Amusement Parks & Greeting Cards Are Emotional Vampires

When was the last time you were really afraid?

And by afraid I mean OOGA-BOOGA afraid, not just your run of the mill high anxiety, heart attacking fear of death, taxes, and regular terror afraid.

For many folks, I bet their answer would be the dread they recall experiencing at a recent horror movie or maybe a wild ride on a death defying amusement park attraction.

But whether its movies, rides or mountain climbing, anyone attempting to scare themselves to a greater degree than the skilled strangers operating said endeavors would have to work very hard indeed to manage their own emotions more efficiently than the curious dudes to whom they relegate their precious lives.

Fear On Demand

Perhaps we are witnessing the last vestiges of a trait that started dying out long ago and is now needed so little that we feel compelled to stand in line and pay dearly to have our fear wrenched from us in some of the most mind bending and creative manners possible.

Of course, fear isn’t the only emotion being conjured by the civil engineers of human agitation and society. Nope, sentiments from raucous pride to profound grief are being capitalized upon through sports, nationalism and religion and once those emotions are generated they are sucked out of every producer via conspicuous consumption as if the human spirit was endless in supply.

And just like fear has a home in culturally acceptable methods of release, human exultation is being constantly siphoned off in strategically placed community centers called Greeting Card Shops, where the gravest of mind robbing quietly occurs day in and day out.

Real Scary Only Works Once

Take a moment to consider these points as they illuminate the lack of control we experience with of our own minds and emotions:

1. Scary rides become less scary the more they are ridden. Habituation describes how our emotions unconsciously respond to repetitive impingement.
   
2. In the same manner, each greeting card verse you send which is authored by someone else slightly cripples your ability to compose the same sentiment in the future. Before long you have neither the will nor the ability to produce your own written greetings and the very talent which only slightly separates you from the animals silently slips away.

Proof:

• Exercising Creativity – Try sending out 20 purchased greeting cards to friends versus making up the same number of personalized cards and see if originating those messages doesn’t knock you unconscious. (or make you drunk 😎 ) Like a muscle being worked, your brain is better off for having flexed its creative ability.
• Put Your Words In My Mouth – The more slobbering mass produced examples of sentiment you willingly receive from well wishers, the more credence you lend to the mockery of personalized expression of sentiment. The squeaking wheels of our lost ability to assemble words which reflect our truest feelings soon need a lot more than grease to get moving.
• Adding Insult to Injury – Sadly, when we do hit the ditch, the very folks who care most about us will likely send more greeting cards, crippling us both more in the process.
  

Prostitutes Make Money Not Love

The emotions and minds of almost everyone in our culture is being manipulated without approval by the likes of movie producers, greeting card authors and carnival ride operators who profess to truly understand what is best for mankind.

I get the feeling that our mind master’s stultifying antics are affecting us much more than anyone recognizes and I fear that their repetitive brain numbing is having far reaching implications on our ability to experience and convey our individual emotions.

And even though everything looks calm in the excercise yard of society, I’m wondering if a few of us shouldn’t tunnel out anyway. Just in case…

Thank you, friend.

Barry out.