An Intangible Landscape

Greetings my Virtual Lovelies, I hope you are well and attempting to gird up your loins for the winter months ahead. For any of you following along from the warmer climes, fuck you. I say this with all the love I can muster but I'm afraid that is not all that much. But in this case, a little goes a long way.

I'd like to talk about something that has just recently come to my attention. Now to be fair and clear I'm not saying this is new, just new to me. If you are hooked up to any of the anti-social media websites, Facecrack, Twit-er, Instaglam or the myriad of others, I'm sure you've experienced the attention seekers post. If you aren't sure what I mean, it's probably you. Awkward.

Now I can hear some of you right now asking, "Isn't that what the anti-social media is all about?" And the answer is yes of course it is. If it wasn't for the fact that people, in general, want to be noticed or heard these obnoxious websites wouldn't exist. If the general public didn't give a rat's ass, they would make up fake profiles with fake names and post nothing but funny shit and Buddhist quotes. I digress.

But the people who created these sites are rich beyond their wildest dreams, I mean Zuckerberg still can't get a date with a real woman but, he can afford the full line of sex robots. And one that he calls mommy. Come to think of it, this douche is so rich he probably had a robot made in his image, to sit in front of the angry, old congress and repeat the phrase, "I don't know the answer to that, will you be my friend?"

Let's talk about the use of the word friend and what it means to me, my friend. See what I did there? I don't know you, you don't know me but I called you a friend. Would you lend me your car? (Not you bro, I know you don't own one.) How about a hundred dineros? Would you lend me money? Invite me over for dinner? Drinks? A hot-tub? Naked? You see what I'm getting at here, right?

Go to your Facebook and look at how many "friends" you have. Okay, now really look and see how many friends you have. If you wouldn't let someone on your friend's list borrow your car, or sleep on your couch, or drink your last beer then are they a friend?

Do you see? I'd take one real friend over four hundred and thirty-seven Facebook friends. For the love of the gods, I don't even know that many people and that's including my family. Which by the way, not all of them are my friends.

Now take this one step further. Stay with me here and I'll try and bring this gargantuan, ugly mess around to make sense. Think of one person, in your real life, that you consider a friend. Someone when the chips are down and life looks like it always does, shitty, that you would call for help. You'd call this person because you have no fear of rejection, judgement or that this person would blab your shit to make themselves look better. Do you have a friend like this? If you do you are truly a lucky soul and if that person considers you a friend of the same ilk then you do have something almost unheard of in this the "social" media age.

In one day I saw two different twitter posts that caught my attention in a way that I don't think they were intended to do. This is where I would usually preface with something like, I'm not out to shame these posting people, or I feel for their plight but . . . But I'm really at a loss to understand, maybe you can.

The first one had a picture of a little boy at the top and the lady tweeted, (I'm paraphrasing here folks;) If twitter is good for anything anymore I need every #prayer I can get. My five-year-old fell in the pool today, he's still unresponsive. Please, dear God, let him wake up! Now, this is horrible and I have no joke here, no punchline. I do however have a question.

What in the name of fuck are you doing on Twitter just hours after your non-responsive son was pulled from the pool? Are you in the hospital waiting room, bored? I mean I know we all pull out our brain-suckers when we have to sit for more than two seconds, but seriously? And what is with the first line? If twitter is good for anything anymore. When in the fuck was twitter ever good for anything but ugly, racist, name-calling ass-hats, with an agenda that doesn't include you? And I'm just talking about Trump right here. The only time you get true, sincere, heartfelt thoughts and prayers are after, yet another, mass shooting.

And clearly, I'm not a religious individual but, if I was, I don't know that I'd buy #prayers. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work. Although according to legend there were some commandments carved in stone so I guess that is the earliest version #godsaysso.

I guess what I'm having a hard time with is the turning of a tragedy, such as this, into a live tweet situation. If this lady has no family she can lean on, no partner, no parents, no friends, then this has become a whole lot sadder. If twitter is her only real means of support, well, then I am at a loss for words.

If that is not the case and this person is live-tweeting her son's horrible situation to get attention and or sympathy? Then once again, I'm at a loss for words. Surely no one would do something like this? Right? I don't know and don't call me Shirley.

The other side to this is reading the comments people, I'm guessing that doesn't know this woman from Eve, have left to support this person in their time of need, on Twitter. The comments range from thoughts and prayers to people going on to explain how unresponsive coma's work and what this woman should do. Now I'm no brain surgeon but taking advice from @longdongsilver69 is probably not your best course of action. Also, I'm fairly certain that one hundred percent of the people that are offering up prayers, or better yet, constant prayers, are not dropping to their knees and staying there. They have already moved on to the next thing that needs their thoughts and prayers, on twitter. I sincerely hope this turns out for the best for all concerned and not just on twitter.

This next tweet I saw was less than an hour after I saw the above-mentioned tweet. This one was tweeted by whom, I can only assume was an older gentleman, and it too was steeped in tragedy. Again I paraphrase. I met her when she was seventeen and I loved her. We celebrated our thirtieth anniversary and I loved her. You get the idea, right? And the last line was; She died tonight, holding my hand and I loved her. Fucking sad and the guy had a real flair for words, it was well written and conveyed pain and loss. Again no joke here, just the same question.

Your partner of thirty plus years just died holding your hand, what in the name of all that is holy are you doing on twitter? If my partner of four years just died holding my hand the last goddamn place I'd be would be is twitter, or Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat.

Here's the deal. Those people, your "friends", or "followers", they aren't your friends or your followers. They aren't tangible, concrete, hold them to your bosom friends. They just aren't.

The environment that we send our heartfelt moments into is a wasteland of broken bodies and chewed up stories. It's a train wreck, with a plethora of rubberneckers gawking for as long as your pain and suffering will hold their attention. Two-point five seconds. It's reality TV in a different format. It is people longing for their fifteen minutes of . . . recognition. It's not even about fame anymore, people will settle to be recognized for a tweet or a post or the pain and suffering of real life.

So now we've reached the third part of this three-headed anti-social media snake. The ability to be anonymous, while being anything you want to be. You can say anything you want to say. You can snort condoms and eat tide pods, you can be a victim or you can victimize. You can be a sinner or a saint and all without leaving the comfort of your own home. And you can do any, and more, of these things for what? Letting your four hundred and thirty-seven friends know what's going on with you? Sure. And that is also a real thing too.

Having a party, family reunion or a celebration of life, yeah that works. It's an easy RSVP solution. But when we get down to brass tacks, to the real meat off the bone, it's about recognition. We all do it to a certain degree and that is the nature of the anti-social media. That is the crux of it.

It is the sad reality of our day and age. Our youth are being bombarded by the selfie and the superficial adoration that comes with it. So much so that if they don't attain enough, oh you are so beautiful, comments it has an adverse effect on their day.

For the most part, the landscape of the internet and the anti-social media isn't real, it's reality TV. Anyone can now create a very convincing news bulletin and have it be total bullshit. I saw one a while back and I fell for it. I didn't re-post but I did pass it along in the real world, so thankfully only one person heard it. But here is the upside for anyone creating a false narrative to garner sympathy or attention, and I'm not suggesting my two examples were doing that, the wrath that you incur will also be of the superficial kind. It's like reverse thoughts and prayers.

AW

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it. - Jane Wagner