The Collusion Illusion

His crime? Exposing a pedophile ring.

Do you ever remember a time, at the advent of the internet, thinking — “hey, one day the world will be brought closer together and together, we’ll solve all of our problems…”

No? Not you?

That was me. Idealistic as hell and convinced a revolution was going to take place. I remember 2008, 6 months after I opened my facebook account, still basking in the ability to share, and believing we would end political corruption, disease, poverty and just about anything else one could think of fixing if only we were able to come together, as a community, and change the world.

Idealist…naive is more apt. Perhaps of lesser intelligence. Sure, I have a way with words but as I sit here thinking about what got me sitting here, I question with all the self loathing I can drum up — if I’m of somewhat diminished capacity.

Has the internet revolution come and gone? Did it ever get started? There is little doubt the impact the world wide web and technology has had on our species. It has and continues to affect the political process around the world. Unfortunately, and time will tell, this has not all been for the good. While conjecture continues to lead the way, there seems to be a stench of corruption at all levels of government, globally.

We no longer know, what we do not know. Julian Assange was perhaps the last bastion of the open and transparent world I had hoped social media would usher in. But alas. We are so conditioned for the lie, we doubt everything presented to us. If there is even a shadow of doubt — it’s probably a lie. With conditions. Of course.

I had a personal experience just two days ago with just how convoluted the information process and sharing of, has become. A man in my network, with the 6 degrees of separation, and all those others connected, this man, pleaded guilty to child luring and being in the possession of pedophilia. An unassuming individual whose life achievements included politician, social activism, charity work and — dressing up as santa.

His name is Terry Lo. Why am I telling you this? It’s of little point. His name will be lost the second you’ve complete reading this…

What perplexed me and goes to show how naive I really am, understanding the human condition, is the reaction from those 19 people I reached out to personally, who had him listed as “friend.”

I knew we had become desensitized. Our networks, social media and information gathering have become more a fortress designed to keep everything out and everyone at bay rather than a way to actually connect. The filter, designed and implemented by the user is remarkably effective. We share what we like. This is to be expected. What we like however is more difficult to understand.

Everyone will share the shit out of cute goat video. The viral impact of such a video cannot and should not be underestimated. One such video has the ability to reach 100’s of millions of peering eyes within matter of weeks.

Terry Lo? The reaction was mixed from those that actually bothered to reply. “Really? How do you know this?” This, was probably my favorite response. My immediate and most sarcastic notion was to reply “hey, I just like making up random shit about people for no reason at all…”

I bit my tongue. This person is still “friends” with him so I guess they’re on the fence. Hey, we all deserve a second chance, right?

My point is — we make choices. Truth is not the deciding factor. If it was, my idyllic fantasies about the world we could live in would probably be reality. At the end of the day, and in my humble opinion, social media is nothing more than an experiment in mind control. That may be why we’re seeing a backlash and more and more status updates of people whom are checking out. Turning off…maybe, tuning in.

One thing is certain (from my perspective) - we aren’t getting closer (to each other). Our bubbles are becoming strongholds to keep all the ugliness at bay and unfortunately, those filters take everything else along with it. We share the stories of complete strangers and celebrity, especially if they’re uplifting parables with how to live a good life. We scroll past the negativity and the sad stories, opting to let some other stranger pass on the message. We scroll past the friend who started a new business, expecting their other friends will carry the torch. Meanwhile, we’ll like and attach ourselves to an Amazon commercial because we enjoyed the carefully curated video selling personal hygiene products.

As a professional DJ, I have my own unique story regarding this: a friend or perhaps acquaintance stated to me one day, a couple of weeks ago, with some surprise - “you’re a DJ? I had no idea until another friend of mine shared a link…”

The fact that my profile pictures are many — with images of me as a DJ combined with the weekly links I share to mixes, songs and my personal DJ page show the almost futile nature of what those of us who use social media as a tool, to connect with— is.

A constant trend with friends in my network is to tell me they saw something I posted (The Terry Lo status 2 days ago) and they didn’t bother to react (like button or other) or engage (simple conversation acknowledging) indicating to me that people don’t understand how it works or, they’re really not the friend(s) they believe they are.

What’s the answer? I think we’ve gone past that. Social media is now a platform for the famous and wealthy, to spread propaganda. It’s easy to buy into what they’re selling because it’s membership. You belong to an “exclusive” club when you acknowledge a Tony Robbins, Ted Talks, famous politician or athlete. Nothing says you’re relevant more than a status update letting everyone know you’ve watched all 8 seasons of Walking Dead in a single weekend.

Stating the obvious — it’s not exclusive. It’s just easy. No conflict can come when you side with the majority. Nobody to call you out, to cast you out, to shun you.

The social experiment is complete. Social media has become an extension of our earliest experiences in school. Conform. Know your place. We’ll give you a ribbon for participating but tread lightly. Ideas are a dangerous past time.

Social justice warriors are now those that parrot what mainstream wants. What does mainstream want? Unfortunately, not always what you and I want. That’s the trick of how it all works. Mainstream is a carefully constructed platform, designed by the powers that be. Those that own and operate the biggest social media platforms combined with those that own and operate the biggest multi national corporations.

This is not conspiracy. This is not conjecture.

Youtube is giving us the earliest advance notice of what it looks like and, how it will look in the future. Dissent should be a good thing. Protest. Speak up. Speak out.

But it isn’t. The majority have asked for and are pushing for an end to anything that looks remotely like anarchy. The irony being, every move one makes that doesn’t fit the neat and tidy narrative — is considered a form of civil disobedience. The highest form of anarchy.

It was predicted that one day, we would not only ask for our rights to be taken away, we would demand it.

That day has come. Youtube, as an example, now removes any video deemed offensive and as an added measure, deletes the accounts of those that post anything deemed offensive. Where it gets really interesting is the Machiavellian process used to silence dissent. By Youtube’s own admission, they have ramped up hiring of thousands of social justice warriors whose sole purpose in life is to flag videos deemed offensive. They (youtube) then apologize when something mistakenly gets removed but, there is no counter measure in place to return said video and to replace the “views” which are the metric by which many users decide to click and watch.

What made the list for 2018 of things people believe are offensive, and could have a negative impact on the fabric of society?

1. Conspiracy theories — the number one thing that can get you deleted is sharing or having an opinion about a conspiracy theory. The brush is wide. 9/11, Sandy Hook, Vaccines, climate change, flat Earth
2. Fake News — if there is no massive corporate sponsor (the ad that precedes almost every video you now watch) then it is fake news. Where it gets interesting is how the number 1 choice for almost all teens in regards to content watched is; you guessed it — Youtube.
3. Social justice warriors — It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong unless, you’re wrong. What decides that? It’s based on a majority consensus, generally derived from what mainstream media puts forth. If it isn’t accepted by mainstream, then it is typically considered wrong.
4. Alex Jones. I make him a topic all to himself even though he embodies all 3 on this list. Love him or hate him, he is the voice of dissent. While he has his own agenda (who doesn’t?) he tends to take the road less traveled. Those that really like him probably won’t tell you they do. That would take them outside their bubble and open them to all kinds of consternation. The mainstream demands you hate him. He’s a threat to democracy, to decency, to everything…nothing will get the mainstream more triggered (triggered: as I had to explain to my wife yesterday is just another way of saying angered to the point of demonstrating that anger openly) then seeing a Infowars camera at a rally in the US. Whether it’s for gun control, equality or climate change — most of the current mainstream believe Alex is akin to the anti-christ.

He’s not. Alex is an actor. Not a great actor but theatrics is his game. While I do appreciate the novelty of his message — he actually does have some good reporters in his midst that have the ability to drive a message that can make you think differently. At the end of the day however, I’m still more likely to take my cues from Wikki or the Drudge.

Wading through the mountain of information is no easy task. Questioning what’s presented is equally daunting. You have to have thick skin. There are a half dozen narratives that I currently have questions to and if I lived in the 16th century, would probably be stoned to death or burned at the stake — or both.

Today, the stoning is via subjugation. You’re given the choice. Conform or, deal with the consequences. Nobody wants to be an outcast, not intentionally. Most of us see outcasts as those that eventually go off the deep end and do something horrible.

Personally, I have to walk a tightrope. While my beliefs are strong about some topics, I understand that professionally, sharing my beliefs is akin to suicide. Whether I’m right or wrong in my beliefs is not of consequence. Like I stated earlier — truth is not the deciding factor. We’re talking about what can be condoned as acceptable behaviour based on a cognitive bias predicated on a mainstream consensus of what the truth is. Yes. Try to say that in one breath.

You will keep me in check. That’s your job. If I have ideas…you will correct me. The alternative is you will unfriend me. I will be isolated.

This week, I watched a man in my social media network plead guilty to being a pedophile. He received 2.5 years for this. Those in my network barely batted an eye. Yet, if he came out and said “hey, vaccines are bad for people” I’m betting he would have been met with all the vitriol one would save for monsters like hitler or, donald trump? It’s almost like pedophilia is becoming normalized…I know it isn’t. It just feels that way.

What does this say about our society? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…until then, for the safety of my social network — I’ll keep my opinion, to myself.

Ahh…fuck that shit. If I’m not offending people, I’m not happy. Stay tuned. In my next installment I’m going to talk about data mining and how of this all ties in.