The truth is out their....just not on the internet!

 

Okay, this week has really driven home to me that the reliance on Social media is worse for some people than a substance addiction (And yes I count myself amongst those). But the whole social media thing may be dangerous, but if you take it the right way it can be good. Honestly I have seen it swallow up good people and create horror shows! They go in thinking one way and come out cookie cutter idiots who believe the drivel they are fed! 

This year a good friend of mine shocked me by “Taking a break” from social media and she stuck to it! Her actions really got me thinking and I started looking at my own interactions with this toxic environment and I came up with a few things I have noted over the course of the Pandemic that stand out to me.

 

1.       Insights and personal info should be curtailed. We all bitch about our privacy and how we want to keep our own information private…then we go on Tik Tok, Facebook and Twitter and spew all our personal information and ideas on line forgetting that its out their for everyone to see now. IDIOTS!  You don’t want to have to share your “Vaccine passport” but you go on Twitter and tell the world you are not vaccinated…a three second search on social media would tell anyone interested (Judges, Police, Bar owners) that you are an anti-vax-idiot….yah, that’s private. Also, those “pictures” you put up…we all see them…and they are now permanently imbedded in someone’s computer…nice. Hope you don’t want to run for office or….well GOD I hope you don’t want to run for office.

2.       People seem to forget what you put on the web today…stays forever! Sharing your thoughts and opinions is fine….I guess…unless its on social media or the web. Remember your quips about something that you think everyone agrees with may not age as well as you think.  Also, people will take anything you say and make more or less out of it depending on their needs.  Im thinking back to a post a lady put on Facebook about how violent panhandlers are an issue and the police should toss them in jail. Something I think all of us can agree on. Until EIGHT years later your spouse is running for mayor of your city and the “other” guys now call it racist and insensitive! Now that quip you put on line is held up and used against you…and now you suck because your spouse losses the election he could have won. OR those pictures of your “under-boob” (Looking at you Rick) are now a meme and you cant get rid of them. Or you post how trashed you got at the concert and the Weed was so strong and the girls….who cares if you did not know how old they were…and you stole that cop car…man what a week end! ….and your run for pastor of a church is sort of ended by your admissions. Keep this in mind! (the first one was a true story…not commenting on the second)

3.       If you cant pass a grade 12 science exam…you cant do your “own research”. This past year I can not tell you how many people I personally know who never took Science past grade 10 or who failed grade 12 science and yet still graduated because they had enough autobody classes to graduate, suddenly telling me how Hydroxycholoroquine is better than the vaccine or that I just misspelled it or how the current vaccine was created so fast it cant be safe.  So, you cant figure out basic biology enough to point out the parts of a cell or what kind of cell….or where your pancreases is...but suddenly you have read PhD level research papers and understand them? I really have a hard time buying that one.  I am going to go with….no you don’t.

4.       Even if you have passed a grade 12 science exam…you cant do your “Own research” online anymore. I know a few “smarter” people out their who mistakenly have fallen down the rabbit hole of internet “research” only to come to some very WRONG conclusions. What we tend to forget is that researching online is just reading what an algorithm has force fed you. I once debated with someone who kept throwing these “Links” at me. I read the links and then started noticing that the Algorithm gods started posting similar things on my google searches.  My YouTube channel did the same…so I forced its hand by searching for opposite info and you know what…the bias confirming Algorithm gods fed me what I wanted then too.  Point is that people DON’T go looking for scientific papers on line, they read articles written by specific interest groups with very obvious bias showing…and then take it as gospel and we end up with a conspiracy affirming idea with “proof”…only issue is that the “proof” is worthless and skewed badly. People think that they can do their own research online…you cant.  You can read what others are force feeding you for the most part….thats all.

5.       People have lost the ability to debate. Ever watch a “Debate” or conversation unfold on say…Facebook. Its not a debate….someone says “this is my idea” and with in seconds some troglodyte spews hatred and venom at the original poster, then others attack the troll and become ad homonym factories themselves. Its horrible and shows our lesser qualities to their fullest. If you can not respectfully debate, walk away.  I personally LOVE debate and use it as a tool for personal growth, but not online and I really pick the people I debate now a days as most people never learned that you can hold an opposing position and not be an opponent.

