Distance Learning, mLearning, Digital Education, Technology

“In the United States, there is no history, only media.”

— Carlos Fuentes

 

Damn you, “social media!” You have completely hijacked the main purpose of the internet; sharing information. I don’t mean information in the technical sense; 0’s and 1’s. I mean information in the literal sense; as in “literacy.” As in “What’s Goin’ On” (Marvin Gaye, 1971). As in; WTF?! Instead, most people have been “socialized.” They have joined the various “social networks” in order to feel as if they have meaningful relationships. In fact, most of these interactions are trivial, meaningless, and come with advertising. Social networking exists only because huge multi-national corporations can make money. They sell you a device, air-time, games, “apps,” and expose you to advertising from other multi-national corporations. And it’s all good, right?

 

Well no, it isn’t. Socialization, conditioning, brainwashing; whatever you call it, the results are the same. Accept what authorities put in front of you, and do not question it. Sit still, and be quiet. Want to exercise your freedom and independence? You are free to purchase as much as you can afford, and then some more on credit. I mean, when is the United States going to have a real “Twitter Revolution?”

 

Socialization begins at birth, is reinforced by “parenting,” and by the time the average child is five-years old, they’re done for. Any ideas of independent thought have been squelched in favor of succumbing to peer pressure; even if that pressure is contrary to the child’s own self-interest.Then there’s pre-school, where “sit-still-and-be-quiet” and obedience to authority is ingrained for good. Parents contribute, usually with the best of intentions; just like like most of your school teachers have. Then more lies by omission in textbooks and literature, much of it presented as fact (Land of Freedom, anyone?). Contradictorily (and perhaps the source of mental illness), the child is taught that they are “special,” with a capital “S.” Specifically, that they are entitled to anything they want by virtue of the fact they are “Americans.” However, the only way most people can express their uniqueness in this milieu is…to buy something.

 

James Corbett refers to cellphones as “fondle slabs.” Perfect devices for games and self-reinforcement, perfectly lousy devices for writing (Thumbs in portrait mode? Really?), and therefore for doing research, or watching movies (Portrait mode? Really?), viewing hi-resolution photographs, or listening to music. “Smartphones” are not computers, but many if not most people think that because they have one they are In Touch With The Modern World. In fact, they are only in touch with like-minded individuals.

 

I’ve given up on asking people how they know what they know; this is completely beyond the kin of people who cannot even spell Buddhism or know who Carl Jung was, let alone actually know anything about them. When I ask  where they get their information, most people have a deer-in-the-headlight moment that immediately tells me that they have no idea. Some will name a specific social network like Twitter or Facebook. Others will name some  “mainstream” media outlets like CNN or MSNBC (nobody admits to watching Fox). A teeny-tiny percentage will name an liberal source like Democracy Now! or HuffPost.

 

Everything you see or hear is carefully controlled by the Idealogical Apparatus that starts warping your mind as soon as you started watching cartoons. Far from harmless fun, watching impossible things occur over and over conditions the mind to accept total bullshit as reality. This apparatus includes all social conditioning from schools, to "news," to entertainment, to deliberate disinformation from intelligence agencies. The majority of cellphone addicts believe the first thing that they see on their devices, no matter what the original source. And most people never bother to find the origins of a story, or to even check if it is true. In fact, most people don’t even know how to perform a proper search. 

 

The entertainment industry continues the charade through toys and games that generally reinforce mindless consumption patterns at the least, and aggressive stupidity at the worst. I was fine with the early video games where drones fought mechanized gun emplacements, but first-person “shooter” games? Really? Gee, I wonder why Johnny shot up the schoolhouse? Oh, no connection of course. Freedom of speech and free enterprise, right?

 

The “news” is almost entirely controlled by the “intelligence” agencies; “sources” say this and that. And it’s no accident that almost every militaristic plot in Hollywood movies has played out in real life; either before or after the film was released. Not to mention propagandistic drivel like 24, Quantico, and the almost necrophilic obsession with dead bodies in the various TV series like…well, almost all of them. Supposedly harmless entertainment like the Star Wars franchise seem to be prepping us for a nuclear war. I mean seriously, do you think humans will survive long enough to ever get to fight wars in space? 

 

The reason there is no history in the United States of America is because the MSM/Hollywood has immersed us in electronic hallucinations. Everything you see is “virtual reality.” Reality television is only the most obvious example, but reality itself has become all but impossible to determine without a major effort. Most people are shocked and in denial when informed that most of what they “believe” is not true.

