This Week, I Will be Mostly…

Why do you keep talking when nobody is listening?

I have lived a remarkable amount of my life online, in one form or another… since the late 1990’s, if truth be told. Over twenty years of watching technology evolve, and intelligence devolving along with it… because for all the science and enlightenment and useful, helpful discourse, there’s absolute bollocks as a counter. Stupidity is everywhere. Even the smartest people are not immune to their moments of dumb.

This post, for instance, will be liked but not commented on. I can’t tell whether it’s been read as a result, or if the contents will be digested by anyone. Only when someone takes the time to do that is it obvious. A ‘like’ is no longer an accurate representation of whether someone is listening. For a lot of people, it has become a Pavlovian response. A conditioned click keeps you happy you’re doing enough as a ‘friend’ but doesn’t require any extra effort. Except, of course, that’s not what really being friends with someone is about.

In the next week, I will be writing poetry about how we are conditioned now to only do enough, how ‘do what you can’ is the right, white response to everything that might be in the slightest bit problematic… except it isn’t. The planet is dying, and you’re NOT doing nearly enough, and frankly it’s embarrassing. I’ll also be moving myself towards a more active, responsive stance in the things that can be controlled in my life. It is time to stand for something and not fall for everything.