I was going to have an early night.
There was another mass shooting in the US, this time at a gaming competition. Reports say that the shooter was upset at a loss and decided to take out revenge. I don't care about who or why this particular shooter did what they did though as essentially, it is always the same, an inability to control emotions. They generally aren't psychopaths, they are just pathetic.
Yet, the media will give them just what they want, attention and we will give the press just what they want, our attention. It is an attention economy after all and the more drama, the more eyes, the more Time on Site and the better the metrics to attract more attention from advertisers and increase revenue. It is a circular economy where the attention seekers feed the consumers who are in turn attention seekers - full circle.
But, it isn't just a circle as to keep getting attention, the severity needs to increase or, the story needs to be more unusual to keep drawing eyes, to keep feeding the machined massed, engineered. It has to ramp up. I just wrote a piece about the war of the attention economy, this is part of it. A drive to turn people not only into endless consumers but, consumers that can be easily manipulated and what a large part of the control mechanism is, is a lack of emotional control in the controlled.
The emotionally unstable are easy to push and pull, easy to manipulate, convince, separate, divide, easy to conquer. It is like the proverbial girl at a bar with Daddy issues wanting to be accepted by men. Easy.
Except, there are many, many people unable to handle their emotional states and, are highly sensitive to anything that threatens their fragile egos. So, we build them safe zones to protect them yet, eventually they have to face the real world and, they feel victimized, oppressed, floundering, depressed, triggered and some, just snap uncontrollably.
I was bullied or ignored, shoot up a school. My girlfriend left me, murder her and her parents. I lost a computer game, kill other players. Pathetic.
Yet, here we are, another pathetic and emotionally immature individual who will make it to front pages around the world and have his little life blown up for 15 minutes of fame where experts and layman will pore over the details of his life. The relationships and the music, school life and of course, what types of games he played. That is going to feature heavily here most likely.
The media will renew the life of beaten horses, violent video games caused this, it was the guns! No, it wasn't; A lack of emotional control did but, that isn't a suitable position in this day and age where people are encouraged to show their emotions unrestrained, get it out, it is healthy. They do not mention that before that point, understanding needs to be built before an emotion is acted upon. Conveniently omitted. A lie by omission I suspect, as it isn't difficult to understand.
We will play along though, we will consume the arguments, cheer for the ones we support and denounce those we do not and ridicule any position or person we disagree with while shouting down any with a valid argument. We will polarize ourselves and tap away at keyboards believing we are doing something useful when all we are doing is feeding the cycle of entertainment. Trauma porn.
Social media personal branding, a thirst for the latest gadget, a desire to be like the famous, a will for workless wealth. We have created an attention economy and then act surprised when the needy cry when they don't get attention and snap when they don't get their way. We have raised generations of increasingly large but fragile egos who believe thy are entitled to special treatment, privilege.
We have raised fully grown humans with the psychological maturity of toddlers and, monster toddlers at that. Ones with the means and the strength to enact their revenge for feeling minimized, excluded, unloved. Pathetic. All the platitudes of individualism posted to the feeds yet, without attention, anger, bitterness and vengeance consume them, inflame them and they have not the inner strength nor the social connections of any worth to temper the heat, cool down the fires, control themselves.
This bubble-wrapped and engineered environment has done them no favours but at the end of the day, it is up to the individual to build the skills necessary to navigate this world effectively and, stability of heart and mind is at the core of the toolbox. But, to know that takes experience and in the echo chambered halls of the internet, behind the screens and in the midst of safe zones where all desires are able to be met, disappointment is shallow, the chance for real understanding is near impossible without deep reflection.
That doesn't happen in a world of endless and disposable entertainment. There is no time to be bored enough to take the time to reflect on ones life, reflect on purpose, meaning and question beliefs. There is always more to consume, more to take attention so it does not fall on what is important. Rather, there is always something to use to avoid;
Weapons of mass distraction.
We want attention, we pay for attention, getting attention comes at a price. Turn on the news, there it is and it is only going to get worse.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
image courtesy of @galenkp
Honestly, I'm surprised it took so long for something like this to happen. The rage and desire for revenge that was behind it has always been something of an undercurrent in the gaming community but most of the time it plays out over the internet so the opportunity to do something isn't there. I regularly get "fan mail" threatening me with all manner of things on xbox but it amounts to nothing more than another case of internet tough guy syndrome there.
I wholeheartedly agree with you about the effects of the 'bubble-wrapped and engineered" environment, the everybody gets a prize and everyone is a winner mentality produces entitlement complexes and a dearth of coping skills (I used to think alcohol was a coping mechanism, that was an unpleasant learning experience).
The question is, what do you do about it? It not only requires a change in what is currently a successful business model but also a major shift in thinking, one that will be uncomfortable at the very least for a lot of people.
I am too. I used to game a lot once upon a time and the emotions tend to run high, especially with calls for cheats etc. Throw in fame, fortune, rep and a general lack of deep social interaction and put them in the same room.
For many, it is lost. For some there is hope as they move toward creativity and society again. Hopefully, some of what we are doing here will help a few.
Old fashioned family values, taught by example first, are the most effective way to stem this tide.
A strong personal value, a healthy sense of self worth, is required to resist the massive power that mass media wields with selfish arrogance.
I agree. Quality social/community interaction with real relationships will go a long way.
You've put the focus exactly where it should be. On another. If I hear this news today, it almost seems so... banal. What's wrong with me? Or maybe the meaning of the word "another" carries a bigger weight than we realize.
Such a powerful pun you end up with!
I think it should send warning bells ringing in many areas but, it generally ends with us desensitized. Strange isn't it?
I see two possibilities: it sends warning bells to already desensitized receptors, or the attention span has dropped so low that we shift our focus before we act on them.
or the attention span has dropped so low that we shift our focus before we act on them.
I would say that this is a pretty good call. 24 our news cycles repeated every 30 minutes is an indicator of just how inattentive we are.
American shootings are all false flags - keeps the crisis actors employed!
But the inspired outside the US?
I don't know if I'd use the word inspired! - But yeah most of those too..
Makes it even more pathetic doesn't it?
Ever think those “crisis actors” may just be emergency responders doing a drill?
Or, ever think that you don't always know what's going on all the time?
Of course I always know what's going on - don't you?
Yawn
And yeah, that is part of how false flags are often done...
All? Are you seriously suggesting that everyone that's been shot in the US was a crisis actor and didn't really die?
In mass shootings taking place in America and presented by the zionist media this century?
YES - EVERYONE
Feel free to provide solid proof of 10 actual deaths!
https://steemit.com/jacksonville/@fakenewsreport/shocking-footage-of-jacksonville-shooting-viewer-discretion-advised-jacksonvillestrong
Nice try my friend but the burden of proof lies with you, you're the one asserting that the official narrative is wrong. I have personally known only one mass shooting victim and he most certainly is dead. I've been present for other (non-mass casualty) shootings and they were most certainly firing real bullets at real people (my house had the bullet holes in it to prove it).
I'm not saying I believe everything the media vomits out but they strain credulity less than your assertions. I'm curious, do you consider all media to be zionist?
95% I think it is in the USA now, here is an article from 2010 https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1.5152427, bear in mind it just got a whole lot worse with Disney taking over of fox news and sky news Europe. http://fortune.com/2018/04/03/disney-sky-news-fox-rupert-murdoch/
AND A GOOD SUMMARY OF THE ZIONIST ALT MEDIA HERE (It's not just Alex the shill Jones!)
https://nationalvanguard.org/2018/08/the-jews-who-run-the-supposedly-alternative-media/
Well, we at least agree on Alex Jones. I'm curious how you justify calling a white nationalist group founded by a pedophile a reliable source of information...
That is a damn good essay that summarises the situation well - a white nationalist pedophile? - that is what zionists call anyone who exposes them before they mysteriously die...
smh
Sydney Morning Herald? - yeah that is zionist owned too...
Shaking My Head
Do you like replies to be tagged?
SMC - So Much Confusion...
If you actually believe that all shootings in America are put on by crisis actors, you need to get access to information that’s not propaganda and have a fucking heart
WHY?
Do you have some proof that what I said is wrong?
It's just an excuse to push an agenda. Gotta orchestrate something to make a point.
Just like the ICE detention of a wanted murderer by the Mexican government turned into a "heartless anti-immigration" propaganda.
information is cherry picked, skewed and propagated for the audience it targets. No matter what side of an argument anyone is on.
Possibly the most honest and 100% factually correct comment Ive read on Steemit. Should be inclused in the terms and conditions of signup.
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