I’ve often said that the worst things to happen to our culture are social media, the stock market, and the industrial revolution.
I think we can expand that list to five.
1. The 24 Hour News Cycle/News As Business
News isn’t business. It’s news. It’s information. It’s an explanation of what is going on in your local space.
Once news became business, they had to make money. How does one make money? You make customers. How do you make customers? You develop a product that they want. What do people want? Safety. How do you produce safety? By telling them what to fear.
News exists at this moment in history to stoke fears and tell you what to avoid. Frankly, it’s become something no different from a horoscope. With how often they’re wrong, it’s a flip of the coin in trusting them. Whether conservative or liberal (I cannot really seem to find anyone in between), their goal is to manufacture fear in you; by telling you that your opinions are right, you’ll look to them for safety.
Full disclosure, I’m a conservative libertarian. I don’t read the news for the reasons above and many more. I certainly find more evils among the liberal media establishment, but I don’t have time to pretend folks on “my side” of the line are any better. Once news became a business, truth was a commodity. People haven’t realized they’re being lied to, and subsequently hate everyone because of it.
2. Social Media/Youth Worship
Fame. Likes. Comments. Subscriptions. Followers.
None of it is real, folks. It exists in hard drives around the world. The only thing that is real is Christ. Everything else is a mist that evaporates in the light.
Why does nobody really talk about Facebook anymore? Because it opened to everyone and it’s now dominated by the 40+ segment. Nobody cares about them because they don’t have money or looks (I’m going on 42, by the way, don’t kill me).
The drive to chase youth began in the mid 20th century. You can see it after World War II. Kids had both time and money, so business began chasing those dollars. Ice cream parlors, rock music, toys, etc. Look, I love ice cream, I love rock music, and I still play video games occasionally. But a culture focused on youth worship is a culture that forgets the value of everyone else.
We no longer value our elderly and the wisdom they have. We’ve said that the youth are the “next generation” and allow free reign while destroying the beauty and history around us.
Social media is youth-focused until it isn’t. Facebook isn’t for the focus groups anymore. TikTok is. What’s the goal of TikTok? Fame. Possibly money. The American gods in duo.
Further, the echo chambers that social media gas fostered have further divided the nation and separated people from each other.
3. The Stock Market
Woof. I’ll be vilified for this comment, but the stock market is evil. Why? Let’s put it into one word: “Shareholders.”
When is the last time you heard a large company make a decision for its workers? For its customers? For its neighbors? No; it’s almost always “shareholders” and “shareholder value.” Who are shareholders? A bunch of people who put money into the company but have no genuine interest in how it is run, what the products are, or who is operating it: they just want to see margins.
This. Is. Evil.
If you invest in a company, it should be because you believe in the company and its product and want to see it continue/do well. It shouldn’t be that you want to see them cut every corner possible in order to maximize the amount of profit (which, frankly, is just a euphemism for over charging your customers).
Shareholder concerns have caused most of the major financial breakdowns in the last 50 years. Once we started to chase shareholder concerns, we lost the view of quality product, market resiliency, and family ownership/operation. Once we started to chase something we could never catch (satisfied shareholders, content with status quo), we would be willing to do anything to attain it. Firing workers, cutting corners, destroying nature, etc. The list goes on. Most of our recent achievements weren’t for the sake of human dignity or service, but chasing currency. Don’t tell me it’s a miracle when it’s the product of chasing a false god.
4. The Profit Motive/Corporate Greed
Profit isn’t good. Again, I’ll be shellacked for this, but it’s true. Get over it.
Profit can be described as the following: how much did you over charge your customers? That’s it. That’s all there is. After you paid your CEO, workers, suppliers, vendors, R&D, etc., you had money left. That means you overcharged.
5. The Industrial Revolution
Final nail in my coffin.
The industrial revolution was and is a lie. We eat, sleep, and live more easily than ever right now. This is true. But we’re also more godless, sinful, and idolatrous than ever right now. So, the argument that it made life easier doesn’t hold water.
Further, men have been removed from providing for their families directly. The example I always give is of the blacksmith: he could produce pieces for the community and bring in currency, but he could also produce pieces for himself. He had means by which to produce real value for he and his family.
This doesn’t exist in the industrial revolution in the 21st century. It would be one thing if folks who manufactured goods were able to take home some of the goods they make, but they can’t. You don’t get a car for building 1000 cars for GM. You get some special pricing but you still have to give them enough to cover the cost.
Further, knowing how to manufacture items for others doesn’t necessarily translate into useful skills for home. Being able to solder a circuit board doesn’t really translate into home skills unless you’re doing soldering at home.
I admit, I type this on a laptop produced by the industrial age, by companies chasing profit, serving shareholders, chasing the youth dollar, while developing product they’re convincing people they need.
I know this.
But there’s something to be said for being aware of all the lies; for being in the midst of the storm, but staying dry, because you know the storm is a facade.