6.       People have lost the ability to think and act logically or reason when confronted with information…of any kind….we are ….lemmings! like real life Zombies most of us read information (or watch) and take it all in as if its holy truth! The fact is that most people can not tell the difference between a fact and an opinion when asked. This is part of the issue with the Anti-(add anything) here movements. They don’t think, they don’t talk to people with opposing thoughts and they THINK they do when someone says “I once talked to an gun law advocate and he did not have the answers to my questions” the person listening then tells others that “THEY” once spoke with a guy pro gun control and he was a complete idiot with no reasons as to why.  Problem is…they didn’t. we regurgitate information and we don’t think when we are doing it.

7.       Us and them is a construct created by those that want to control you.  “Them/us” was created to control people. If we can create an opponent to our thoughts then we can control those like minded people and make the fight for control of them easier by personalizing the fight. The Them/us construct just makes it easier to create a false narrative and engage people to a side so you create loyalty to a political stance. Right wing, left wing, anarchist…its all the same.

8.       We take “I hate to be wrong” and “I hate being told Im wrong” to a new pathological level.  I hate being wrong! Hell I LOATH it…but Im married so Im always wrong…just on principle Im wrong and she is right…even when she is not…well she is right even then…if you are married You get it…if not you wont ever understand it. Now the internet creates this monster by delivering everyone confirmation bias developing information.  Gives us our own PhD’s in what ever the hell it is we are “researching” and then throws us in the most disrespectful thunder dome of debate ever and says “Go at it”! You see it all the time…..Internet warriors clashing and the second someone says “you are wrong” the other side blows up and all false claims of diplomacy are thrown out the window and in their place is the not so subtle jabs and personal attacks (Ad homonym) that are sprinkled liberally through most conversations on the net.  We hate being wrong…but dear sweet Jebuz do we hate being TOLD we are wrong…..much like being married…even when we ARE wrong.

9.       You never took a law class but you know your rights…no you don’t! This is my favorite one. First off Im Canadian so the debate here is do you know your CANADIAN charter of rights….not your American civil rights, I only know what I have seen on TV about American rights, but I happen to have taken Civics and Intro to Law in High school and university and know my rights…but I bet you don’t. The Charter of rights in Canada is A GREAT DEAL DIFFERENT than the American civil rights laws…first off…did you know that…chances are you did not. The Canadian Charter of rights has basically Severn rights and freedoms it outlines for Canadian Citices in categories ranging from Language rights to Democratic rights, from Mobility rights to Equality rights. However, it does NOT protect you the way you THINK it does and it has a big “unless” clause called the “Not with standing” act.  So you got your rights…unless the government has to temporarily take them away for things like….war or …..COVID outbreak! (pandemics…just wanted to be clear not just COVID).  So those saying they can travel because of the Mobility rights act…well….Section six basically says that Canadian citizens have the right to remain in or leave Canada, to take up residence in any province TO PURSUE GAINING LIVELIHOOD….not to get a friggin tan in Florida and then come back up or visit your Cousin in Vancouver! Recently a traveler yelled at a airport “cop” about their right to travel and the border services officer asked them if they were moving to Montreal for a job….the answer was NO for vacation and the person was sent packing…home. If you are not a lawyer or have actually read and studied the law…you don’t know the law….or your rights really.

10.    Your information is not private anymore…get over it.  I have a God Given Right to my privacy….ERRRRR!  Nope!  First off God is taken out of most legal briefs now out of an abundance of understanding that religious ideals should not mix with…well fact and law. Second you have a REASONABLE right to assume privacy, you have a right to life, liberty and security OF THE PERSON and you have a freedom from unreasonable search and seizure…but that does not mean you can argue it with the Cop when he is doing the search…you can get it thrown out of court later…a time and a place for everything by friend. Second Two of the charter is your Fundamental freedoms, which include Freedom of Conscience, freedom of Religion, freedom of thought and freedom of expression/the press and to peaceful assembly….no place in our charter of rights do you have a right to privacy or to keep all your information private.  We have specific privacy Laws that are in effect, but that does not make them a right….the point is narrow I admit but I am sort of sick of people saying that they have a right to this and that and not really understand the difference between a right and a Law.

11.   You cant even spell civics but you think you know everything about the government. Did you know that the Liberal government is corrupt and the PC government is pure as the driven show. Did you know that the NDP is all about being communist and that the PC government is protecting your human rights. Or that the Liberal government is the JT Government and always has been and the NDP is pushing a more blah blah blah blah.  Did you realize that voting does not matter and you have no say in the government….blah blah blah blah. Everyday I read about politics from people who never took a civics class, did not realize we have a senet and don’t understand the MLA/MP differences. I mean really people what the hell does Joe the plumbers assistant with a grade six education rally know about the inner workings of parliament or even the school board.  I watched as a well planned out reformation of the school system in Manitoba was shot down because people who never read the proposal were against it…because someone told them to be against it.  They did not pick up the key points of the bill or the whole proposal and read it…someone said “Bill bad…hurt you” and they attacked it. Was it a perfect bill, hell no…but no bill proposed is perfect. I watched as people voted again in this past election and we got the same results….why…people don’t think they just do what they are told! Most people don’t realize how an prime minister is elected….I voted liberal because the local “incumbent (NDP)” is a weak candidate and has really don’t nothing for us…and someone kicked my yard sign down saying I was voting for JT. He is not in my riding so NO I am not voting for Justin…I voted for a liberal candidate I thought would do a better job. If she had won (Not a snow balls chance in Miami by the way) It’s a Liberal vote and yes the hair piece would have won…but that’s life. If you have never taken a civics class….and stayed awake through it then shut up you don’t know how politics and the government works (or how buggered they actually are…its worse than you think).

12.   We are…all idiots! Yes I include myself in this. We end up, regardless of good intentions and preparation for these events, falling into a very planned out trap set by internet trolls who are smarter than us. We give away to much info, we get sucked into debates, we absorb BS we are being fed by a special interest group and we do so while posting private information, yet crying about our privacy. We accept people as “friends” whom we have never met and probably never will meet and we “unfriend” people we have a history with because they no longer follow the same “mental path” we do (hint they never did….we just never asked because you don’t ask politically heavy questions while playing little league with them). We are much more sensitive while being highly insensitive to others, we lack the ability to logically think while quoting facts that are “questionable” at best and we take for granted because its printed on the interweb it has to be truth…just like the “bat boy” stories in the “news paper” I got at the check out stand while buying my daughters milk the other day. We are incapable of original thought and we are mad that this generation lacks the Picasso’s and Shakespeare’s of their times. Why….well we are all idiots. Like Veil Cows, we are keeping ourselves in our own Tiny little cages and just gorging on BS that the web provides to us.

13.  Everyone has an opinion on everything….even if they don’t.  Im very guilty of this one and trying my darndest to get away from it. Post just about anything on Facebook or Twitter and watch as people from all sides come to join and leave “Comments”. The Comments section for me is called the “Toxic septic tank of random, inappropriate and silly responses/reactions”.  First off, and being completely clear here…Im starting to like looking at what someone had for lunch much more than what their thoughts on what the latest Government policy is. Chime in however…every one else is.

14.  We attack first and then figure out why we are right to do so! Me Too, BLM and several other movements have been creating even more of a chasm and hurting friendships for some time now. They are necessary but they are also being handled poorly….And I KNOW I have to clarify this one!  So, as a white male I have to state FOR THE RECORD…I have never molested, raped, a female or beaten, oppressed or forced segregation on anyone! I never took someone’s land, forced them to work my land for free, took them from their homes or stopped them from participating in their cultural activities…but because I am a white male…or course I did. I have actually lost friends over this one. People have to remember that individuals can do horrible things, but just because you belong to the same demographic you can not be tossed in with them! Or rather you should not.  This and lets face it…you can not blame one demographic for something and lump everyone in.  Everyone says “White men are responsible for slavery” EEEEEN. Wrong answer. Did you know that aboriginals in Canada have a slave culture that goes back before the white man landed on these shores, and that the head of the Mohowk nation had slaves (African American’s) working his land prior to the British empire making it illegal!  Did you know that Middle eastern culture and Asian culture has Slave Trade deeply rooted in their cultures as well…..You do realize that Europeans did not create a genocide against the Native Americans….and that Native Americans were KNOWN for killing off entire tribes of people in warfare and that Central American tribes not only killed whole villages of people off, but had rituals doing so. Yes, white men came and “suckered” the locals out of their lands but how they did it and the horrible things that happened are not really as clear and concise as others would make them out to be. The indigenous people of Canada, in the first treaty, insisted that their children be put in schools to learn the white mans ways….Boy did they get more than they bargained for! The point is that we are all so quick to attack people and specific demographics and we only have a small part of the puzzle! We rip down statues of people because they did horrible things…but we don’t respect the good they did too. Or we support someone whole heartedly and we forgive their “warts” with out really taking a close look at them. THINK people.

