What We Can Learn From Sports and The Weather Channel
February 5, 2021
Henry T. Hill
Disclaimer:
I have noticed people following the “news” and experiencing very stressful reactions. The reaction to 24 hour “Breaking News,” to the stress of the COVID pandemic and to the US election create a “Perfect Storm” for many people. To face this storm one must us the buffering effect of a sense of coherence. Sense of coherence (SOC) offers the perception of life as comprehensible and manageable and that life challenges offer a potential source of growth which show characterization by resistance, flexibility and a unifying outlook on life guiding actions and feelings to shape one’s future according to “Impact of COVID-19 on Public Mental Health and the Buffering Effect of a Sense of Coherence.” To achieve SOC apply the examples used in sports and the Weather Channel. Stop watching and listening to “news” that does not follow the sports and Weather Channel example. Use Transactional Analysis to achieve: “I’m OK, The World is OK.”
“Get Up!” ESPN’s weekdays sports talk a two hour (8 am - 10 am ET) morning television program hosted by Mike Greenberg and broadcast live from their studio in Pier 17 at New York’s South Street Seaport on the East River along with guests presents an analysis of past sports events and presents educated documented predictions of future sports events. The Weather Channel (TWC), launched in 1982 and broadcast live from Atlanta, Georgia, presents an analysis of past weather events and presents educated documented predictions of future weather events. Both sports “Get Up!” and the Weather Channel present intelligent conversation using:
researcher accepted, verified and verifiable statistics
peer reviewed historical documented information
human experts with primary (eye-witness) and secondary (researched) experience
researcher accepted peer reviewed mathematical models to evaluate performances
evaluations and predictions with the following underling constant stated and understood mantra, “We do not know the future”
“Get Up” and the Weather Channel (TWC) present a window into reality and away from the window of the fantasy world of so many “news” shows.
Many “News” shows with their anchors and reporters so often:
do not cite researcher accepted, peer reviewed and verifiable statistics
do not cite peer reviewed historical documented information
do not cite human experts either primary or secondary
do not cite researcher accepted peer reviewed named mathematical models to evaluate performances to prove their predictions
do assert their statements with the following underling constant stated and understood mantra, “We do not know the future.” Instead, many “News” shows present evaluations and predictions with the constantly stated and “understood mantra of, “We do know the future, and We are telling you the truth.”
“News” in the past attempted to answer five questions about documented events:
Who is the event about?
What happened at the event?
When did ithe event happen?
Where did the event happen?
Why did the event happen?
A sixth question, “How did the event happen?” may have been covered by the “what”and/or “where” and/or “when” question.
Think of the enormous effort researchers use to reconstruct an airplane crash to learn how and why the airplane crashed and to learn the lessons that will prevent that sequence of events from causing more airplane crashes. Imagine if we engaged in the same efforts to discover the reason for highway crashes that in 2019 totaled 36,120, fatalities or an average of 100 deaths per day and in 2010 of the 5,419,000 crashes killed 32,999 and injured 2,239,000. Records indicate that from 1899 to 2013 over 3,613,000 people died in motor vehicle fatalities in the United States. The CDC reports that traffic deaths from motor vehicle traffic crashes in one year result in $55 billion in medical and work loss costs. Somehow these tragic events do not warrant society to address these highway accidents the same way the 347 civil aviation deaths in 2017 and the 393 aviation deaths in 2018.
When did News become “News?” Born in 1943 I remember our first television set. News was fifteen minutes a day from John Cameron Swayze. Imagine if fifteen minutes a day on all television channels was all the national and international news. Well, we have so many channels that have to fill up 24 hours seven days a week. So News became “News.
What can we do?
Look for and watch researched discussions like Sports and like the Weather Channel.
Stop watching “News.”
Use Transactional Analysis
Transactional Analysis developed by Eric Berne in the late1950’s presents a model that you can apply to yourself and your internal dialogue. According to Berne, we all have inside us an Adult, a Parent and a Child. How we react to ourselves and to others and to situations both internal and external reflects whether we act as an Adult, a Parent or a Child. A Parent establishes rules and expectations and enforces compliance complete with penalties and expects and believes that a rule based world can exist. A Child makes demands and expects the world to respond and may throw tantrums when those demands are not met. The Adult strives to see the world both inside and outside in the most observable and measurable and scientific and rational manner and then responds to that world only after significant thought knowing that the learned perception is not complete and may and probably has misconceptions which make a response not a simple matter of (Parent) “right or wrong” or a simple matter of (Child) “I want or don’t want this.” To the Adult, the perceived world is always changing and filled with a “fog” that doesn’t go away. To the Adult all decisions and all actions have unintended consequences, and those decisions and actions have a situational or “for now” nature which makes them subject to change.
