"Based on the number of re-shared posts one sees on social media, it's easy to conclude that most people don't really believe in anything, but they're determined to have you share in their beliefs..."
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| Cut The Cable, Cut The Cord! |
It’s been over two years since we cut the cable and turned off the television. Aside from the outrageous rates they charge to show us subpar entertainment, commercial advertisements and main stream media propaganda, it was a continual source of anxiety for me. Managing anxiety is a basic function of life when you’re BiPolar, sometimes high levels of stress can induce a psychotic episode. The social anxiety and PTSD don’t benefit from the minutia they feed us on television either. I like knowing what’s going on in the world, but truthfully, not at the expense of my own well-being, my own sanity because it’s not how I want to live my life. I am the kind of person who follows dreams, I’m not easily driven by fears. I don’t buy into the collective narrative very well either, I question everything, and especially things put forth by authorities. I tend to adopt a “wait and see” attitude before making any conclusions because all too often people jump the gun and assume things which are simply not the truth. Like the JFK coup d’état or the 9/11 event, people buy into the “official view” as soon as it’s given without fully considering all the evidence or facts. This happens throughout many facets of life, in relationships with each other, in the schools and church, in the chit-chat at work or even in the inner dialogues we share with nobody but ourselves; we sometimes believe the first lie we’re told so much that when confronted with the truth, we get so pissed off that we can no longer listen or understand anymore. We all do this, at some time, to some degree, we all buy into the lies we’re told and the truth crushes our sense of reality. Ask any kid who believed in Santa Claus and what the truth of that lie did to them; I bet a lot of people can still recall when they found out Santa Claus was a lie (and some would argue still, it’s not a lie, it’s an idea, a concept, blah, blah, blah…)!
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| Information at the fingertips... |
After we cut the cable I began to get my fix of information, news and world events exclusively from reading a multitude of various on-line sources, I particular enjoy the AP newsfeed, a mostly unfiltered “before it’s news” source and where many television news media get their “kernel of truth” in any given story. I like the dry, unembellished story lines, for the most part they are simple statements of facts. Plane crash in Nepal, 27 dead, 2 Americans. End of Story. Earthquake in California, no fatalities, $5 million in property damage, Governor declares emergency, end of story. I look for these kinds of stories first, they’re what I care most about. Real things that are really happening now. The next level of news is the political and business news reports and this is where the “bullshit” filters need to be deployed. I look for news about the United States, for example, in European, Asian and South American news agencies first. I look at both the conservative and the liberal news outlets and I do a lot of fact checking along the way which is never easy and hardly really worth the effort. “Politics is the entertainment division of the military/industrial complex.” said Frank Zappa and that rings true for me too. It’s not as important to me because I sense the whole shithouse is going to come crash down before too long and we are presently being coaxed into believing that it’s not going to be anybody’s fault but our own. No shit, we’re the fools who let this happen because, for so long too many have bought the “official narratives” and we refuse, with a vengeful anger, to believe the truth; we are fucked and the government officials don’t give a shit about our collective fate. When I started to gather information this way, sometime during the summer of ’13, I began to read a lot more on my handheld Android device. It is very easy, something to do while I was riding public transport or waiting for a doctor appointment. I felt good, I was learning something instead of just waiting around.
Over the past so many years, as my interest in both social media platforms started to develop beyond the conscripts of Facebook or Myspace, I was enjoying the interactions and sharing of information I got through my handheld Android unit. Streams of news, from Fox to Alternet, from ABC/Disney to RawStory, I felt empowered by the vast perspectives I was reading while on the bus! I took pride in knowing that we were no longer subject to the main stream media fodder. I was pleased to know that the average citizen, like you or me, could find and disseminate the news for ourselves. Then, like realizing there’s no fucking way the tooth fairy or Easter Bunny could be real (nobody told me, I figured it out myself), I realized this form of information gathering, despite my diligent efforts to garner a multitude of viewpoints, was not much better than television. In fact, since I started thinking about this last summer, I’ve come to the conclusion that the social media platforms, even the unfiltered ones like G+, reddit or ello are not much better than AM talk radio. Like assholes, everyone has an opinion and like talk radio, some assholes think their opinion doesn’t stink! I follow FoxNews, for example, but if I question a story, if I express a dissenting thought, it’s like a dumb-fuck call-in barrage of closed mind and often hateful expressions. The same is very true when I express something contrary in any of the liberal forums; people don’t want to debate, discuss or try to enlighten each other…indeed, they all too often seem to want to beat you into submitting to their train of thought and if you don’t, you are everything they despise! The fact seems that most people don’t believe in anything but they’re determined to have you share in their beliefs! People take what they find on-line, true or not, and build upon it like a twisted technological version of the childhood game of “telephone”; where we sat in a circle, one person whispers something to another person who in turn whispers to another and each time the whisper is repeated, it changes and becomes something other than what was first whispered.
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| Meet the New Media, Same As The Old Media... |
The lesson I’ve come to believe, so far, is that internet is nothing different than another form of media which, like radio or television, is subjected to propaganda, blatant lies and manipulation; the internet is no more a place of free expression as television or radio; it’s not about the free sharing of thought as much as the re-sharing of what other people have thought (over and over and over again). The notion of debate and dialogue is completely lost. Those who I have conversations with are often part of the same choir as me and those who have a different perspective than mine, by and large (sadly) get loud, rude and nasty by flinging insults or making over-reacting assumptions about what, who or even where I am…I get frustrated by the lack of dialogue. People don’t listen to each other, they see one or two “buzz words” or assume because you are on the opposite side of a discussion, you are the enemy, the reason why things are going to hell and they dismiss anything else I (or anyone else who disagrees) has to say! It’s not about the free association of ideas, the exchange of diametrically opposed points of view or even a healthy debate forum; it’s a fucking town square where anyone with a bloody soapbox stands up to say whatever shit they feel like and screw whatever anyone else has to say or even if anyone else is listening! I’m reminded of Warhol’s “15 minutes of fame” conundrum, it seems to be a motivating factor in the success of some social media platforms and a justification for others to spout insane shit just for the sake of fame! Perversely, it should be said that in the future we’ll all have 15 minutes of privacy, so much of our shit is already very available and continually being watched.
