A follow up on my decision to see if not participating in Facebook will help keep me less prone to despair. These thoughts ran through my head last night so why not use them?
I was sad to "lose" the comments, posts and wit of dozens of truly fine people, and was beating myself up, "Why!? Now you have no humans left in your life!!"
But the why is simple - every day for I don't know how long, I have been having terrible lapses of mood and been really really overwrought. I traced it back to a half dozen or so triggers, and within those, FB kept cropping up.
- Post a rant or wail, and make a relative or friend worry about me, and then feel like crap for being such a whiner and making people sad.
- Read a post that makes me sick to my stomach by someone I know as humane, thoughtful and kind. Reel in Horror at the thought that so many nice people can be okay with murdering illegal immigrants, telling the poor they just aren't working hard enough. Get depressed over the fact that humanity is by nature cruel and selfish.
- Overreact to a right wing post and offend someone, or get caught in a never ending circle jerk of thoughtless parroting. Waste hours and gain despair arguing with people who are only interested in arguing, not discussing.
Now, there have been great moments. Sheri's AC. Vodak. JP, Leslie, Paula, Irene.. I won't name you all. BUT..
It's changed. It's as if I found, a few years back, a really cool diner to hang out at where I had a lot in common with the other patrons and we had cool discussions and fun and laughed and made each other feel good. Then, the word started to spread, and a bunch of strangers started hanging out there. They'd take the good seats, and in loud voices, annoy the regulars, abuse the staff, and fart a lot. They leap up from their table and insert themselves into your conversation to tell you you are full of shit. They have loud, obnoxious conversations on their cell phone. The diner is no longer so much fun, as there are now a whole lot of assholes in the joint and you can't keep them out.
Uh, TOM, you mentioned the Krell? Remember?
I am getting there.
Many of my friends know the movie Forbidden Planet by heart. The ID MONSTER. For my sci-fi hating family, I will elaborate: The Krell was an advanced race that at the height of their existence, built a massive machine to "free themselves from physicality", to be able to will things into existence. A Utopia.
What the Krell did not count on was the primal portions of our brains, the "mindless primitive" that we all tamp down to fit into a society. The part that fears, hates, seeks revenge, on primal triggers. If you are an introspective sort you know your mindless primitive and keep it chained up deep in your mind. But when you dream, the cage often unlocks. In their dreams, the Krell destroyed themselves expressing their rage and jealousy and fear.
Morbius fell into the same trap. His conscious mind knew killing people was not an appropriate reaction to worrying about his daughter falling in love. But at night? His Id Monster, with the endless power of the Krell machinery, went on a rampage of selfish destruction.
See?
If Facebook isn't the Krell machinery, it's too close for comfort. Massive power, no responsibility, no accountability, pervasive. We have surrendered our physical interraction for the many positive aspects of cyberspace friendships. But many, myself included, find that the brakes and cautions we exercise in actual social situations disappear in Facebook, and the result is a whole lot of ugly going on. Cruel attacks and abusive reactions that would never fly in the real world.
If I was dining with friends and talking about, oh, say, OWS, there's little chance someone I do not know would get up from his table, walk over, sit down and tell us we are all full of shit and need to get a grip and calm down or we'll have a heart attack. Either because they are participating in society, don't know if we are carrying concealed or are too lazy to walk over. But I guarantee you, they would not behave the way they do in Facebook.
So that's my analogy. Freed from personal, instant, physical reaction to bullshit, plenty of people now spew bullshit without a second's consideration. The mindless primitive gets equal airtime with the thoughtful sage. The one screaming the loudest and typing the fastest takes center stage. You can't tell who is wearing the "911 truthers" shirt or masturbating to Palin. It would be easier to dismiss if you could.
Anyway,that's my thought today. Facebook is the Krell machinery, and may destroy us all. Perhaps an overreaction.
Come back later tonight for Vodak, won't you?
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