by the mere inclusion of the word “gods,” meant mythology.

Typical projects included depictions of Cerberus and Medusa – popular and easily recognizable, although I must say that several of the Cerberus models reminded me more of Fluffy from “The Sorcerer’s Stone” than the three headed skeletal guard dog of Hades which resides in my memory.  I did see one or two renditions of Prometheus and whenever I see him depicted I sigh inwardly at his tale.  Prometheus played a trick on Zeus –   for reasons I will not go into now, Prometheus placed two sacrifices side by side – one, a nasty-looking ox stomach filled with meat (ugly on the outside but great value within) the other, a pile of bare bones covered with glistening fat (attractive on the outside but worthless within).  Zeus chose the latter and, when he realized that his choice yielded no sustenance, the chain of unfortunate events was set in motion.  Zeus takes away fire, Prometheus steals it back.  Zeus chains Prometheus to a rock where his liver is pecked out and eaten each day by an eagle for all eternity.  Zeus gets his beef.  Prometheus is eventually somewhat freed of his torment by Hercules who kills the eagle, but as far as I know he is still chained to a rock somewhere near the Caucasus.

I remember this story as I remember most mythology – with current themes and ambiguities that have a delightful way of impressing themselves upon my daily life.  For months I have been troubled by the demise of daily newspapers and the quality of writing as a whole available in print and on the internet.  Certainly worthy publications exist and are, perhaps, well funded enough to weather this storm.  But are we doomed to a future of news that is a mile long and an inch deep?  Has Prometheus given us a choice between a beautiful feast which is void of content and the shabby old shoe of the press, ugly but comfortable and full of knowledge, experience and wisdom?

If I carry the analogy through to Zeus being a god-like deity of cyberspace I can extrapolate from there that he has been offered little more than high fructose corn syrup dressed up in a fancy web format.  Eventually, one hopes, he will toss aside the Slurpee and demand some sustenance!  

People are now free to choose how they receive their news – via e-mail, electronic or home delivery, passively reading through news compilation sites or actively seeking out authentic sources.  Convenience trumps content more often than not and speed and brevity reign supreme.   As readership dies a slow and painful death, advertising revenues shrink along with content.  Freelancers are cut loose.  Reporters are furloughed.  

Increasingly it seems that internet news surfers are not only seeking a particular delivery option or format, but a narrower field of the news they want to follow as well.  Controversy drives web traffic – so unfounded and controversial sites proliferate.   Conspiracy theories abound and remain unchecked by traditional sources.  There are few traditional sources left to check.

 

Stealing fire from the Gods - never a good idea.

Stealing fire from the Gods - never a good idea.

Make no mistake – free media is a death knell for comprehensive news coverage.  It is accepting the gifts of the gods without paying for them, all you get in the end is a whole lot of trouble and eternal suffering.  

 

 


About Jeanne Bernish

News junkie. Advocate for high ability children and encouraging girls in pursuing STEM fields. Believer in the power of technology to transform education. Find me on Twitter @JeanneBernish.
This entry was posted in Moderate Politics and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *