The Internet
Ugh. As with most tools, it is both the greatest and worst thing to come from mankind.
As you have no doubt heard, a few days ago, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a rally. It took awhile to pronounce him dead after the incident. I'm not going to say anything about my thoughts on Charlie Kirk or what happened. I don't think that's constructive and I leave it at the baseline that I don't think he should have been shot. But, I have some comments about the internet.
I mentioned above that it took them awhile to pronounce him dead after the incident. I knew much sooner that he was going to live because a close up video was posted to Reddit showing blood pouring from his jugular and auto-played as I scrolled past. In the first second he lost more blood than a person gives at the blood bank. I have shut off auto-play.
I hope the person who posted that video got the amount of upvotes they wanted, but I don't think that needed to be posted. Give it to the police and leave it at that. I'm not bad when it comes to blood and I didn't have nightmares about the video, but lots of people could. It wouldn't have been hard for a small child to see the video or one of his family members.
There is lots of talk about the current internet and how it is becoming more bot than it is human. I feel like we might need to lean into this. Old people getting scammed by bots? Make a whole shitload of bots to talk to them that won't scam them. Push out those bad bots with good ones. Sure it means they aren't talking to humans but this could be a quick fix till we get something better. The bad ones will still sneak through but it might save a few people.
Or do we get another internet. There is the dark web. Why not a version on the other side of what we see that is a light web. Yeah, it would be super quick to get bots in there but there has to be something. Maybe a variety of them for different countries or something.
I don't know, I'm spitballing. Until we can make everyone be nice, nothing will solve the problems. All political systems are perfect until you put a human that wants to exploit it in charge.
Comments
I've seen enough in my years. I saw Saddam Hussein hang, I watched the Twin Towers fall and I've seen my own son's arm bent at a 90 degree angle. I know to say no.
But you faced a different beast in that sometimes it's forced on you - like when Jonas broke his arm for me. For all the importance we put on the media, I sometimes wonder if it's not doing our brains more harm than good. Back in the day we would see our family hurt and die, but we'd have no idea what was happening even one town over. It was ignorant, sure. But in many ways I think it protected us. Or at least we haven't evolved enough yet to be able to manage the horrific imagery that the world throws at us.
A few years ago I was listening to a true crime podcast about former Colonel Russel Williams and his horrific crimes. While I didn't see anything, the podcast was almost too detailed and it left me very disturbed. While I made the choice to step away and I've largely avoided true crime since, it makes me wonder about the people who have to look at that evidence, watch the videos of murders and assault. And people like Dad who rush into danger only to see awful injuries and death. I know it damages them and I can do nothing but show them my thanks and respect. Because that part is necessary. Someone does have to watch the video of Kirk dying. Someone had to operate on him and try to save his life. And someone will need to mop the floor after everyone leaves.