Do I Wish We Knew Less About Each Other?

(surrealist dystopian art by Michael Kerbow)

Much has been written about how the internet, and social media in particular, turns otherwise regular, and even decent, people into raging assholes, whether due to anonymity, distance, filters, algorithms, or some combination of factors.

A lot has also been written about how our information environment and media ecosystems no longer provide knowledge or facts, let alone news, instead generating exploitable outrage that drives clicks, views, etc.

A good amount has been written about our literacy crisis and how this has impacted not just younger generations, but even older ones, as different groups struggle with different aspects of reading, marketing, propaganda, alternative media, corporate news, and the intentional destruction of public education alongside the public respect for expertise and the Fourth Estate of traditional media.

But, for me, I just wish that sometimes I knew less about the people from my real life when I see them online. It's not the dissonance of discovering a devoted public servant is a Trump regime zealot or the disappointment of a friend spouting fascistic rhetoric or even the frustration of watching the same debunked bigotry continue to spread and reanimate like a zombie plague.

No, what bothers me most now is how little any of it matters. Facts? Evidence? Reason? Morals? Shame? Not even consequences are enough to convince people. It's the death of truth, of an objective and shared reality replaced with an exhausting mixture of utter apathy and endless cruelty fixed to a calcified greed and toxic polarization.

I don't need to know this about seemingly every single person from real life that I newly encounter online. Not because I want to hide my head in the proverbial sand. Actually, the opposite, because I'm drowning in awareness of the banality of evil and how stupidity is completely indistinguishable from it.

It's like when people started sharing their hygiene habits and we found out how many people don't: wash their hands or legs, wipe their ass, clean their clothes or towels, cook their food properly, or even pick up after themselves. And so many were proud of this! They shared their filth and reveled in our collective disgust, laughing, shrugging.

It's like when people started sharing how they cheat on tests and homework, cheat on partners and significant others, steal things they don't need from stores that are going broke, and even hate their kids or spouse. It's like when people started sharing the worst parts of themselves not because they wanted help, but because they wanted validation, affirmation, attention, and approval. Just an endless ocean of human wretchedness in constant waves of confession crashing against us.

So, forgive me, if I seem tired and shallow. I know it's ironic, but I've been treading water for a long time now.

Take note and take care.