Attack of the shiny object

I often use the term "shiny object" to describe situations in which I willingly - sometimes gratefully - allow myself to be distracted from the thing I'm supposed to be thinking about but don't  because it’s too hard, too serious or too important to contemplate. I never know enough about the subject in question and I rarely have the time to learn what I should.

The shiny object can be my salvation. It relieves stress, provides entertainment and since everyone else is talking about it, I fit right in with the collective. With so many of us playing with the shiny object I don’t have to feel bad about not paying attention to whatever it was I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I think the shrinks call this codependency. As long as I have someone (or in this case, lots of someones) to be bad with I’m not so bad. As long as nobody else is thinking about the big issues, I don’t have to either.

A good shiny object involves high levels of emotion and low levels of reasoning. It's better if the shiny object involves a topic that's easy to understand, something one can form an opinion about simply by gleaning half the facts and listening to our gut. The best ones are those that are just plain none of our business. (Salacious is ideal.)

Critical thinking and reasoned arguments are usually not necessary (or welcome), because we just know.

You can’t live in Shiny Object Land, the amount of change that occurs there makes it impossible to settle down anywhere. One can only visit for short periods of time. But it’s fun to go there, it’s so exciting. Bright lights, no challenges, lots of spin and comfortably numb.

Sarah Palin is the quintessential shiny object. As long as she is in the room we don't have to talk about McCain, his record, his plan for the future, the war in Iraq, the state of our union or anything else that matters. Because what we really need to talk about is whether or not that 5th baby is hers. And we need to talk about how hypocritical it is to preach against sex education when one has a pregnant 17 year old daughter planning a shot gun wedding to a guy who says "fuck" a lot on his MySpace page. We need to talk about whether or not she's a good shot, and a good mother.

As long as we do this we don't have to dissect the truth about government pork (she kept the money). The allegations of abuse of power. That she may have wanted to ban books in her town library. That she would rather not separate church and state. That she would like to outlaw abortion in every circumstance unless the mother is actually going to die. 

But who cares about that, let's talk about whether she should be at home with her children.

No one likes a shiny object more than me, but with the future of my country at stake I am working harder to stay focused and engaged. Every minute we spend discussing Palin is time we don't spend comparing McCain to Obama and talking about the issues that matter. Can we make judgments about whether or not she's a good mother? Sure. But is being a good mother relevant to being an effective (vice) president? I don’t think so. Has anyone ever voted against a man because they thought he wasn't a good father?

Just as I don't think that being a war hero is enough criteria to be president, neither do I think being a good or bad mother is relevant to this critical conversation about our future. By letting it seep in, we allow it to take our eyes off the ball. And with McCain ahead in the polls, I worry if we have enough balls left to win.

The good news about shiny objects is that they never last. Our collective ADD will provide us with a new shiny object before you know it and there will be pictures and blog posts and links galore – providing us with everything we need to keep our minds off our troubles.

The question for me is, will this shiny object last long enough for them to win the presidency? They popped this genie out of the bottle only 60 days before the election. Only time will tell if we, the collective, will get bored of her before we go to the polls, in time to do something about our future, or if we will wait until later, when it will be too late.