I dedicate this Post to HFR, the physician father of my first boyfriend T. A busy internist who spent most of his time reading Journals and catching up, he had an obsession with all things Godfather. Could not get enough of it on TV.
Doctors are by and large a very Television-y type. They like to watch it to 'relax' or in my thinking, 'space out'. In the OR we talk of shows they like, such as Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. Survivor was really big a few years back. They look forward to watching these shows like children, and TIVO them, and look forward to catching up.
The residents in anesthesia a few years back, were very into 24 with Jack Bauer. When that show was cancelled you could feel the pall in the group.
As a not-TV watcher, I don't 'get' any of it. I go along and act like I know, but I really do not enjoy this pastime.
Yesterday, in the breakroom, I made a comment. I was looked at like I was from Mars. I questioned the intent of the news.
"How can you fake it? These things really happen!" my colleagues defended.
I countered back, 'The purpose of the News is to sell airtime and get ratings. Don't you think that the folks who sell it are going to skew what they present so you will watch? Isn't it possible for them to show things that happen in such a compelling way that they ignore ninety percent of the other stuff that is actually going on in the world? All the encouraging things, and helpful and hopeful ones?"
You could have heard a pin drop. I connected the dots. I had a point. I was helping them to think something that they had never thought before. Question Authority. Even the folks that make entertainment.
So what do they watch? Old guy that is engaged but probably never has sex: CSI and all those crime shows. He watches them to the exclusion of saying hello to anyone that walks buy. A surgeon from the old school, who cuts and tears the flesh while his competition has a more gentle touch. He's fast. Insurance likes that. And 'accurate enough' shall we say? Gets lots of business. But those of us in the OR with him, we cringe during his case.
'Old person news stations that talk about the kind of things that make you cringe' said a lady urologist about the non-stop Fox News that is on when Old Guy isn't in the Doctors' Lounge. That pretty much covers it. There are occasional ESPN Sports news for the younger Ortho Docs. But More doctors than not are on the computers, or dictating cases, getting ready for their next case.
(The Nurses' Lounge, has a microwave and also constant CNN, or lately, Pickers)
You are what you eat. That goes for media too. Think about it. Question everything and let your heart decide for yourself if it is from the Light of not.
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