15.  We think we know, but we don’t. Conspiracy theories are FAKE information that is used to control you and your ideas. I have watched as logical people who I thought were mentally stronger than they were…were subjected to a conspiracy theory designed to control them…and they went at it hook line and sinker. Conspiracy theories used to be something funny to play with and we looked at the “true believers” as being dupes or weirdo’s that were off their rockers for believing such drivel….okay so not much has changed other than everyone now taking up their own personal conspiracy theories. A conspiracy theory is a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event. Normally these are harmless like “UFO’S are real and the US government knows about it and is covering it up” or “the CIA had JKF DOA’d”.  Most of them are “harmless” if not heartless, but some are getting dangerous like “the Holocaust is fake” or “Mass shootings are fake”. Or more recent just about anything about COVID and the vaccines. The fact is first off most groups like the government are not organized enough to actually pull one of these off and even if they were…they could not keep it quiet with opposing groups in the legislature along with them. Again, back to the whole “you did not take civics” think so you don’t know how a government actually works.

16.  We lack empathy and the ability to put ourselves in others shoes. What brought this one to mind the most was the total flip flop of our approach to the front line workers and the first responders during the Pandemic…or even before. First off the nurses and doctors out there are NOT part of some conspiracy to make the damn pandemic seem worse than it is…Shake your bloody heads people. They are suffering terrible emotional attacks as they are trying to save those in ICU’s from dying of COVID related symptoms. They don’t need to be attacked! Secondly, to what end?  Nothing changes for a nurse or doctor helping us if they are in some kind of pandemic or not. The damn beds they serve are full, they are watching people die and idiots out here are debating if they are or are not.  They want us to get the vaccine as it helps THEM help US if we do get COVID…but screw that lts just attack them because…well….we are idiots.

17.  This guy I know or this doctor I read about…are now viable sources for our own ideas! So this Doctor you read about or a guy told you about something his doctor said, or a well known doctor is filmed saying something and you take it as gospel. Lets dissect that for a second shall we….first off recently a Dawsom Creek town hall meeting turned into a HUGE illustration of “Beware of whom you actually believe” and has become a bigger illustrator what I have always said in debates, before you quote someone look at them!  A lady stood up during a open mic at the town hall and began spewing anti vax/mask/COVID conspiracies and presented herself as not just an expert but a molecular biologist no less. She did a presentation about COVID and spewed for a bit.  She was super convincing, and her talk was videotaped and then flew all over the interweb as Gospel according to a Molecular biologist.  Problem is….she is not a molecular biologist and owns a an "alternative clinic" that uses "energy healing" and "psychic readings," along with herbal teas and essential oils, to help clients.  Yes, its that easy to fool people and become a driving force in BS Conspiracy theories. Also, kind of sick of people doing the Donald J Trump run around of “This guy said” or “A friend told me” or even “so my doctor says” when you know full well its all Cow patties! If you can not quote a viable source that can be vetted shut the hell up! If you simply said I read this some place it at least lets us know we gotta go dig around to find it, or you can pass on the source too.  Point is if it cant be vetted don’t quote it. IF you think its opinion over facts then don’t use it. And for Gods sake if its God you are quoting…remember some of us don’t to Cosplay!

18.  The internet should be used for what its original intent was….Porn and ….well Porn.  Well that and to watch Youtube! Seriously, the internet is a good place to grab random facts but its not a place to do a deep dive. The Algorithm gods screw with the data you get and you end up just identifying things that help you support your own bias.  DON’T TAKE THE INTERNET SERIOUSLY! I know I have gotten bad info from the web and then read real papers and figured out stuff. It can be used for some things but remember….most of us can not identify a fact in a bunch of opinions and don’t even know the difference. Its like watching Fox news if you are a conservative, they are conservatives and will only reenforce your views…go watch CNN to challenge your views or MSNBC…and vice versa if you hold left leaning views.  Point is…the internet is not a place to go and grow…it’s a place to go bitch and watch porn…nuff said.