This week's QOTW by @ecotrain is again the type that I was going to skip. In fact, I'm not even sure if this post qualifies as a real response... instead of just explaining why I don't think I can properly answer this question. The topic is relevant people or to be more precise the MOST relevant people of our time. Just looking at this title makes me open up the relativistic "it all depends..." since there is a whole lot of room for interpretation. Relevant to whom? Relevant for what? Relevant in which area? Besides, I really don't like talking about people, but let me just ignore that for now.
On the accompanying image there are a good two dozen faces, of presumable relevant people. Some look like academics, others are clearly athletes, some may be social activists, or actors, celebrities, maybe politicians...? One thing I can say for certain they all have in common, is that I don't recognize any of them. Not one! But that's just me.
Who's Relevant For Me?
So let's talk about the people I consider relevant. Starting with my wife, my sister, my parents, and my friends, living all dispersed around this globe. Even in the past I would never hesitate to think of them, before considering any celebrity, whether they may be politicians, musicians, activists, or any other area. But I guess that's is not what this Question of the Week is asking. Instead, I should talk a bit about the names and faces on screens.
I remember back in the day (when I was in school in the early nineties) I had adopted this attitude of questioning people's existence if I didn't know them personally. It started out as a joke at first, but could soon be applied to living as well as historical characters. Did Shakespeare actually exist? I know, I wasn't the first one to wonder. So how about Jacque Cousteau, Bill Clinton, or Kurt Cobain? My running gag soon turned into deep existentialist pondering, and though I had to admit that my own senses could deceive me just as easily, at least they were part of me. However, if someone told me something ABOUT what another (famous) person said, let alone what they meant by it, got me to respond with a huge amount of scrutiny.
Listening to People on the Internet
Of course this didn't mean that I rejected any information coming my way. On the contrary: I really enjoyed surfing the net for news, for which I immersed myself in publications of various directions, from the center to the left and the right, as well as those you can't easily place. One such news source led me to Sean Kennedy from Rant Media. What I particularly enjoyed about this guy, was the unbiased way he was presenting "alternative news stories". Unlike traditional journalists, he would never hesitate at offering his own views, interpretations, and predictions to the stories. And though his opinions may have been controversial, they never came from a typical left or right corner. If anything, I guess you could call it cyberpunk...
All this was just before YouTube came out, and everyone and their godmother started offering their own two cents in video format. Ironically, that was also the time when I got fed up with most stories from far away, whether mainstream or underground media. My first (and for the longest time only) YouTuber I subscribed to was Geriatric1927. He was an old dude from the UK, talking about his youth, motorcycles, the Rolling Stones, and life in general. It was cool to listen to him, but I would describe him as anything but relevant.
What About Our Most Recent Time?
Fast forward to today, where news stories have found a roundabout way to come and bother us, via social media shares. I still can't help but put in a comfortable distance between myself and whoever is telling me things. In fact, if anything, my scrutiny has just grown. I hate seeing people being manipulated into thinking and believing in a certain way, but what I would hate even more is seeing myself going down that path. This carefully maintained mental distance goes especially for people like Greta Thunberg, who I essentially agree with, while I really don't care for the way she presents her views.
Let's Hear an Answer!
Still, I can't complete this QOTW post without offering some semblance of an answer. After all, who do I consider relevant, outside of my personal circle? Try as I might, the only thing that comes to mind is my extended personal circle, made up of mostly strangers, that is people I have never met. On the other hand, I interact with many of them directly, right here on Hive. Exactly! I'm talking first and foremost about @eco-alex , but also all my fellow passengers on the @ecotrain, and other communities I am active in. (And sorry, I'm not going to list anyone, as I'm sure I would leave out somebody!) But all of you guys, posting stuff on this amazing blockchain based social media: You guys, all of you, are who I consider most relevant! I am way more interested what any of you all have to say, rather than Elon Musk, Prince Charles, or Leonardo DiCaprio. Besides, how do I know they actually exist in the first place?