After fully engaging in this form of media myself over the course of so many years, I am resolved to the notion that it’s not any better than any other form of media when it comes to exposing truth, justice or solving any of the planets very significant problems. It’s sad, it’s an awful shame that once again we’ve wasted the opportunity to use technological advancements for the advancement of humanity. We could have changed the world with radio, again with film, television and the list continues but we didn’t, did we? No, we gave the “public airwaves” to the government to manage for us and they sold it off to the point where we no longer have freedom or control over those “public airwaves”; hell, we can’t even watch local television for free anymore! We deployed a standard and practices to provide acceptable guidelines for decency in programming, but that’s become a form of censorship and we are manipulated by advertising and propaganda delivered by corporate driven media conglomerates. So much for the “public airwaves” giving a true “voice of the people”, it’s nothing but a con-game to fleece you and me of our money, time and ability to clearly, freely think! Worse still, over time the technology has become so much more pervasive in our lives. Radio, in its heyday, was most often shared in the family room, during certain hours. Television, in the early days, was the same way. It was one television in the common area where everyone gathered for a few hours at a time but radio shifted to be a little more personal, it was in our bedrooms or cars too. Television becomes smaller, more portable and so does radio; eventually we have hand-held radio with headphones, boob tubes in the bedroom and by the time the personal computer age dawns, it’s a natural for intimacy! Before too long we’re reading and sharing stuff on-line in our underwear while in the comfort of our bedrooms!
Another decade and the technology does nothing but get better at capturing our attention, it’s now in our pockets or, more often, in the palm of our hands! We have not only the ability to watch television on the bus, in the park, on a smoke break at work; we can fucking record, edit and publish television ourselves…all on the same bloody devices! We can communicate with people far and wide, around the world despite language barriers because our hand held devices will translate everything for us…but does it bring us together? Do you understand a person in Palestine’s plight any better? Does the average Joe in Germany know what it feels like to be a black jew in Texas any better? I have friends around the world, I try to share my very American experience and perspective with them and I am always learning about their points of view from their corner of the planet; but for the most part still, we’re part of the same choir, we already had things in common and shared similar thoughts…so are we really building bridges or just crisscrossing the bridges that are already there? I have tried to reach into communities where I am not typical, I made a point to challenge my own beliefs and levels of social comfort to gain a new perspective, learn something different. I have failed miserably because before I get a chance to understand the feelings of being a Dixie raised American, I’m first “outed” as being some kind of liberal, Yankee egghead Jew (none of which is accurate at all) and then dismissed, lambasted and rudely, almost violently attacked for simply asking a question. It’s insane, it’s not healthy and it’s nothing other than more fear and loathing in the palm of my hand!
What to do about this, I wonder to myself, how do I want to deal with this feeling I have? I don’t have an answer just yet, like I said, I like to think through a matter before I move my piece on the board. I’m not finding the satisfaction I used to find, I’m feeling more relaxed, calm and clear thinking when I’m not on-line. I find a good deal of frustration, I sense an alarming rise of anarchy, I feel a collective sense of malaise and it feels like we’re living in some kind of twisted psychotic fugue state of fear and paralysis. Everyone finds problems but few suggest solutions, I look to find something positive to share every day but as I’m combing through an endless stream of meaningless memes, video clips of violence laced with hate baiting rhetoric and a whole lot of blame being spread from every corner of the social spectrum, it sort of feels futile to share the stories I find. I also get sucked into the entire blame game too, I stumble across an outrageous story so I share it with hopes of sharing something I found which I think is truth only to ignite a firestorm debate, rendering any form of productive dialogue mute by the single, small minded conscripts of the contemporary social media platform; we’re back on AM talk radio levels! More importantly, I feel disappointed in myself for buying into the blame game, the trickery of this technology that twists truth and turns perfectly normal people into blabbering divots, we’re still just powerless peasants. This is Fear and Loathing in The Palm of Your Hand, are you going to do anything about it?
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| A Status Update from d'Philip! |
That’s where I am today…as I start another week in August, while the family goes off to do the things they all do and I’m left to my own devices, I’ve decided for now and the foreseeable, I’ll be turning off my devices. I am feeling tactile, I want to touch and feel things, I want to smell aromas and taste the flavors of life in person. I can vicariously share this once in a while, but again, why would I share it all over the Internet for free if people are willing to buy my words in the bounded presentation of a book? I have been thinking it feels better to write for myself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self. That’s my immediate plan, where I plan to be for now and then, in the meanwhile my friends…be sure to take the best care of you and yours, I do hope all enjoy excellent health and peace and always, always please stay safe!
Peace,
d’Philip
17 August 2015
The San Joaquin Valley
Republic of California
Earth
Born in Chicago, I’ll Die a Californian Always Hoping for Far-Flung Hopes and Dreaming Improbable Dreams, I'm a Lover of Deep Dish Pizza But Terminally Allergic to ALL Social Media Streams. If You Contact Me, I Will Respond and If You Call Me I’ll Be a Happy Old Dancer Because Nothing On-Line is Real, All of It Just Numbers and Code…It Won’t Give You The Answer You Wanted and It Ain’t No Home for You or Me…Just Be In The Moment, It’s All We Really Have in The End.