The Naricissitic Vanity of Our Time

Video Show the Terrifying Drive to Escape Massive Fire in Paradise, California

Geese Honey! Let's film our family's death defying escape from this inferno and post it to fb! That'll be sure to get us some "likes"!

Damned fools. Idiots.   

"America, the radicalized" -- by Jim Vandehei

I'm so glad I deactivated my fb account. It's been maybe 6 months since I last logged on, possibly longer. I can only imagine the arguments going on between some of  people I had listed as friends, especially since the latest spectacle with Brett Kavanaugh hearing. I don't miss it -- at all!

The political wrangling is the worst. It is mentally and physically draining. If there is one thing I learned, it is that most people are not interested in honest and reasonable debate. In his brief article, Jim Vandehei lists some of the reasons why Americans are radicalized.

As always, I blame social media without apology. It is truly the "cancer of our time". Click on the link to read "America, the radicalized". America, the radicalized 

Social Media -- The Cancer of our Time

I suppose a former doctor would know better than most how to identify symptoms of a disease.  Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, sees social media as "the cancer of our time."

Social Media -- Cancer of our Time

Social Outcasts: Teens Logging Off

Most news is bad news, but today I found something encouraging. At least some young men and women are seeing social media for what it is. Logged off: meet the teens who refuse to use social media

Here's some quotes from the article:

It is widely believed that young people are hopelessly devoted to social media. Teenagers, according to this stereotype, tweet, gram, Snap and scroll. But for every young person hunched over a screen, there are others for whom social media no longer holds such an allure. These teens are turning their backs on the technology – and there are more of them than you might think.

“You start doing things that are dishonest,” says Amanuel, who quit social media aged 16. “Like Instagram: I was presenting this dishonest version of myself, on a platform where most people were presenting dishonest versions of themselves.”

Like Amanuel, Jeremiah Johnson, 18, from Luton, grew weary of the pressures of sustaining an online persona. “It’s a competition for who can appear the happiest,” he says. “And if you’re not happy and want to vent about it on social media, you’re attention-seeking.”

The Epitome of Narcissism --even unto death

Recently a Southwest flight made an emergency landing after one of its engines partially exploded. One woman, according to news reports, was killed and several others were injured.

What is almost equally tragic is when a certain man on the Southwest flight live streamed the unfolding terror to his Facebook account. In the photo below you can see the man at the front of the picture shooting the video. If you look to the upper right you will notice someone else doing the same thing, or maybe he or she is taking a selfie. I wonder how many other passengers were posting to their twitter or FB accounts?

This is, to me, is the apotheosis of narcissism. No one on that flight knew if they were going to survive and yet some people had to make a production out of it. And for what? More "likes", more attention? This is more than shameful self-promotion -- this is a mentally deranged people. 

Thoughts

The Fool

The foolishness of man ruins his way,
And his heart rages against the LORD.
(Proverbs 19:3 (NASB95)

This is the way of it, isn’t it? A man ruins his life by his words and deeds and blames everyone else apart from himself. If he’s not so completely foolish (Psa 14:1) and happens to believe in a “higher power”, he would dare look upwards and blame God as well. I hate to break the news, but mankind is not evolving. His condition isn’t improving with time despite advances in technology and medicine. His fundamental nature has remained the same from the beginning. Man will always miss the mark, every time. He can’t even live up to his own moral standards let alone the Divine Imperatives.

Tech and Safety

As a truck driver, I must stay constantly on alert. For 12 to 14 hours a day, every day, I have to be aware of what’s going on around me in and out of the truck, for the safety of others and myself. I have a better view than most. I sit either parallel or just above the top of most vehicles. I can see directly into your car without even paying attention. Just a quick glance and I know what you're doing. This may sound kind creepy to some but it’s really an advantage in terms of safety. I know whether a driver is distracted, what his possible intentions are, and just what kind of driver he is. And the kind of driver I see is disturbing. Most people have their phones in hand or resting on their knee. What’s most alarming is many are texting and driving while traveling up to or exceeding speeds of 70 mph on the interstate! Offhand, I don’t know the statistics, but this seems to be a greater problem than driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I don’t care what your business is or what's going on in your life, there is nothing more important than paying attention to what you’re doing behind the wheel.

“Abject Culture” and the Dehumanization of Man

A certain friend, in one of his more contemplative moods, seriously considered how tech and social media is affecting our culture. He even bought a domain and toyed with the idea of creating a website addressing these issues. It was a good plan and I hope he does something with it. When he approached me as a possible contributor I had already been collecting articles on the negative effects of social media, and at last count, I had acquired some 40 essays or so over the last 5 years. One of the first articles I bookmarked concluded that the jury was still out. Though in most court cases the jury must reach a unanimous decision to convict, but not all cases do. So far, the consensus is social media and tech is harmful to individuals and dehumanizing society as a whole. The list of negative effects is too long for this thought, so to give you an idea of the problem I’ll leave you with this quote:

“Tech companies are conducting a massive, real-time experiment on our kids, and, at present, no one is really holding them accountable,” said Common Sense’s CEO, James Steyer, warning that tech companies’ attention-grabbing business models may hurt “the social, emotional and cognitive development of kids”.

“When parents learn how these companies can take advantage of our kids, they will join us in demanding the industry change its ways and improve certain practices.” --

(Center for Humane Technology, led by former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris and former Facebook investor and adviser Roger McNamee.) --The quote is taken from the article, “Former Facebook and Google workers launch campaign to fight tech addiction”. The Guardian.

Yet Another Reason I Stopped Using FB

Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives

See my blog, The Evil of Facebook

The Evil of Facebook

January 27, 2013

I came across an article on how Facebook causes envy. It was a study conducted by two German universities. One cause of envy was users posting photos of holiday vacations or having a “good time.” Considering my career and the isolation that comes with it, I think they’re onto something.

The researchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most. “We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated, or angry,” researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin’s Humboldt University told Reuters. –from the article

I confess. I have a negative opinion about social networking, so any article that shines a bad light on Facebook or MySpace feeds my bias. I know what some of you are thinking — Facebook doesn’t kill people, people kill people, it is not the application itself which produces envy. This would be the logical way of thinking about it. It’s just like arguments against gun restriction. It is not the gun itself – it’s the deranged people who use guns that cause terror.

This is true. But I think the evil of Facebook can be related-- in a sense-- to one of my favorite movies. In the film The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo had left a magic ring to his nephew Frodo as part of his inheritance. When the wizard Gandalf discovered it belonged to the Dark Lord Sauron, he tells Frodo of its power and the eventual destruction of Middle Earth if the ring found its way back to its master. Immediately aware of the danger and responsibility, Frodo offers it to Gandalf. Frightened by the prospect, Gandalf explains he would desire to use the ring for good but the ring working through him would bring about evil.

Down-to-earth reasoning tells us it’s not Facebook which is evil. It only provides a medium that sometimes brings out the worst in some. Though who can say it has not become self-aware, that it’s bent on evil and destruction for those who try to wield its power? There are countless stories of people whose lives were destroyed by Facebook: wrecked marriages and friendships; the envy and jealousy; the lonely who feel slighted because they don’t get enough “likes”. Then there’s the gossip, lies, and all manner of wickedness behind the screens. Who knows, maybe Facebook is the “One Ring that rules them all”?

If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron’s throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it. — from J.R.R Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring.