It’s Boring

My son John (age 17) often tells me that one of his teachers, classes, or activities is boring. Sometimes he just smiles and says, “I’m bored.” Hence, I read with special interest the late Susan Sonntag’s suggestion that pain and boredom are the twin evils of modern life. (See As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh, a collection of Sonntag’s journal and notebook writings.)

Sonntag of course acknowledged variations, but she thought pain was concentrated among the poor while boredom tended to plague the middle and upper classes. Law students, law professors, lawyers, and judges surely count among the haves rather than the have-nots.

Nothing is inherently boring, and boredom is personal and subjective. It derives, Sonntag thought, largely from a loss of attention. When we cannot pay attention, we become bored.

If you think a class, a client, or a work task is boring, try changing your frame of attention or perhaps combining two or three frames of attention. Try to think differently about whatever it is you’re thinking about. It might relieve the boredom, but, then again, maybe this advice is boring.

 

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James Q. Wilson and Broken Windows Policing

Media coverage of the death of conservative political scientist James Q. Wilson on March 2 correctly identified him as the originator of “broken windows policing” and blithely assumed such policing had been successful. Ross Douthat’s column in the New York Times of March 4, for example, said that Wilsonian policing had resulted in “the low crime rates that have made urban areas from Portlandia to Brooklyn safe for left-wing hipsters and Obama-voting professionals alike.”

The basic premise of “broken windows” policing is that criminals are encouraged when neighborhoods look decayed. However, if police crack down on such things as broken windows, public urination, graffiti, panhandlers, and prostitutes, neighborhood pride is restored and residents are more likely to stand up against crime. Eventually, the theory goes, criminals will get the message and give up their nefarious ways.

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Pop Culture and Ideology

It’s common to assume American popular culture leads only to mindless escape, but in a recent speech to Communist Party officials President Hu Juntao of China warned that American popular culture might have a much more dangerous effect. He noted that Transformers 3 was a top-grossing film in China and also that the songs of Lady Gaga were as popular as those of any Chinese singer. Hu suggested the United States and other nations are westernizing and dividing China as he spoke and pop cultural works were weapons in this onslaught. Hu urged the Chinese to understand the seriousness of the struggle for Chinese cultural integrity and to always “sound the alarms and remain vigilant.”

Perhaps Hu is exaggerating the dangers, especially with regard to the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture. It’s hard to imagine Transformers 3 doing much damage to Confucian ethics or the Chinese sense of community and solidarity. However, Hu is correct when he suggests popular culture can and routinely does promote certain values and modes of behavior. It is highly normative. Popular culture – films, television shows, cheap literature – have the potential to function ideologically, and consumers of popular culture in China as well as in the United States are encouraged to “get on board” with the social world popular culture imagines and promotes.

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