I think I know why the church hid the information that the earth wasn’t the centre of the universe, and why they made Galileo shut his face up. Same reason they haven’t told us about aliens on earth yet and why they’re hiding the truth about Coronovirus. Thing is, as humans, as soon as we have access to all information look what happens.
You have the mainstream media fans versus the RT fans versus the flat earthers, versus the moon landing hoaxers, versus the left, versus the right, versus trans issues, versus class war. Versus versus versus. It goes on and on.
In a world where there is no control, the anarchic world of Twitter, where free speech mostly exists, it seems that humans cant be trusted to use these powers for good. We get the world in our hands and look at what we do with it. We trash it. We trash each other.
I’ve just read a long Twitter thread arguing about trans rights, antisemetism, capitalism, socialism, left and right all in one thread. Everyone is arguing for their label. They’re this or that, and everyone else is being an anti this or that, being an -obic, or displaying some kind of -ism or another. What the hell is going on here? The biggest opportunity for sharing of information and we use it to argue.
The Greeks built politics on good debate, even if they didn’t let women in. But once you give a billion people a voice, they have no choice but to shout louder and louder. And everything is written down, ready to bite you on the ass at a later date. One too many wines and Twitter has messed up many a reputation. Elon Musk and the Thai cave rescue springs to mind. What are we doing?
The thing is with human nature, is that it’s impossible to trust anything. One because of our own mistrust, and two, because in general, people suck, and they will make all sorts of promises and not follow through. Even those that you think you can trust will tell you one thing and do another.
The way that social media has made the world so raw and open to all, and that we can all see everything that’s going on, doesn’t seem to help. It seems to make everything worse. You used to be able to rely on the Police, on British Telecom, on the BBC. They were bastions of the state, their very presence made us feel safe. We know now that we can’t trust them. We know that we can’t trust anybody.
We’ve become a bitter race, stuck to our phones and computers, arguing the toss with people that we’ll never meet about a load of crap that doesn’t actually matter. And we all think that’s the be-all and end-all. Twitter has become real life. All things are drawn and quartered on a platform that decides by itself who sees what, and there we are, thinking we’re free.
This is not freedom. This is another kind of prison. Another kind of torture. The torture of knowing there is no-one to trust, that no-one keeps their word, that egos are more important than the promise.
You could be forgiven for thinking that it would be more comfortable to be told what to think, to have no knowledge other than that presented by the old liturgical dramas, to have trust in the word of the Church that the earth is all important in the universe, that we mean something, that there is meaning beyond us.
But now, all we have is the bare ugly truth, blinding us with its frustrating monotony of talk. Opinions reign supreme, and everyone knows everything in a world where no-one really knows anything, at least, not much of any real importance. But the importance they stitch onto what they know becomes an irritating game of I’m more of an influencer that you are. I know more than you do.
But for all the knowing, I don’t see a whole lot of actual actioning, not in the UK. We’re all looking at Twitter, sharing the images of the real revolutionaries in France.
We compete for dominance on social media, while the government dominates our every waking moment. Competitions of words on a screen, while everything burns around us. The media keeps its control, the alternative media frightens us to death. The more we know, the harder life gets, not easier. So we distract ourselves with Bake-Off.
It isn’t comforting to know that you’re constantly being swizzed by society. The secrets had their purpose. They haven’t told us about aliens yet for the same reason. It’ll be leaked out gradually as we all get used to the idea so the shock is less. Drip feeding the information to the nation, on a need to know basis. But with all these lies it’s hard to know if this vogue for truth is actually truth, or just more propaganda.
There is too much mess, too much white noise. It’s becoming impossible to see. Not only are we being asked to choose between the blue and the red pill, but now we’re aware that the pills don’t actually exist in reality, so taking them could mean either something, or nothing, or anything at all. It doesn’t rally matter.
We’re not sure about the meaning of anything anymore. There is no meaning. Tribes continue to form, because basically we’re just a bunch of tribal animals instinctively trying to get by, ruled by freaks who think that owning every penny in the world can actually be a good thing. They’re subsidised by the people that benefit from that arrangement, and so ultimately, the point of it all is gone.
Truth? There is no truth. Even the so called truth tellers will lie to you. This teenage game has taken over the psyche of everything and everyone. Twitter has exposed the human being for what he is. An empty, pathetic bunch of arguments, washed down with ego and insincerity. Not much of a surprise is it? Let’s be fair….
Postcards from the Hedge 