Here’s an Indie Soul song for today.
There’s no doubt the internet has had a huge impact on our lives. By opening global channels of instant communication, the web has tremendously affected the landscape of commerce, culture, and relationships in our current century, spurring them to progress in rapidly-evolving fashion.
It’s the dawn of exponential development, where information and data can be shared at lightning speeds, allowing advancements to build upon each other every minute.
It’s quite plausibly the Golden Age of art, a proliferation of creativity where anyone can publicize the fruits of their labor and everyone else can find it should they be interested.
It’s the near pinnacle of human interaction, where you can not only purchase products from the opposite side of the globe, but also talk to your long-distance lover in real-time albeit in different time zones.
We’re so interconnected, you can carry out your entire social experience while fixated on the digital screen of your computer or phone. With a couple keystrokes, you can contribute to ongoing dialogue curated by all those who choose to participate online.
One would think that with all the different experiences and ideas we could share, we’d positively enrich each other’s lives.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
The current social climate might argue that we’re plagued by too many ideas.
You could open up your browser with the intention of watching a few cute cat videos, only to find yourself falling down a rabbit hole of way too many startling theories or triggering debates. Take one wrong turn in the algorithmic recommended column, and you’ll soon be asking, “How the hell is it midnight already?”
Despite all the pretty formatting and fancy words pulled from a thesaurus, the vast library of cyberspace is simply a massive collection of opinions.
What’s the old saying?
Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one, and they routinely spit out shit.
The internet just provided a place, possibly a megaphone, for everyone to barf out their thoughts. I mean, that’s why even I am able to write and publish this post in the first place.
Society seems to acknowledge the latent danger of allowing all these users to voice their unique perspectives,
for unorganized chatter and chaos leave the ground open for a dangerous spark to ignite a wildfire of a cultish following.
In fear of losing control and influence, we are gearing towards handpicking views that receive the spotlight, utilizing censorship to block out the others. Original discernments of the mass majority are being ushered into solely copying what the figureheads are saying, combating the proliferation of potentially harmful movements by proctoring artificial sparks into controllable campfires instead.
To me, that’s just a shit-covered dog growling at a poop-covered dog.
The constant stream of organized noise vying to be the loudest in an effort to shift the discourse in their favor presents the same exact danger.
People have started to confuse mob mentality for factual truth.
They are taking someone else’s neatly packaged opinion, making it their own, and spouting it as the ultimate reality.
It’s still the same old brainwashing.
THE MODERN RELIGION
The internet birthed an open forum where you can confirm your bias, entertain the opposition, and inundate yourself with articles pertaining to your latest obsession, all in the same day. Log in, and you’re downloading into your subconscious today’s behavioral trends at best, provocative propaganda at worst. Each season, there’s a new sweeping movement for people to parrot or crucify.
Religion, as it grew, took the curiosity of existence and slapped human rules, structures, and hierarchies onto it, corrupting good intentions with politics and greed, exploiting or villainizing vulnerable groups to strip away their power and money. Dogmas created an arbitrary conflict, against the devil or evil, so followers can identify as the good guy should they follow the “righteous” path.
Though many of us may not be Abrahamic in our beliefs anymore, we still apply the same mindset to our moral code and actions, completely making one side the “correct” side, while making the opposing view wrong, immoral, unjust, or uneducated.
We’re still standardizing which socio-political-economical-spiritual stance is valid.
As if there lingers a dread for eternal suffering, people don’t want to risk being excommunicated from this new religion, so they uphold the latest beliefs, stone the latest heretic, or adhere to the latest rituals and practices.
You’re either with them or not. Your thoughts and actions are categorized as either for or against.
Though most say they’ve evolved from religion, they merely unlocked the shackles from one ankle and latched it back onto the other.
JUST A PINCH OF OPPOSITION
It has gotten to a point where people are trying to one-up each other in their acts of service. We’re putting each other down, trying to strip down well-meaning accomplishments with evidence of excusable mistakes. Just because someone holds a different perspective or doesn’t fit the mold of an outstanding citizen, suddenly their contributions are a sham.
It’s the new age church of “We’re more open-minded than you.”
It’s virtue signaling Olympics.
There is not just one way to be good or charitable.
Everything doesn’t have to be measured to some high standard scale when it comes to charity or altruism, especially if people can find drive in a reason of their own, even if it may come from what you yourself would deem as selfish reasons.
There shouldn’t be a competition to be this shining example of goodness. We can fight for a better society, even if the only reason is because we want our kids to enter life with a good foundation.
I don’t get extra brownie points, nor do I care for extra brownie points, just because I gave away all my life savings to adopt a bunch of orphans, contributed to society without any pay, and then starved myself until every homeless person was fed.
It doesn’t have to be grand to be viable. Even the smallest hand helps. You don’t need the loftiest of purposes or motivations to do good things. If we need a little persuasion or compensation to do so, then so be it.
You just want a net positive.
This, “that’s not entirely altruistic because this and that selfish reason,” is preventing any small step to improvement, doing more harm than good by instilling hesitation in the little guys.
All those gate-keeping philanthropy with some subjective high standard for it to count need to rethink their motive for doing so.
I’d bet it comes from a big, fat, stinking evidence of pride.
COMPLEMENTARY RIVALS
So…
What is the ultimate good? What’s the ultimate moral choice? What’s correct, black or white?
The survival of the individual? The survival of the community? The survival of the nation? The survival of the species? The survival of the planet? The survival of the universe?
Where do we draw the line on qualifications?
I believe constant conversations will help us figure that out.
I’d argue that every concept, even those spouted as scientific fact, are still ultimately opinions. “Fact” is simply the widely accepted viewpoint. I believe a lot of closed books and things set in stone are always open to revisit and update. Let’s pry a bit too much. Let’s critique the soundness of each establishment.
Without opposing sides to challenge the status quo, life would suit only a certain group of people.
Two sides make a coin.
We can’t have day without night, light without dark, happiness without sadness, peace without strife.
Different political parties and ideologies need to exist to validate each other.
You can’t hold a position without knowing what the counterpoint is. You wouldn’t hold a stance if everyone shared the same idea. We’d all be a boring mess, never evolving.
Conflicting thoughts birth stronger understanding. You need something to pit your ideas against so that you can strengthen your own argument. You need friction to polish a rough stone.
Just know that friction will usually create fire.
However,
if we can combine the fervent passion of each side in a way that warms the whole city rather than burns it down,
then maybe,
just maybe,
we could achieve a balanced viewpoint suitable for each season.
We could allow people to be different shades of gray.