This Stuff Mystifies Me: People Believe (in) So Many Things

Mondays are always interesting to me, because I play catch-up with stuff that happened over the weekend, and take a little more time than usual to just "surf posts" and discover what people are talking about.

Just refreshing the "New" posts listing on Steemit every few minutes brings up a plethora of content... some of which baffles me, some amuses me, some is just beyond belief. Supplement a bit with twitter and Farcebook, and you have a veritable zoo:

Government Conspiracies
Flat Earth
Aliens on Mars
The Ashtar Command
Space Cats
Illuminati Symbols
Strange Drug Experience
Vaccines Kill
Fantasy Football
Hillary Lied
The Negative Alien Agenda

Every time I look at these things, I think to myself, "I am so freakin' OLD and STRAIGHT" it's not even funny."

"Alternative Facts?"

It's funny how the term "alternative facts" suddenly started to get used more and more... but it's seldom applied to topics such as the above.

Of course, I can't help but stop to consider what types of... thinking... I engage in myself that's really more speculation than reality. 

And I ponder this strange thing of so many people attaching themselves to unprovable and undocumented "versions" of reality... almost as if doing so somehow offers them a refuge from having to face the more immediate reality that some kids kicked over their trashcan and they will be the one picking it up, or that they're in an emotionally abusive relationship, or that they owe the tax man more money than they'll make in the next five years. 

How did we arrive at this place where it's somehow more OK to believe we are "somewhere out there" important dignitaries on some spaceship, or part of some secret government plot... than it is to just go out in the back yard and toss a ball with our kid?

And then people get to fiercely defensive of their perspectives. And the fights begin... over (often!) imaginary slights, derived from "the energy" behind words that meant nothing near what was supposed.

Them's Is Fightin' Words... But WHY?

Then I remind myself that such thoughts and skirmishes are really not "new news" to me, as I have felt significantly out of step with the human species, ever since I were a wee child.

Maybe we all have these thoughts when we're kids... observing adults either fighting, arguing, doing something clearly wrong or ill advised... and thinking to myself "Why can't people just be NICE and why can't we all just GET ALONG?"

Now I am almost 57 years old, and I find myself asking those same questions.

Then I get a little sad because it seems like we have been asking those same questions for millennia... without successful resolution. As a result of which, all I can conclude is that the human race is severely "broken," at some fundamental level.

Instead of figuring out how to just get along-- in spite of our differences-- we end up starting conflicts and wars over "unrealities."

In the course of the last week, I've come across several "skirmishes" here on Steemit in which people were being nasty and threatening to each other over... well, the specifics doesn't matter. What matters is that here we are... ostensibly some kind of model for a better alternative future of freedom and without censorship... and we're still just "stupid human behaving badly." 

Sad. Very Sad.

What do YOU think? Does it seem like people are more attached to unproven unrealities than the actual ecperience of life passing in front of their face? Does it sometimes seem like the human species is DE-volving, rather than making progress? Have you observed fellow Steemians getting into "local wars" over issues... that seem inconsequential, while REAL problems go unaddressed? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170715 12:23 PDT