Monday, December 26, 2016

2016, Was It Really That Bad?

The year 2016 has become synonymous with celebrity death, global calamity on a natural scale, PC culture fanaticism, SJW self-deprecation, and the looming threat of global nuclear war. The tension is high everywhere on the planet, and everyone including their mother is glued to social media waiting to chime in on the next bad happening. At least it seems that way. In light of all this the question I feel begs to be asked is whether or not this world is really worse off than it was last year, or years before? To answer that we all need to take into consideration the social media boom, and the boom of biased opinions of the mainstream media. That, and the outlets' purposeful agendas within the confines of each "boom". In all cases it could simply be said that the "bad" things in life are more socially widespread now, and more socially known due to the connectivity the internet has more than willingly provided. We are constantly being force fed information, and misinformation from all fronts with all sources bringing forth the most negative of spotlights on human activity, and negative topics of discussion. If anything it seems to a certain extent we've all jumped aboard the "2016 Apocalypse" train whether we intended to or not. We cannot escape the descent into maelstrom that we've all been plunged into in every aspect of our daily online lives.

Looking, and thinking back on the world as I saw it growing up (30+ years worth of life) there was always crime in the form of illegal immigration, murders, thievery, rape, and other violent acts. Natural disasters were always a thing, and war was always on the backs of everyone's mind. I think what separates mine, and everyone's early years from the present though is the fact that the internet wasn't as prominent a fixture of everyone's life as it is today. It wasn't as easily available, and the news that is spread therein wasn't so easy to obtain. Back in the day news did pick up on the coverage of main world events, and daily criminal activity, but never was it as noticeable as it is now. Come to think of it this increasing socialization of news seems to have only become more widespread in the recent years. I think it's safe to assume that when terrorism was shoved so forcefully in the face of the world's populous again people began paying more attention to things like criminal activity, the government, and other disastrous world events. Much like our great grandparents did during the first two world wars, and other crisis like the great depression. We have effectively become more aware of our surroundings through our news consumption, and have realized in our once blissful ignorance that the world isn't as nice of a place as we once thought it was. Thus is life.

None of this is new to the world though. The world as we know it was forged in war, and bloodshed. It was christened through fights, and feuds. While some people may be "good" there are always people among those do-gooders who thrive on conflicts against humanity, or even nature itself. If you were to read up on history you'd know this all too well. Unfortunately some of us digest social media posts, and journalistic feeds without giving what was discussed a second thought. Therein lies the dilemma. If we can't see past the false flags, or decipher the details for ourselves how are we ever to know the truth of what is going on? How are we to know if this year was really the worst of all the years of our life? The answer is that it only takes some digging in your local library to uncover most of what you need to know. When that's gone, and the world's population is made dumber than a bag of hammers then there will be a cause for concern as there will be a loss of truth. Moving on ...

What about the Reaper reaping the world's famous celebrities, you ask? Well, with the lifestyles that come with being famous some people in the entertainment industry tend to live short lives due to poor decisions. I think more than anything the rise in celebrity death is more or less another example of social media feeding the frenzied shark that is the trending train. A lot of the celebrities that have died this year were of old age, or lived the "fast" life at some point in their career. As far as living the "fast life" goes the seven deadly sins aren't referred to being "deadly" for no reason. Gluttony will kill you. Sloth will kill you. Greed can definitely get you killed as can lust, wrath, and any of the other sins on the list. Am I saying all celebrities lived the high life? Nope. I'm simply saying some of them did, and perhaps some of them simply did not take good care of their health. Do you realize how many celebrities there are/were? There's a lot more than I can name offhand, and I can recognize a lot of them. Realizing this leads me to the conclusion that celebrity deaths were just one of several prime focuses in 2016. I know you're probably wondering why, and my answer lies with the fact that like every other human on this Earth celebrities have been dying year after year. If you went back years through the headlines of pop-culture media, and did the proper research I have no doubt in my mind you'd find a significant amount of celebrity deaths talked about. Death, as much as we don't want to believe it, happens. We are not immortal, and neither are our favorite entertainment superstars.

Now let's discuss the SJW, and Political Correctness cultures. Throughout history (including ancient history) there have been "movements" that were both politically motivated, and socially motivated. These trending topics, and pushes for change were spread from person to person, and place to place just like they are today. Only to a lesser, and much slower degree. With the easy access to the internet, and the state of social media only being partially governed in modern times though the travel of knowledge or the lack thereof has escalated the flow of trending topics to everyone, everywhere at a quicker pace. The influence of speakers behind movements such as that of Social Justice Warrior culture, Feminist Frequency, Gender Politics, and Racial Divide are much more influential, and can effectively sway a much larger audience due to their ability to spread their disease (er, I mean 'word') like the plague. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is fighting for some cause, whether it be right or wrong. For what it's worth though it is no different from the many similar movements or causes from years/eras gone by. Ideas don't always fade away, and in the modern era's case it seems social agendas are the trending motif as they've always been. The word "Society" comes to mind for a reason.

In closing I'll say this. It does seem that terrorism is on the rise more than it has been in previous years, and that the possibility of war between nations could happen due to some geo-political power balance issues. It does not, however, seem that all things are as bad as people make them out to be. I think it's combined focus of negative goings on, and the social media agendas at play that blow a lot of what has happened out of proportion. Deaths among celebrities have happened since the dawning of the entertainment industry. Natural disasters have happened on even grander scales than what happened this year (I'm talking extinction level events, Entire countries being laid to waste). Terrorism has also happened in the past to an equally terrifying, and possibly even worse degree. Perhaps not on native soil as it has, but elsewhere I can guarantee you it did happen. The crimes of the world are nothing new either. Even the financial status of the world is nothing new. It's simply that all of the above has been forced into your view as you (like millions of others) have adopted social media technology as a daily source of information. It's because of that fact, and the fact that mainstream media is purposefully focusing on things to increase awareness for their adopted causes that things seem "bad". The year 2016 was no doubt a bad year, but as far as being the worst, I beg to differ.

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