There’s a song that is quite interesting to me: “Like Light To The Flies” by Trivium. The song was written and recorded when Matthew Kiichi Heafy, vocalist and guitarist of Trivium, was only 19 years old. If you notice his name, he is Japanese, something that’s quite rare to be in an American heavy metal band.
“Like Light To The Flies” – Trivium
Behold our beloved revels
In tragedy (in tragedy)
Self-denying avarice for bloodshed
Behold hypocrite
Those who run will be burned (4x)
Devoutly wished for blinded eyes
This tragedy’s like light to flies
This seems to suit you better
Bleeding out the eyes
Hope’s left in chain suspension
Holding onto lies, to make the truth
“This song is about people’s attraction to all forms of tragedy. It seems like everywhere you turn to today (e.g., television, newspaper, magazine, movies, etc.) it’s all about murder, violence, war, cruelty- and it’s because this is what sells; people are totally captivated by subjects in this vein. We are the flies.” – Matt Heafy (vocalist and guitarist of Trivium)
And so he says. The medias we look up to are mostly filled with those tragedies, and it does sell. Of course there are some good news but its nothing compared to the numerous negative news that pile up. And so Matt Heafy says again, we are the flies, attracted to light.
The RealityTurn on the TV. All sorts of tragedies, real and fake. Starting from the news of violence to negative dramas. Read newspapers. The headline would probably show some negative news, and so would most of the content. Basically, the worst would be infotainment that conquers most of the daily shows on television. They use gossips as spices to heat up the information provided for viewers. Ironically, many still thirsts for those negativity although the contents of these medias would show quite the same things everyday, and some might just be another words of deceit.
But sometimes the real can be fake. Sometimes they discuss useless things just to show something or just to prove they’re not out of ideas. Take an example on recent news, the Indonesian ministers’ new official cars, Toyota Crown Royal Saloon. When the rumors first appeared, the car was said to cost as much as Rp 1.8 billion (US$200 million). But then as time goes by, that information proved to be wrong. The price for one Toyota Crown Royal Saloon in Japan is Rp 452 million-Rp 584 million (US$48.000-62.000). With shipment of Rp 9 million (US$1000) and taxes, the car is expected to cost somewhere around Rp 800 million (US$88.000). Compared to their old car, Toyota Camry, was around Rp 600.000 ($66.000) which means the difference is just Rp 200 million (US$22.000). In other words, what’s the problem with that? They’re not wrong to replace the Toyota Camry that has been used for 5 years, and the ministers aren’t the ones to blame for the car replacement in the first place. This proved to be one of many insignificant news that shows how unintelligent these news providers may be. They probably have nothing to do besides blaming, pointing fingers without any valid information.
Even the fakes aren’t any better. There are ‘reality’ shows that are very unrealistic, showing more of those ‘tragedies’ mentioned above. And again with the dramas (sinetron) are full of insignificant stories and plot, just full of hatred and violence. These shows are logically proven to be of no use in anyone’s life. Just another waste of time.
Stories of how successful Indonesia has been in the eyes of the world aren’t of any of their interests. Both the media providers and viewers thirsts for negativity, and tend to just blame while pointing fingers without looking on the bright side. Their pessimism blinds them from seeing the positive sides, and they don’t take any significant actions to make a difference.
Most of these medias nowadays doesn’t realize the importance of showing positive news, instead seeing this whole mass media as a business, profit oriented at max, no more no less. I’m not saying don’t bother turn to them for information. It’s just that we have to be careful when viewing them, we have to filter them out so we aren’t trapped in a circle of stupidity because of some distorted truth or structured/hidden lies.
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