I’ve had my drinks and nursed the hangover and the feeling of existential dread that I’ve carried over the past 8 years isn’t as intense as I figured it might be. Two reasons: 1) The election is over. It’s done. The process did what it does and we’re not looking at months of bullshit rhetoric. 2) There is absolutely no surprise as to what happens next. Party because they’ve made no secret about it, partly because we’ve seen this show before.
Send in the clowns, I suppose. Do you need help kickstarting the revolving door?
But this letter isn’t about all of that.
Well, it is, and it isn’t.
The other day I was working on an idea about how this is all Facebook’s fault. Facebook, and every other platform that gives everyone the opportunity to talk at everyone. Turns out, this is a spectacularly bad idea that is made worse when you incentivize the talkers with money. Quantity replaces quality, the message gets more ridiculous, and we end up in a world ruled by conspiracy theories.
There isn’t a single person out there who can physically idealize the scale of their audiences. About 76% of incorporated towns in America have fewer than 5,000 residents – a population most brands wouldn’t bother targeting with an ad campaign. Meanwhile, there are social media users who aspire to grow their audiences into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, for a shot at some kind of pseudo fame where they can get paid for being, well, them.
Oddly, those sorts of high-follower folks are rarely the kind of normal that we would rather see in passing. I fell down the rabbit hole with that video of Jason Kelcee smashing that guy’s phone. Most people would piss their pants if they had to go on stage to speak in front of 5,000 people. They tend to be the same folks who skipped out on the day when they covered “talk shit, get hit” in school
If you can, check out Join or Die on Netflix. It is an exploration of Robert Putnam’s seminal work “Bowling Alone,” which sounded the alarm about the ever-decreasing public participation in social clubs. In summation: Putnam found a direct correlation between the efficacy of regional democracies (in Italy) and the resident’s participation in social clubs.
As in: democracy doesn’t work without community….duh.
Later, Putnam’s meta research revealed a significant drop-off in club and community participations – from churches and Elk’s Lodges all the way down to PTA meetings and picnics in the park. The reasons are numerous and mostly speculative. The result is fairly straightforward: we’re a bunch of lonely mopes nowadays.
Even the U.S. Surgeon General put out a notice about the health risks tied with being alone.
It is no secret that tech companies are heavily invested in creating the most advanced dopamine delivery systems every know to human physiology – our brains don’t stand a chance. Why bother putting on pants to leave the house to get your dopamine from friends and community when you can get the “just as good” feeling at home on the couch? Once that happens, why not try to replace a sense of “connection” with the people on the other side of the little black screen? Maybe they make you laugh or think or piss you off in just the right amounts?
Follow the thread long enough and there is no secret as to why the majority wanted a narcissist.
When we look back it will be dead-obvious how we easily ended up here – which means it will be more challenging than ever to find our way back out of the wilderness of the alone.
One idea: dump the labels. Rise above your political affiliation. For starters, they could use a little less power and control over the inches between our ears. Secondly – and more importantly – political parties are corporations. They have a central ethos and agenda and work to put candidates in office to make that agenda happen. If you want the party’s money and support, you’ll toe the line.
And here you are with a politician’s name on your bumper.
As cynical as it sounds, the people of politics do not care about you. They can’t, there’s too many of us. Unfortunately, we’ve arrived at a state where it’s not so much pushing the party’s agenda so much as it is making sure THE OTHER doesn’t get in there to do any damage. You (the person reading this) are better than your affiliations. You are not the labels. You are not your follower count or your student debt or even your father’s son if you don’t need to be.
You are you. But is that enough? Can you stand on your own?
Probably not. May as well join up with a club.
Anyway, I’m headed out for a drink. See you there.