Take charge of every thought, internal dialogue and action by filtering them with the Adult, Parent and Child to determine in which mode - Adult, Parent or Child you are operating, and if in a Parent or Child mode, stop and change to an Adult mode. We all live in the created world inside our head, but in the Parent and Child mode, that world is filled with fantasies that take valuable psychic energy to maintain because they are “false to the facts.” Children believe in magic and wishes. Parents believe that they are in charge and can really control the world around them with rules and orders. Adults strive to see the world of chaos filled with unexplained events around them and in them. Adults strive to see that the “tools” they have of science and technology and industry and laws give some control but need constant adjustment to react to change because the “for now” world changes before the last sound of “now” fades away. In fact, is there any “Now” in the world? Parents and Children see a stable world and seek to maintain that stable world and seek to continue to live in that stable world.
Transactional Analysis (TA) offers the follow suggestions for looking at a conversation whether with another person or with yourself and the world:
1. I’m OK, You’re OK.
2. I’m OK, You’re Not OK.
3. I’m Not OK, You’re OK.
4. I’m Not OK, You’re Not OK.
What if you engaged in an internal dialogue with yourself and the world that went like this:
I’m OK, The World is OK.
I’m OK, The World is Not OK.
I’m Not OK, The World is OK.
I’m Not OK, The World is Not OK.
If you assume these conditions, numbers 2, 3 and 4 lead to unhealthy and unproductive results.
For number 2. I’m OK, The World is not OK. The “I’m OK” is good even if you are experiencing peripheral neuropathy (PN) pain because you are facing the PN pain day by day, so you are OK with what you have and what you face every day. The second part, “The World is not OK “ presents a perception that at some time in the past the world was OK or sometime in the future the world will be different and “OK” according to who and according to your expectations.
The following list of ongoing world crises include: world hunger, poverty, global warming - climate change, mental health issues, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and wars.
World hunger and poverty present a different problem when taken out of war zones. Many experts estimate that the world’s farmers produce enough food to feed 1.5 times the global population. So why does hunger still exist? Food loss occurs because of insufficient skills, natural calamities, lack of proper infrastructure and poor practices. Food waste occurs when edible food in intentionally discarded by consumers who fail to plan meals properly and store food correctly. An inefficient food distribution system and food uses other than for human consumption account for significant food lost to human consumption. The production of ethanol which takes productive food producing land and converts the corn grown into fuel. Food for pets also uses land that could produce human food. Throughout both world wars the Victory Garden campaign produced significant quantities of food. In 1942 approximately 15 million families planted victory gardens. By 1944 an estimated 20 victory gardens produced 8 million tons of food which equaled 40% of all fresh fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States according to “America’s Patriotic Victory Gardens.” So is “World Hunger” a Malthusian reality that since population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of food supply or other resources is linear? No and to see why read the Intelligent Economist January 2020 article, “Malthusian Theory of Population.” So as far as, “The World Is Not OK” and World Hunger and the Poverty that goes along with that concept, “The World Is OK.” because people can solve this problem with existing technology and existing science.
As far as global warming - climate change read the photocopied newspaper article and magazine articles and letters found at “Wrong Again: 50 Years of Failed Eco-pocalyptic Predictions.” Of course we have climate change and of course the human use of fossil fuels and other human activities have had and will continue to have an effect on climate. The question is what, when and to what degree will the effect happen. The question is how will humans adapt to the change. If you are reading this while experiencing chronic pain, should global warming - climate change really mean that, “The World is Not OK?’
As far as weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and wars, look at the current situation. Wars are going on right now in Syria, Afghanistan, Kurdish-Turkish conflict, Somali Civil War, War on Terror, Dafur, Kivu Conflict, Mexican Drug War, Boki Haram Insurgency and Yemeni Civil War (See “List of wars by death tool” Wikipedia) and history shows that wars have gone on, are going on and will continue to go on so as long as you do not live in a war zone or fight in a war zone the World was OK, is Ok and probably will be OK as far as weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and wars. To understand what really makes the world safe for the United States look at this: “Normally, ballistic missile submarines such as the USS Tennessee go to sea with 20 Trident II D-5 submarine-launched missiles, each carrying 4-5 W76 or W-88 warheads. Each W76 warhead has an explosive yield of 90 kilotons, or 90,000 tons of TNT.” Only six countries deploy nuclear-powered strategic submarines: the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, China and India.
