Hello all. In this the last entry that I will make in 2020, I wasn’t intending for this to be any type of “year in review” or “recap” of sorts. After all, the general consensus is that this year really sucked. So why even attempt to pinpoint a few highlights, since they’re really weren’t any. My focus in this entry was mainly on how social media has really affected our society for the worst. You can even say it has made us de-evolutionized. Believe it or not, this is where the band Devo got their name. But that has been overshadowed by their song “Whip it” being the first one to have a video on MTV. My other objective is to form a bridge between this and my new web series : Talking straight with Nate. Which just like this, has a variety of topics equated with music, life and motivation. But I will also be doing some reviews, on-location shoots, unboxings and in the future I’m planning on doing some interviews. And I will also do some more videos, I’m one of my new favorite shows Cobra Kai. I am well aware of the undertaking this will be, since there are plenty of great channels out there hosting content on the show, and some of the other topics that I have mentioned. But, I’ve already taken my first steps and I’ve made some progress since I started with the idea. After all like Earl Nightingale had said : “it all starts with an idea”, something I’ve already included in one of my videos. With all the things that have transpired this past year, I couldn’t help but notice how divided people are now more than ever. Despite the fact that we are all effected in some way or another by this pandemic. I don’t know how other countries have reacted to this, but here in the United States we have ironically enough use this as a way to divide ourselves even further. Despite that, we’ve found ourselves arguing over specifically whose lives matter. As to not have my words misconstrued (which as you may or may not know has already happened this year on another topic) I tried my best to focus on what I believed was the most important out of what we feel matters. And that is : that things MUST change. We as a society must not accept killing of anybody that’s in police custody. And no one should ever be more likely to be a victim of this because of their race. We were right (and it is our right) to protest against it in a peaceful manner and we should do so whenever there is any form of injustice and oppression of the people. That’s as simply as I can put it. I didn’t want to touch on any sensitive topics or political ones, but this has just been on my mind and after what I’m about to say, you’ll realize why I chose not to speak about it on social media.
I am aware of the fact that I’m just one person, putting your opinion out there on a topic that concerns many people will always have opposing views and has caused a divide. This is why I am picking out a few root byproducts of what social media has done our society.
Got time but you ain’t got time for me
Thank You Life of Agony for making me aware that that phrase exists. We have simply seen that it’s much easier to just dismiss somebody that you’re speaking to over the internet then try and listen to an opposing view objectively or at the very least agree to disagree. Nobody sees they need to do that, they can simply “unfriend” or “block” even if this is someone that they’ve known for years. Social media has become everything. Completely dissolving a friendship over a comment on a post? I cant even believe im typing that. So it’s obviously redefined the word “friend” making it a more superficial, disopable definituon of the previous one. I’ve seen firsthand how people can freely spout off their opinion, while shouting out immature insults to somebody who could very well be thousands of miles away simply because they know that with the press of a button there will not be any consequences for what they did. Hence the term “Keyboard Warrior”. After all, most people think of the consequences before even considering committing some crime. If you take the consequences out, then it’s basically open season, that looming threat keeps us all in check. I was told about this concept many years ago when we were still using AOL to communicate on the internet. I was urged by a friend to just say whatever I wanted because it was online and nobody cared. Boy was he wrong! I did run into the person I mouthed off to. Even though there wasn’t any physical fight there was a confrontation that needed to be settled which, I did amicably. My point is, this has been so common and ingrained into the minds of the younger people who were “born into this” world when technology has influenced this type of behavior that they feel this is totally acceptable. And like myself, I’m sure several of these people that were “born into this” will sooner or later see that acting this way will have dire consequences.
All the World’s a stage
Thank you RUSH. This goes along with the last thing I was saying. People feel that it’s completely normal to share information about their lives freely. Myself included. Many state personal things and don’t comprehend that when they post something publicly not only can it be used against them later, but it’s posted for everyone to see and other people will give their opinions on it. Both of these topics are intertwined in so many ways since they are both caused by impulsivity and Lack of self evaluation. I’m not talkin about joyous things such as a child coming into the world, a graduation, a promotion, Etc.
I’m mainly speaking about political opinions, domestic issues and interpersonal disputes. I’ve seen so much of it over the years and I am utterly embarrassed when I see some memory coming up where I felt that I had to tell everybody what I was thinking and feeling at that moment. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I feel that that mindset has prevented me from wasting much of my valuable time arguing with other people that may rudely react with a š at my opinion not caring if somebody else is insulted by that. Why would they? Remember : there are no consequences. I’ve also seen some things that I could have commented on, but just decided not to. But that’s just me. I was taught early on in life that sometimes being the bigger man isn’t about getting the last word, it’s the person who just puts an end to everything and walks away.
I’ve noticed that there are plenty of people that feel they have the right to interject into something with no good intentions in mind, just because they felt that everyone must hear their voice, whether they were invited to or not. That’s what a “Troll” is right? Isn’t that another term that we’ve come up with in this mdern age? I recall somebody saying that about me, basically because they fell victim to one of my classic pranks and their ego was too bruised to admit that they fell for it. And again, no consequences because I know this person wouldn’t have the balls to say it to my face. But obviously I got the last laugh haha Which is another side effective this new world we live in. Overly inflated egos. I’ve seen people really causing undo drama over such miniscule things like this. Especially recently. This whole thing with all the shutdowns and people not having much to do has forced some people that weren’t productive when there was things to do to just focus on things like these. One of my thoughts I did share a few months ago after being enlightened by what has happened these past few months “People who had nothing better to do, now have nothing to do at all”. Fortunately like a recent article had reminded me, my generation was prepared for all of this and I even looked forward to my down time to focus on projects such as this and to keep creating. What a Lucky Man, I am.
My apologies if this seems like a lot of pessimism but, I truly feel that things have really changed even since I was a child. People have been so affected by the changes in the world that we’ve become more accusatory, unforgiving, not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, and lacking empathy for others. Afterall, it would take away focus from taking hundreds of selfies a day. Everything that has gone on these past few months was an opportunity for us to work together and re-examine things to change for the better and have gratitude for what we have in the midst job loss, insomnia, declining mental health, businesses closing down and the worst thing literally no contact with each other. We’ve simply accepted that everything should just be done virtually. It’s a good compromise for now. But in 20 or 30 years from now, do people really want to remember this by looking at their graduation or wedding video and seeing everyone watching on Zoom wearing a mask? If you are one of my regular readers, you’ll know that even just that has caused a problem for me. Early on, I stated my opinion in hopes that people would question what they were being told to do.This was the norm for past Generations. But not now. Everyone sitting around having the Pandemic, COVID and the vaccine shoved in our faces constantly by the news media (turn on your TV, you can’t go more than a minute or two without being reminded of this like we don’t already know) and their agenda making everyone scared to death and responding by running out and hoarding toilet paper. And anyone who’s reminding them of how frightened they are, is labeled a troublemaker, stupid or crazy. That’s just the ego talking because nobody wants to admit that they are frightened. That’s a completely normal emotion. So now expressing any emotions will be foreign to these people that are “born into” this? Now that’s frightening! Fear is just one thing that will be removed from their psyches, I’ve already given examples of empathy and common courtesy being removed. What’s next? Obviously it’s already starting to happen, people are just going to go along with what they’re being scared into doing and it’s going to keep on getting progressively more extreme. I’m relieved in a way that some of these people have renounce me if you will, all I did was put a mirror in front of them and they didn’t like what they saw. I never stated that any of this isn’t real , I just found it really odd that in this late stage of the game they decided to implement these things on us. It was very meticulous it’s the equivalent of the EPA testing soil and finding cancer-causing radiation while wearing protective equipment and just making people aware of it while knowing full well what precautions they need to take to protect themselves and waiting months to make mandates the people must wear this protective equipment while previously allowing people to enter this contaminated area knowing that they were at risk a falling l. True friend tells it like it is, that’s why I named my show “Talking Straight with Nate”. I meant my personality lacks certain attributes, one of them is being a “Yes Man”, sugarcoating things, or dancing around the truth. I try to be blunt and honest. Because anything else would be a disservice to other people.
I really hope that everyone has a great New Year, and has learned to have gratitude and appreciate the many blessings that we all have in life( I know I sure have). I invite all of you to please watch this latest installment of my web series, preferably before 12:00 Midnight on New Year’s Eve. I think this is something that all of us, despite our differences that we will agree on as a way to appropriately say goodbye to this crappy year…
Nate
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