As IF Times

Source: Pope Francis Mourns Excess Carbon Emissions Given Off By Notre Dame Fire | The Babylon Bee

It’s a sign of the times we’re living in when reading a story such as this makes you groan in exasperation rather than immediately dismiss it with a big ‘as if’.  In the past few years, you would think that a contest is being held to see which officious, high profile person can provide the stupidest utterance. We’re not talking about random slips of the tongue or the occasional brain hiccup that makes someone say that there are 57 states. We are talking about full blown, twilight zone whoppers which are often completely untethered to logic.

As this is being written, elected government representatives on the left are categorically denying that a crisis of any kind is happening at the US’s southern border with Mexico….even as irrefutable video proof of the invasion is readily available. It’s reminiscent of the classic Monty Python skit in which a customer brings back a parrot to the pet shop because it is clearly dead only to experience the vehement denial of thus by the owner.  There are Presidential candidates who openly welcome illegal aliens into their self proclaimed  sanctuary cities but howl in protest as plans are afoot to actually send them there.  As well, there are Presidential contenders running on the platform of reparations for slavery, even though that condition hasn’t existed in the U.S. for over 150 years.  Oddly, there are those that are pushing for the segregation of students along racial lines on campuses, even though the ancestors of the minority kids fought their entire lives for desegregation.  Also from the twilight zone of course, is Joe Biden running on a platform of ending the rule and domination of old white men, not to mention capitalist success story Bernie Sanders expounding on socialism.

Not that many years ago, The Onion was the only outlet publishing all manner of satirical stories on topical issues. They offer witty articles lampooning the newsmakers of the day.  Now, virtually all of the major news outlets are apparently battling for that same audience and truth is now as  bizarre as fiction. Alexia Cortez has become a franchise unto herself.  Naturally, politicos and entertainers are the ones most often captured embarrassing themselves with slips that expose their vapidity. Who can forget Rep. Hank Johnson’s fear that the island of Guam could tip over because of an influx of US troops? Who can forget Rep. Pelosi exhorting the house to pass a bill so they could find out what was in it? Entertainers are, well, entertainers, so the majority of their bleats are just that….for entertainment.

We observe that the TV news networks are increasingly willing to give voice to those that are only tenuously hanging on to sanity. The reason for this is that the 24 hour news cycle needs edgy stuff to keep people interested in the same boring news stories. Rather than any concern with the veracity of a story, they instead manufacture personalities to create brands and push wild narratives. So it’s entertainment masquerading as news. Nobody watches Rachel Maddow to find out the news. They watch it to find Maddow’s spin on the day’s events as if it were the next installment of Game Of Thrones.

But dear god, not the Pope! We don’t really know if he really uttered the concerns about the fire at Notre Dame worsening global warming as stated in the linked article. But based on the eyebrow raising comments he’s made during his tenure on other sacrosanct Church issues…. it’s possible that he may have! And that’s the point. The Pope isn’t supposed to say stupid things. He’s supposed to be sober and learned, his opinions well researched and his pronouncements measured and to be absorbed with gravity by all. He’s not supposed to be uttering the same things as Miley Cyrus.  It would be like attending a shareholders’ meeting at IBM and the chief financial officer declares that he’s going to convey the last quarter’s financial statements via interpretive dance.

With so much of today’s news coming from outlets that have morphed into entertainment vehicles, the line between hard news and infomercials for the latest social justice cause barely exists. With everyone getting into the Fake News game the average person would be hard pressed to find out what is really happening in his world. Instead, the consumer has a wide variety of versions of reality and he then chooses the one that fits his worldview. We are at that point in history when people have reason to be skeptical of everything.  In the end, we have to hope that people will tire of the circus acts and gravitate to what they observe with their own lyin’ eyes.

update: Pope urges hairdressers to cut gossip

Source: Taiwan’s ‘Bikini Climber’ social media star Gigi Wu dies after ravine fall in Yushan national park | Outdoor & Extreme | South China Morning Post

