041721 1830H
An unexpected internet outage during a restful weekend is responsible for today's entry, although given the aforementioned conditions, it is still unknown when this entry will be posted.
A bit of Coronavirus update to get that out the way:
The country is on pace to breach a million cases by month's end (as was earlier predicted). To say that this new wave was surprising would be the understatement of the century. Things were already apparently improving.. Case numbers were pretty much under control.. Hospital beds were already freeing up, and people had already resumed some semblance of normalcy for a month or so already... Then it happened..
An unprecedented exponential growth in the number of new cases was seen. Ironic that this had to occur when vaccination programs were finally underway.. I can't say it's a local thing either.. Across the globe, governments are grappling with new unexpected waves which threaten to overwhelm (once again) the already worn-down health systems.. However, I find a country in particular to be suspicious.. This country of origin of the virus is not reporting any surge.. Could be because of under reporting by the secretive and selfish government, or maybe because if they actually made the virus, they have perfected a way to immunize against it while watching the rest of the world burn. Then they will strike hard (as they are already doing in nearby areas) while the rest of the world is hurting. A part of me wonders if this new surge may have been powered by foreign actors with hostile intent who have introduced these new deadlier strains to unsuspecting populations of various nations.. but enough of that..
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The main topic I wish to tackle here is the corruption of modern society by means of social media. Simply put, social media gives a platform for everyone, even those who don't deserve it. Some may argue that everyone deserves to have a voice.. That may be true in an ideal world, but if you have charismatic nutjobs spewing forth lies and disinformation which would be readily gobbled up by a gullible public, then you have a recipe for disaster. I think that human beings, by nature, are not meant for this kind of stimulation. Sure education would help, but to what extent? Even educational systems can be flawed, and people in power could twist the system to push their own narrative. A good example would be those crazy science deniers in the US who wish to remove the theory of evolution from the school curriculum due to an outdated notion of creationism. I have my own faith, but I'm also rational enough to know that you just can't explain everything away by miracles and magic. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of people who are stuck with these very backward notions.
I wouldn't call it stupidity or ignorance per se.. Some of these people supposedly come from educated backgrounds, and you could carry out an intelligent conversation with them (theoretically), but their belief systems are so hopelessly backward and skewed that opening a conversation with them about rational things devolves into a debate with a child. There are two sides to every coin though. The rational thinkers should not be so condescending in their approach. I think its the initial approach that turns off many of the ignorant. At the same time, I get how it must be so absolutely frustrating trying to explain proven truths to someone who stubbornly refuses to budge like a spoiled child.
Now take the aforementioned problem, and magnify that a million-fold by putting it on the internet, the "Information Superhighway". It is so ironic that such a massive storehouse of knowledge i actually making people dumber. The insane amount of information enables the nutjobs to cherry-pick their beliefs and push their narratives with "evidences" scattered all throughout the forest of uncurated data. I guess the internet grew too fast, too soon, and people were just not ready fr it. Efforts to teach people to discern and digest the information they see on the web, and to not take it at face value, is laudable but seems a bit futile.. The internet can now be freely accessed by almost everyone (who is not living in China or North Korea), and the number of uninformed, immature "netizens" vastly outnumbers those who are trying to set things straight.
Another problem is that the people who are "under-informed" often do not wish to be educated because they are already comfortable with the limited information that they have. They shun the value of expert opinions and hard scientific data and instead point to where the mob is going and say that they want to go that way too, because, uh, people..
I read somewhere before that "A person is smart, people are stupid", and that is so true on the internet, especially on social media. You see a mob drowning out rational voices, often due to paid trolls who are in the business of taking down good people, who would then incite normal clueless individuals to do the same because of the herd mentality. I really wonder how many of these so called trolls would dare behave the way they do online in real life.. People have now abandoned common decency for a quick buck, or for a chance to shout that they won an argument despite the fact that they are wrong. It is this childish bullying mentality that is now so pervasive on the web and causes a great deal of stress for so many people and has driven so many to do self-harm, or worse.
I am now forced to recall that I had experienced a bit of cyber-bullying myself way back during my formative years. The internet was still in its infancy, but new media had enabled people to post disguised hurtful interactions publicly. So yeah, that happened, and although it was mild compared to what kids may go through today, it still left an indelible mark on my psyche, enough to make me a bit more distrustful of people in general.
I guess that is why I prefer this as my medium of expression. I do not require nor crave validation by way of likes and views, and I have the ability to ruthlessly curate comments as I see fit.
Going back on topic. The mask of anonymity on the internet emboldens people to unleash their inner asshole, even for brief moments. The problem here lies in the fact that event just momentary events of total jackassery directed against a particular individual or group may hurt someone permanently, especially if it is posted for posterity for all the world to see. I don't want to discuss trolls, hell, I don't event wish to dignify them by giving them names. Let's just call them the unnecessary individuals on the internet. These unnecessary individuals are paid to be mean, so it is useless to engage them since you cannot change their minds, and you won't be able to get your hands on them anyway, so stop wasting your time. However, if they do manage to identify and track down these individuals, I will just turn the other way and let the other very angry and vengeful people have their way with them. ;)
Ok, I think I let off enough stem for one day. Time to move on to more important, real-world things.
Stay safe.
