This is as far as I got... but I like the cadence.
Hey there Doc, what do you say.
You cannot draw my face that way.
I do not like the way you sketch
You are spreading hate that others will catch
They're just drawings, you foolish clown
Stories for children
Not men in gowns
With pointy hats that poke the sky
You imagine things, it makes me sigh
We will cancel you on this day
We will remove you in our way
No more will you be welcome here
We'll ban your books both far and near
So, I have become increasingly aware that the problem isn't so much Social Media itself...
It is a generation that has no experience where social media didn't exist.
The problem is that DIGG came up with this idea of "user sourced" content being weighted by popularity a decade or two back - and the idea caught on.
But I don't think they foresaw that it would encourage and reward conformity of opinion while suppressing dissenting opinion.
And they didn't foresee that a generation that never knew anything *but* this would come to believe that disagreement is an inherently bad thing.
Because that is the basic problem with Twitter, Reddit and most other social media sites. The myth is that China has a social credit system and it is bad - but the truth is like Black Mirror's world - social credit is already a thing that exists. If you do not toe the party line on Twitter and Reddit, you'll be buried - and you're effectively voiceless. People raised in this environment, reliant on the dopamine rush of positive acknowledgement by their peers - eventually learn to instinctively "dog pile" on anything that is disagreeable to the majority opinion.
So maybe, to an extent, it is the fault of social media - but there is a particular AGE range - a *generational* gap - where this behavior becomes so onerous that it *the* a problem. Being in agreement with the group is of paramount importance to the demographic that is strongest in places like Discord, Reddit, and Twitter - which is, unsurprisingly, the favored social media destination of Millennials.
The problem is, as a generation - they're *basically* the Borg. Once they've decided on an ideology, a belief, a value - as *correct* - anyone of their own generation who disagrees is canceled. I know a few examples of people in this and later generations who are critical thinkers and willing to stand up and say they disagree - and they're all inevitably socially erased from their peer groups (most - voluntarily.)
I don't think I'm the first person to realize this disturbing trend - but this is the first time I've really come to consciously understand the implications. Black Mirror's episode, Nosedive tried to explore these concepts - but they failed to really narrow the phenomenon down to the root cause.
A generation raised understanding that disagreement with the mob makes you not just a social pariah, but a SOCIETAL pariah. They have a pathological, and possibly subconscious fear of the ramifications of being out of lock step with the popular opinion of the majority.
That is dangerous. It is *actually* fascist. But it was done this time without the threat of violence, of secret police kicking in your door at 2 AM to drag you and your family off to re-education camp.
Let me fix this for you.
Thu May 13 2021 04:51:13 PM EDT from ParanoidDelusionsIt is a generation that has no experience
This is not untrue.
I get involved in these debates with them, and I know they're pointless and futile. Right now, on a thread about "Family terrorized by LA Sheriff after Sheriff murders their son..."
I pointed out that the memorial cutout of the son features him flipping a gang sign, the 14 year old sister quoted in the article has a leg tattoo around her thigh, and the 7 or 8 year old peewee standing at the front of the family giving his mad-dog hard-ass scowl is also flipping the same gang sign down low... the Sheriff who shot the guy is also Latino, and the study was *done* by BLM... so... all reasons to be suspicious of the claim that they're being *harassed* by the *police*...
Along with another story that claims that the real problem is that there are actively operating street-gangs *inside* the LA PD and Sheriff's Department - which would make this GANG warfare, not police abusing authority...
And this post is at 2 points right now, despite having 10 thumbs up.
With responses like, "What OTHER gangs in LA?!?"
I know I'm arguing with white guys that grew up in comfortable, safe suburbs who have never lived a hard day in their lives and have no idea other than what they've been taught on social media and in their schools.
And there is no reasoning with them.
But they're so fucking STUPID.
Thu May 13 2021 17:03:43 EDT from Nurb432Let me fix this for you.
Thu May 13 2021 04:51:13 PM EDT from ParanoidDelusionsIt is a generation that has no experience
I know i'm a bit biased as all generations are towards themselves, but it just seems that in my childhood ( i'm not much older than the rest of you really ) we actually learned things.
We were not coddled as toddlers, actually went outside and got ourselves hurt on our bike in grade school, were taught actual things in school ( no, not perfect, but far better than today's participation award schooling ). Lived thru a rather bad rescission and due to it, while not fully understanding, we did at least understand the concept of money does not grow on trees and you need to actually work if you want something. Taught to think for ourselves, and not just blindly trust anything. And we were smart enough to understand that roadrunner was not real....
Just so different of an upbringing, and now we are starting to pay the price.
2021-05-13 18:30 from Nurb432
I know i'm a bit biased as all generations are towards themselves,
but it just seems that in my childhood ( i'm not much older than the
rest of you really ) we actually learned things.
We were not coddled as toddlers, actually went outside and got
ourselves hurt on our bike in grade school, were taught actual things
in school ( no, not perfect, but far better than today's
participation award schooling ). Lived thru a rather bad rescission
and due to it, while not fully understanding, we did at least
understand the concept of money does not grow on trees and you need
to actually work if you want something. Taught to think for>
ourselves, and not just blindly trust anything. And we were smart
enough to understand that roadrunner was not real....
Just so different of an upbringing, and now we are starting to pay
the price.
I wonder if the fact I am an outcast is due to the fact I grew without Internet access whatsoever while the rest of my generation had at least some limited access to it.
The generation before me was born in a political climate that was less than ideal, to say the least. Still, with no education, no assets and oftentimes barely enough food, these people managed to build a better country than what we are building today with 50 Masters and 4 iPhones per capita.