 

And that’s the root of the problem. Many people confuse “know” with “believe.” That’s all the Buddha asked; how do you know what you know?” and “Think about what you’re thinking about.” Social media encourages neither; in fact, SM is all about acting on impulse; responding to stimulus; like, dislike, take a selfie, buy something. No deep thinking required, and certainly no research. Not by typing with your thumbs on that tiny screen…..

 

©2018 J.Thomas/BlackHorseMedia

Via ThePlanetaryArchives/BlackHorseMedia - San Francisco

thrall | THrôl |noun literary: the state of being in someone's power.

 

The main reason the United States is on the irreversible course it is on is because: physics. Let’s call it Historical Momentum; “an Empire in freefall will accelerate unless there is an opposite and equal force.” Or it will eventually dissipate into smaller units of organization; villages instead of cities, energy converted to matter instead of the opposite, human beings given the same rights as tram-national corporations.

 

The other main reason is that the majority of the citizens who are in a position to provide the equal and opposite force are instead in thrall to, or beholden to, The Powers That Be. This control is exerted by The Media. Everything you see and hear is motivated by the Mushroom Theory: keep the public in the dark, feed them shit, and they will be happy. Ignorance is indeed bliss.

 

The latest and most dangerous addition to the Soft Machine is so-called social media. Someone(s) figured out you could make money selling narcissism, gossip, vitriol, games, and cute animals. Not to mention cellular devices and accessories, airtime, and “data.” We’re talking billions of dollars and hours for no productive result. Oh I’m sure a Tweet™ or text or call did something somewhere for someone, but 87% of what occurs over the internet is non-essential. And like most statistics, that one was made up from scratch.

 

The message from “the media;” so-called news and entertainment, and our education system is always the same: the ends justify the means. Pretty much what we learn in school is that it was OK to kill everything and everybody from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Arctic to Straights of Magellan because “we” were white and Christian. I’m not either, so I’ve always had a problem with that (I used to actively root for the “Indians” back in the day before they were inevitably massacred in the Western movies Way Back In The Day).

 

We also learned that although almost all of the actual work that was done in this country was done first with free slave labor (African and indigenous), then indentured servant labor, then underpaid immigrant labor, somehow it’s OK that a few European descendants own and control everything because: “white.”

 

Somehow lost in all this was the fact was lost that we were to prepare ourselves to spend the best years of our lives commuting to a window-less, airless room, hating our boss and co-workers, and being too stressed out to enjoy the few precious hours The Man, which is to say The Banks, allot us on weekends and “holidays.”

 

This process is facilitated by keeping us in enthralled by electronic hallucinations. It’s much more subtle than The Matrix, and much more direct. Every television show, every ad on radio and TV, every movie, most print media, billboards, packaging, “branding,” peer pressure; all compel you to conform to The Narrative. And the narrative is this: “If you are rich, you can do ANYTHING you like and get away with it. And you too can get rich…if you win the lottery, or hit a jackpot in a casino. Just keep working and consuming and take your Xanax…..

 

But the primary tool of control today is that damned cellphone. It has completely destroyed any pretense of literacy; typing with one thumb? Really? The few actual artists still working in the film industry must go crazy seeing people watching movies in portrait mode on those tiny screens. And the sound quality for music is simply not there. Many webpages won’t display properly on phones, and they are certainly not places to store information.

 

No, they are entertainment and distraction devices. And what worries me more than anything is that they are used as babysitting devices. Seeing a child with their device is really concerning. They should be developing their physical bodies, instead of laying around like little slugs. And they could learn two or three languages in the time it takes to get all the coins it takes to complete The Quest, or whatever.

 

The internet was created to share information. While cat videos are information in the strictest sense, I pretty sure that’s not what Mr. Berners-Lee had in mind. There is tons of life-changing information available on the WWW, but it’s very difficult to see on a phone; especially in portrait mode……

 

©2018 J.Thomas/BlackHorseMedia

Via ThePlanetaryArchives/BlackHorseMedia - San Francisco

Well, yes. Until I have evidence of a Twitter or FaceBook “revolution,” I’m going to go out on a limb and say selfies and cat videos are not particularly effective tools of change. At least they haven’t been to date. Who knows, maybe the cats will save us. Or maybe video games. Or VR. Or AI.