Though tragic, Gigi Wu’s 15 minutes of fame are over.  Unfortunately, her story is not that unusual since we regularly read about some ‘adventurer’ whose exploits went horribly wrong.  For some reason, the media generally mourns the passing of these individuals as if their exploits were the leading edge of human existence.  We can think of many people whose personal pursuits wound up as unfortunate misadventures:

Recently, a young missionary, John Allen Chau went to North Sentinel Island, an isolated place in the Indian Ocean populated by savage cannibals.  Despite warnings from his fellow religious friends that he would be killed by cannibals,  he went…and he was.  There have been various BASE jumpers and flying suit daredevils who have plunged to their deaths while leaping off high structures.  Numerous people over the years have tried to climb Mt. Everest but froze to death in their pursuit of the summit.

It can be debated as to whether smart decisions were made in many of these cases, but we can all appreciate that all individuals have some kind of inner conviction that they needed to address.  We could never denigrate exploring the boundaries of the human spirit.  The death of Miss Wu is tragic, but especially so because there were no boundaries of human existence being pushed.  She was a victim of the rampant cult of narcissism that has taken hold of people the world over.

Younger people, but especially a disproportionate number of girls, have fallen prey to the cult of narcissism gripping (mainly) Western society.  A half dozen years ago, the now ubiquitous device known as a selfie stick didn’t even exist, whereas these days, they are as common as smudges on smart phones.  With the inexplicable popularity of the Kardashians, the need to have coquettish images of oneself is like an out of control virus in society.  Girls of course are not alone in their self preening.  Boys do it as well, but it’s preening nonetheless, only in a different way.  Some may recall the “Jackass” movie phenomenon from a few years ago when boys were publicizing stunts that conspicuously threatened life, limb and often the octave of their voices.   The ultimate exponent of narcissism must be Oprah Winfrey, whose eponymously labelled magazine, “O” is all Oprah, every issue, every magazine cover.   You couldn’t make this up.

The mainstreaming of You-Tube videos,  Facebook and Twitter have only encouraged the fame seeking narcissism that has exploded over the past decade.  Technology has unleashed into society, both exhibitionists and voyeurs on a scale never seen in history. Unfortunately, the very large majority of this is hardly time capsule stuff.  It’s mostly ephemeral drivel that fuels the smart phone business.  If rampant vacuity were the only consequence of this phase of culture, we could probably accept that.  Unfortunately it is not.

Narcissism (and its closely related cousin, tribalism) is at the root of much of the malaise that has affected the functioning of modern society. We can blame some of this on Fred Rogers, late of the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood childrens’ show fame.  Some may recall that his most poignant message repeated at the end of  every episode was that ‘you are special, there’s no one else like you’. A powerful and compelling message of self esteem for children at an impressionable age to be sure, but it seems to have  morphed into a grotesque manifestation of ‘me me me-ism’ as the kids became adults.  Now that message has been taken to heart by an entire generation resulting in people supporting narratives that are not well thought out, are grossly erroneous, or of no use at all, other than that they like them.

This narcissism has become its own justification for imposing these views upon others, compelling them to have the same held views or be otherwise ostracized.  Given enough exposure, popularity takes the place of fact. We see this expressed in politics with increasing frequency.  Without the guardrails of logic or sanity as barriers,  all kinds of obtuse views are given validation because to oppose them would be parochial fuddy-duddyness and  a denial of individualism.  The consequence is what you see today; utterances by people at all levels of influence unrestrained from voicing even the most naked stupidity.  There’s even a label now for this disorder, Absent Occipital Cortex syndrome or AOC, coincidently the initials of the new congresswoman from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

We see people championing views held by an inconsequential minority as if they were the interests of the majority. We see views expressed, without reservation or shame, that are diametrically at odds to an established stable society or even to logic and common sense.   I can tell you that these people aren’t the oracles of society…they are the barnacles.