It's Been a Very Long Time

I'm not really back in the literal sense, it's been a very long time since I felt any urge to add to these pages and made them private long ago. Now, they're not all public, a few being returned to drafts. I'm sure why I did this, honestly I can't recall the context, since it was done years ago.  

Recently, I have been musing more than I used to, or rather, the musings are staying with me longer than they used to. Most of my musings are fleeting, without any real purpose. Passing thoughts like ships in the night. They come and go, and few stick with me for days. I have come to a strange conclusion and it's not just America's problem, it is seemingly everywhere, every corner of the world. We have become addicted to drama. 

Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, or even Blogger) didn't invent outrage or tribalism. Yet it thrives on those services. People will post how much they appreciate "being kind" post also about things that infuriate them. They shut down any possible discussion about what they post (which might be true or false) by posting that when they see something they disagree with, they just keep scrolling. This obviously makes them feel better about their shit post moments earlier they might have posted where they took a distinct political stance. It also tells me, they don't honest discussion, they just want likes and comments that back up whatever they believe to true. 

I noticed several years ago, Facebook friends who I had known elsewhere for years before had slowly changed. Everything was fine when we complained about our families, shared silly stuff our kids said, and fostered relationships based on those things. These women had my home address and phone number. We exchanged gifts at holidays, we would call each other for advice or help during difficult times. A few years into Facebook, I began noticing changes in most of them. Things I never realized before, like how religious they were or what political flavor they were. Even the ones who claim to proudly not engage in "political drama" I would see they liked, gave a heart or laughing emoji, to a mutual friend who did post something that was political. I could deduce where they stood by those likes and laughs. They began to speak openly about the "War on Christmas" even though as an atheist I knew there wasn't such a thing. If I dared to point it out, my comment was lost in a sea of "amens" with replies of heart emojis. My comment would simply be passed over at best, or removed entirely by them out of fear it would upset another friend of theirs (who I can only assume was more important than me). 

Yet, I scrolled past every bible verse they posted without so much as a comment. I flew past when they updated their cover or profile image, to reflect the "real reason for the season" or whatever holiday motif they believed. I didn't do that because I am a better person, but I remained respectful of their religious belief. When I dared to post something that might have upset their deep religious belief on my own wall (not directed at them) one responded with "sad" emoji.  They have never liked or remarked on anything I've ever posted since. I was sent to the facebook version of the cornfield, muted by them.  Sure they'd pop over, if I bought something they were selling, but quickly forgot about me when I didn't continue to buy from them -- how many sets of earrings, mops, makeup did I need? Especially when I didn't care for the product and found it overpriced and lacked value?

It might seem that I've digressed greatly from the topic of this post, but not really, the tribalism that I've seen grow on social media is part of the problem as is the addiction we have to drama. We thrive on drama. Especially the drama that causes us to feel outraged about anything. Each "Karen" or "Todd" video would lead to hours of scrolling to see the post that said the person was fired from their job or some other outcome and gleefully retweeted or shared for further likes. We are fast to boycott a business that outrages us, but do they really outrage us? Or are we just told that someone else is outraged by what they did, therefore I should also be outraged? A whole 99% of businesses I'm supposed to be boycotting are mostly things I don't buy anyway. 

If we're not in a constant state of turmoil are we not living? Everything is geared to whip us up into a frenzy that honestly if our lives were less dull we probably wouldn't even notice. We have filled our lives with stuff that increases our need for that jolt of drama.  It really started with reality TV, which we know that isn't real at all and I think we're all clued into that. Networks however, jumped on that bandwagon with both feet, because who needs writers, real actors, who needs anything, save for some camera and sound people? It's cheap and give a good hook people will watch. The Network TLC used to be about learning. In fact it was known as the "Learning Channel" they would show cooking, travel and home improvement shows, some decorating stuff too. They learned quickly that could make more money by producing crap about buying a wedding dress or emergency make overs, or Little People, then enter every freak family that has now become famous because they have 20 kids, which was originally part of an one off show about super sized families that was spun off into a million different shows. 

Those shows are all geared toward some sort of drama, usually manufactured that they would drag out for weeks and weeks to keep people watching. I could go on and on. I stopped watching all television years ago for this reason. I gave up on even local news because I could see how false it was, not driven by actually reporting but cherry picking what the "news of the day" was based solely on political agendas. A classic example of this was my local news stations (all of them) reporting daily on the meth problem in Portland Oregon a decade ago, until law passed taking Sudafed off the shelves (it requires a script and doctor's visit) then suddenly while the meth problem continued to rage (and eventually bled into the prescription drug problem and heroin addiction problem), was absent from the daily news. To the media was "problem solved" now we get people outraged about new stuff...

Which brings us back to social media and how everyone is right and has the right to their own set of facts, how we become a society of virtual avatars, publicly voicing our collective outrage about whatever I'm supposed to be outraged about. 

It begs to ask, how are we supposed to ever compromise when everyone believes they're right? How will ever be one country when we are divide into factions? When will we understand that we created the division?