I put mental health issues last as a cause of “The World is Not OK” because we know too much; we have too many voices screaming to be heard by yelling, “The sky is falling.” Being born in 1943, my first memories of news came from newspapers and magazines. The first television station to serve my home town from Rochester, New York started in June of 1949 when WHAM-TV broadcasted to the 1,200 TV sets in the Rochester area. In 1950 there were 58,000 TV sets in the Rochester area. The first television station to serve my home town from Buffalo, New York started May 14, 1948 and was the fifth-oldest station in New York state. To receive the television signal from Rochester or Buffalo required my dad to hire someone to put a twenty foot pole on the roof with the television antenna attached and run the wire down to the living room. The television set cost from $200 to $550 in 1950 when a new Ford car cost $1339 to $2,262 and a house cost $7,150 and average income was $3,206 a year. We got our first set in 1953 or 1954. Before that we listened to the radio. I remember that at first television was not broadcast all day. We tuned in a test pattern before the broadcasting began. The fifteen minutes of news was presented by John Cameron Swayze who hosted NBC’s first television newscast in 1949.
Today “news” channels present 24 hours of “news.” Stop listening. Stop watching. Researchers suggest that stress, worry and fear aggravate mental health issues. Examine your stress, your worry and your fear and determine if the causes represent Unsane thoughts. If so, don’t indulge in thoughts that generate stress, worry and fear. There is news that could save your life. From 1206-1368 the Mongols conquered the largest empire in world history by killing between 20 to 57 million or about 5% of the world’s population by battles, sieges, massacres and biological warfare. If you were alive in any of the following countries when the Mongols were coming, the news of their coming and your subsequent actions could save your life. The countries were: Russia, China, the Ukraine, Burma, Korea, all of Central Asia, India, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. But today, Genghis Khan or Kublai Khan are not leading the Golden Horde toward you in the United States and none of the “news” enhanced and glorified threats are likely to “get” you. If you still have some “unnamed” concerns, from Outdoor Life see “9 Ways to Survive an EMP Attack (And Other Doomsday Scenarios to Watch For.”
Use mindfulness. So is the world OK? Yes, “The World is OK.” So are you OK? Yes. So keep thinking and saying, “I’m OK, The World is OK.” Filter every possible input with “I’m OK, The World is OK” including: thoughts, internal dialogue, external conversations, events, experiences and environments. “Take Charge! Just Do It!”
References
MacWelch, Tim. “9 Ways to Survive an EMP Attack (And Other Doomsday Scenarios to Watch For).” Outdoor Life, 11 May 2015, www.outdoorlife.com/emp-survival-9-ways-prepare-electro-magnetic-pulse/
Motor vehicle fatality rate in U.S. by year. (2020, November 16). Retrieved January 27, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year
Norton, R. (n.d.). Unintended Consequences. Retrieved January 26, 2021, from https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/UnintendedConsequences.html
Schäfer, Sarah K., et al. “Impact of COVID-19 on Public Mental Health and the Buffering Effect of a Sense of Coherence.” Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Karger Publishers, 18 Aug. 2020, www.karger.com/Article/FullText/510752.
State-Specific Costs of Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths. (2020, November 05). Retrieved January 27, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/statecosts/
Szczepanski, Lukasz. Assessing the Skill of Football Players Using Statistical Methods. Salford Business School, University of Salford, Salford UK, Jan. 2015, core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82967744.pdf.
Turaru, Radu, and Howard Viney. “Valuations of Soccer Players from Statistical Performance Data.” ResearchGate, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, Jan. 2010, www.researchgate.net/publication/46554859_Valuations_of_Soccer_Players_from_Statistical_Performance_Data.
For more Amazon Books by Henry T. Hill "Mindfulness vs Disease and Debilitating Symptoms Such As Pain, Fatigue and Loss of Coordination" and “My Journey From Amyloidosis AL to Chemo to Peripheral Neuropathy and How I Used Mindfulness Learning Tools to Improve My Quality of Life” and “Freedom and Existence: A Collection of Essays” Henrythill@gmail.com
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