 

Not. These things are all the work of the Devil, designed to 1. Get your money and 2. Get your attention and 3. Get your “data.” OK, OK, not the Devil, but rather devils, plural. Many Evil Geniuses plotting to keep you in Mushroom Mode: in the dark, and fed s - - t. OK, OK, not like Evil evil, just the kind that puts money ahead of everything else in the world…including The World. The inter webs can still save us, but only if we DYODR..

 

“Tech” is mostly about military and security: better weapons and better ways to keep track of you; specifically anything to do with money. “They” really don’t care about you otherwise. Then it’s mostly about getting you to buy something. Yes, even I have succumbed to the magic of Amazon Prime. (I wish they had better movies though). That’s OK, Netflix has been satisfying my movie addiction since they mailed CD’s from a warehouse in Palo Alto. Ahhh, the good old days…oh wait, I had dial-up. The only “streaming” was this thing called Bit Torrent…..

 

Well, the hardware is improving, but still not exactly making Moores Law-type leaps ahead. A phone is still a phone; not a computer. I believe phones make people lazy and complacent. The “Face-Down” Generation. Literally bumping into or walking past the thing they’re looking for. while staring at a screen. Many people never bother to actually learn anything because they assume they can find it on their phone (even though they may not even know how to do a proper search).

 

Then when you challenge some off-base statement they made with “Google it,” they say “You can’t believe everything on the internet.” Which is true. But you can believe some things, and it’s actually pretty easy to get a consensus opinion from actual experts on almost any subject. That has always been the major benefit of the internet; fast, and mostly free access to information. 

 

I was on MySpace way back in the day. I tried FaceBook when it started; I immediately realized that it would consume all of my free time, so I bailed. I have been off and on of Yelp! three times.  When it started, I was telling one young lady about it and she said “Yelp? Is it family-friendly?” I guess she thought it was some kind of S & M site. Yelp! is presently one of the most community-based, troll-free, and useful website out there today. And it’s well-designed, too.

 

Here we are, in 2018, and most websites still look as if they were designed by 5-year olds, especially Facebook and Instagram. And LinkedIn. And Google+. Wouldn’t know about Twitter, never seen it. Never will. For what, exactly? Send me an IM, or better yet, a free (for now) email. But keep in mind that male-chauvanist pig that I am, I’m only comfortable with getting emoji’s from females.

 

But I digest. What is called social networking is mostly narcissistic gossip, online gaming, and some form of gambling. Online gambling has wreaked the lives of individuals and families just like the other kind has. It’s another multi-billion dollar industry based on a distraction. Worse, it plays on humans most disgusting trait; greed. The most popular social platforms that people stay up late and wake up early to check are little more than hyper-effective methods to separate you from your the contents of your bank account.

 

While you self-gratify by getting “likes” or trolling someone, a couple of wealthy men get even wealthier. Apps, telecom services, phones, and accessories are multi-billion dollar industries. How does this benefit society, or even an individual? A momentary and cheap thrill for you, another dollar for…whomever.

 

Meanwhile, many if not most people rely on social networks for their news. Big mistake. What happened yesterday halfway round the world is not news; what your crooked Congressperson is doing right under your nose is. But you won’t find that in the news. This type of news is soon lost in the next overwhelming tragedy. Also, your platform has algorithms that censors what you see. “Fair and objective?” Not anything that can be considered mainstream media. In fact, most corporate media today is really closer to propaganda than information. Just like most of our so-called “education” is actually indoctrination.

 

So, in a time when there is more information available to “everyman” than ever before; more people know less. Oh, they may know the name of the latest pop tune or Hollywood celeb, but they couldn’t find Latvia on a map. Most people “believe” what they see on television, which is the Second Social Network (Radio was the first). Fans of shows like Game of Thrones or The Wire can’t wait to twitter about the latest episode. Texting about movies and video games, selfies, and cat videos all feed upon one another, creating a self-enforcing resonance, an echo chamber… a silo.

 

So put down your bleepin’ phone, and dust off that laptop or desktop. Plug it into your smart TV, and DYODR. Know this; the anchors on CNN and Fox don’t actually know anything. They are only repeating what they are told by their producers, who don’t actually know anything either, because they are only producing what comes from “official sources,” which is often a CIA -approved press outlet or individual. And although the CIA can be a good source of information , I would compare and contrast what in their “Fact Book” just as I would any other source. When it comes to political matters, they definitely have an agenda…..

Via ThePlanetaryArchives/BlackHorseMedia - San Francisco