It is depresing.
I hope i am wrong, but i'm afraid that America's best days are behind us, and all that lies ahead is its destruction, of what it was meant to be. Perhaps total dissolution and chaos. And unfortunately if we collapse, so will the 'free world'.
Society does go in cycles, and we have beat the odds to this point. i just had hoped i would not be around to see the decline spiral begin, or even finish. But, i fear its now started, with no way back.
Thu May 13 2021 06:35:37 PM EDT from darknetuser*snip*
The generation before me was born in a political climate that was less than ideal, to say the least. Still, with no education, no assets and oftentimes barely enough food, these people managed to build a better country than what we are building today with 50 Masters and 4 iPhones per capita.
It is depresing.
All of this is true. The thing I remember, even as a kid, is that teachers were counter-culture and anti-establishment. They encouraged kids, even in grade school, to think critically. There was a certain amount of "Equal Rights" revolution going down all the way to kids - and there was validation that it was OK to tell an adult they were wrong, politely - if you were certain they were wrong. I always took that a lot further - I was willing to tell an adult he or she was an absolute dumbf**k from about 11 or 12 on, and I wasn't polite or respectful about it - but I only did this when the adult absolutely deserved it - and I feel like other adults acted shocked but were quietly supportive of this in many, if not most cases.
Kids today are frankly too blindly accepting of "authority" - and oddly enough - they were taught this in school. Education started to reserve course on the idea of empowering children with independent, critical thinking - the posters that said, "question authority, but raise your hand first," started coming down, and they were replaced with what amounted to, "Zero Tolerance, No Fault, Obey, Comply and Submit," policies.
Do what you think is right was replaced with "do what we tell you, without question."
And it shows what 20 or 30 years of that shit does to a population's minds.
Ya, i was 'different' back then, and was not a conformist. My entire crew was.
Id be destroyed by current schools.
"No Child Left Behind," resulted in the children who could not be forced to conform being removed as quickly as possible, in order to meet metrics.
If you send them to continuation school and they drop out there - it doesn't count.
Fri May 14 2021 08:15:55 EDT from Nurb432Ya, i was 'different' back then, and was not a conformist. My entire crew was.
Id be destroyed by current schools.
Society does go in cycles, and we have beat the odds to this point. i
just had hoped i would not be around to see the decline spiral begin,
or even finish. But, i fear its now started, with no way back.
Alexander Tytler pointed that out a long time ago. Punch the phrase "tytler cycle" into your favorite non-Google search engine to get a pretty good rundown of why he pointed out that democracies can only exist for about 200 years.
The idea is that a democracy is only sustainable until the people, having been distanced by time from the generations who fought for freedom, discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury, leading inevitably to loose fiscal policy and eventually a collapse into non-democracy. Eventually the cycle repeats.
Here's a good rundown: [ https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2020/01/tytler-cycle-of-freedom-where-are-we ]
Most Historians will point out that Republics tend to last about 50 years. We're really far overdue for having this one collapse.
Of course, some might argue the Republic part only lasted a little bit longer than 50 years, anyhow.
Tue May 18 2021 09:51:55 EDT from IGnatius T FoobarSociety does go in cycles, and we have beat the odds to this point. i
just had hoped i would not be around to see the decline spiral begin,
or even finish. But, i fear its now started, with no way back.
Alexander Tytler pointed that out a long time ago. Punch the phrase "tytler cycle" into your favorite non-Google search engine to get a pretty good rundown of why he pointed out that democracies can only exist for about 200 years.
The idea is that a democracy is only sustainable until the people, having been distanced by time from the generations who fought for freedom, discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury, leading inevitably to loose fiscal policy and eventually a collapse into non-democracy. Eventually the cycle repeats.
Here's a good rundown: [ https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2020/01/tytler-cycle-of-freedom-where-are-we ]
Agreed on both items really.
Our true roots faded quickly with our founding fathers dying off, but we have been long over due for a total collapse of what was left ( no pun intended there.. ). We have beat the odds, so far.
Tue May 18 2021 10:25:00 AM EDT from ParanoidDelusionsMost Historians will point out that Republics tend to last about 50 years. We're really far overdue for having this one collapse.
Of course, some might argue the Republic part only lasted a little bit longer than 50 years, anyhow.
I think it was my history professor's way of indicating that he thought the Republic fell when the South lost the war, without saying he supported the South - because that isn't a popular position to take in Academia.
But he sure made sure that his students left his class understanding that the Slaves emancipation was certainly not the central cause of the war.
Ah, yes i can see how one would think that. A lot changed due to that war.
But many of us believe we lost our way far earlier, and that entire mess was just a result of that drift.
Oh... we may have been off-track.
But that was the event that was the catalyst for the centralization of Federal authority and the erosion of independent State rights that got us where we are today.
Things *could* have gone another way. They didn't.
Tue May 18 2021 18:12:22 EDT from Nurb432Ah, yes i can see how one would think that. A lot changed due to that war.
But many of us believe we lost our way far earlier, and that entire mess was just a result of that drift.
"A lot changed due to that war."
:)
Wed May 19 2021 12:07:40 AM EDT from ParanoidDelusionsOh... we may have been off-track.
But that was the event that was the catalyst for the centralization of Federal authority and the erosion of independent State rights that got us where we are today.
Things *could* have gone another way. They didn't.
Tue May 18 2021 18:12:22 EDT from Nurb432Ah, yes i can see how one would think that. A lot changed due to that war.
But many of us believe we lost our way far earlier, and that entire mess was just a result of that drift.