Yesterday, a friend of mine added an article about a planned massacre in the city in which we live, that was thwarted and the boys (18 and 16) are on trial.
This terrifies me. Not just because it's in our town but because these ideas are spreading like a psychological virus.
And it is very contagious, as it doesn't require direct contact, nor do the symptoms become apparent immediately. Instead, it is a slow slide into dysfunction and ill-health, but those affected believe they are finally seeing the truth, the light, and now have the knowledge and power to take agency for themselves, and make a difference.
The thing is, that none of this is new. It just hasn't been as common, nor as widespread as it is today, where extremism has become the norm and acting on emotional belief encouraged. And while it might seem like it is due to the pressure of a changing global world, that pressure has been engineered, with the majority of the influence coming from the American model of profit at any cost.
For instance, while I am not a supporter of government, the UK is about to have its seventh Prime Minister in a decade. Political turmoil is the new norm, where public pressure and internal agendas mean that no one or group is able to do anything. This might be a good thing in one sense since governments suck, but the waste of resources through the constant flipping is crushing everyday people further and further, leading to more if that pressure that drives them to snap.
Many see this as some kind of "people power" to cause change, but it is not that at all. Instead, it is the for profit media influence, which makes money from turmoil, conflict, crime, violence, and hatred - no matter who is in government. Their business isn't to inform the people to make good decisions, it is to sell advertising by attracting attention. It is a for-profit industry that cares for nothing else, but the bottom line.
Which makes them a mouthpiece of those with an agenda, who will use them to push a position, regardless of what damage will be done. And all of the various plays use it, whether it is the left or right, the social warriors or the hard-line extremists. Everyone is platformed, even if they aren't on every platform. And the media is the lubricant of influence.
When I was young, there was a common statement of "only in America" when hearing about all kinds of crazy things, whether it be massacres with assault rifles, or warnings on plastic bags that they are not toys. But now, it isn't only in America because the influence of the American approach to business and media has spilled out globally, catalysed ever faster by the technological advancements in communication.
The mechanisms that onboard the psychological virus of religion that used to take hundreds of years to spread significantly, are now triggered in an instant, hundreds of times a day. The most heinous of opinions gets a closed-door audience that is invited straight into a persons home, and then once the placeholder is made for the topic, the algorithms driven to increase profits through message amplification, will keep filling that space, widening it, deepening it, driving roots into the ground and connecting it up to "like minds" from all over the world. And then the peer pressure, the egging-on, the showing off helps the individual feel part of something, builds their identity, and makes them feel justified for their opinions, and supported in their actions.
So many of us think that we are too smart to be influenced, yet just listen to how people talk and note how many memes they use to describe their opinions. Expressions they did not invent and likely don't even know where they first heard it. They use these to describe their world, their loves and hates, their political positions, and the most heinous of opinions.
The propaganda is working.
The psychological virus is not only spreading, but it is mutating into increasingly extreme variants. It is not targeting one group or ethnicity, because it caters to all and targets indiscriminately. And the more it spreads, the more fear, anger and violence it will produce, further separating the distributed populations from each other, and a potential cure.
The cure is simple in theory, but nearly impossible and highly unlikely to be taken. Because all that is needed, is to shift global society away from a for-profit model and move to a for-wellbeing model instead. This takes the value out of promoting negative conflict and moves it toward positive growth. Improvement of people within the system, rather than people being resources to leverage for profit. An economy of human development, instead of monetary investment growth at any cost.
It would kill the economy we have, but it would give us a chance to live.
But who is willing? Very few. And because too few are willing, it will never get enough momentum to actually make the shifts we need to see. It is much easier to create negative results than positive. Easier to tear down, than build.
The Kings of Influence aren't sitting on thrones, though the loudest billionaires are often mistaken for them. The actual kings are in the background, facilitating the conversations that lead to all the negatives we are seeing in the world. The platforms and gateways, the media outlets and the algorithms. They are silently working their craft, directing our thoughts and making us believe that our beliefs, are our own.
We should be terrified.
But what we should fear more, is our own susceptibility and complacency.
Taraz
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