On first pass, I thought that, for me, the benefits of social media outweigh any potential risks of addiction. I do check Facebook more than I should, but usually because I am bored or procrastinating, and because I find all kinds of interesting stuff posted. I enjoy it.
But as I ponder it a bit more, what he is describing, without using the words, is perhaps the most powerful system ever fashioned for turning young minds into Other Directed personalities, the sort most fit for fascistic political governance.
Think about it: from the earliest age, kids are trained to solicit social rewards, and to tie their sense of self to continual external reinforcement, in a place completely disconnected from parental authority.
It was bad enough when the dilution of our money forced mothers into the workplace, and turned TV’s into ersatz parents. Now, they are socialized in a world completely disconnected with the physical circumstances of their lives. It is a virtual world, with virtual rules.
Our would-be rulers–and Mark Zuckerberg, among others, seems to see himself in this role–could not ask for a more effective means of making their propaganda more targeted and effective.
On a somewhat related note, I saw the new Thor movie yesterday, and, among other thoughts, some of which I may share tomorrow, it occurred to me that reality, by contrast with the movies we immerse ourselves in, must come to seem banal and uninteresting. People–kids most notably–can be addicted to continual spectacle. We have the bread, and are coming to need the circuses.
It is impossible to be optimistic about our future when, in the midst of unprecedented plenty, our best minds are preoccupied with sophomoric sophistries, petty emotional grudges, and a complete lack of vision for anything but turning the keys to the engine over to anyone who happens to present themselves.
At the same time, for me, struggle is my destiny. It is what I was put on this planet to do. There is always hope until you are dead, and in my version of things, death is just a time to rethink and retool, then go again.
I am making rapid progress in my own inner work. I have connected with, and made contingent within my present, all the longings, pains, confusions, and ass whippings I endured as a child.
Humanity has no problems which cannot be solved using reason, intelligence, and flexible and accurate perception.
Our largest problem is that so many have given up. They see no path forward, so they are working hard towards our collective collapse into mules, the dead, and the elite, who will truly have nothing to celebrate.
One final note: it occurs to me that evil, in the end, is nothing more, and nothing less, than the absence of love. Where love is truly present, there is goodness. Where it is absent, there is harm, no matter the words, no matter the creed, no matter the alleged intention.
No one who does not know themselves can do good, in the end. This is my firm view.