The Story of The Man Who Checked His Social Media Status Before He Died
Exploring the enigma of humanity
One of the greatest albums of the last decade is Father John Misty’s “Pure Comedy.”
In it, Josh Tillman — better known as Father John Misty — makes several nihilistic, yet I’d say, pragmatic predictions about the state of our increasingly meaningless clown show of a world.
“Total Entertainment Forever” describes a world where we’re entertained until our death. When historians find us we’ll be in our homes plugged into our devices.
The internet was supposed to be this new democracy, a utopia of information where everyone had a voice and we were all interconnected, and we would experience true democracy — and it turned into pornography, followed only by outrage. — Father John Misty
The self-titled track “Pure Comedy” describes the hypocrisy of a world that justifies organized craziness as accepted and ubiquitous.
Oh comedy, their illusions they have no choice but to believe Their horizons that just forever recede And how’s this for irony: Their idea of being free is a prison of beliefs That they never ever have to leave
Nowhere, however, do I think Tillman’s predictions are more profound than in the “Ballad of the Dying Man.” It's the story of a man who foolishly views his social commentary as more important than it actually is.
Sound familiar?
Who will criticize the homophobes, hipsters, and one percent?
“Eventually the dying man takes his final breath But first checks his news feed to see what he’s ‘bout to miss.” — FJM
Isn’t it weird how addicted we are to news? If I wanted to, I could stay on YouTube, Medium, Twitch and Twitter all-day and be thoroughly entertained. It would be easy. I might even order a pizza.
Even weirder, however, is our attraction to digital controversy. Whenever someone says something we don’t agree with we feel as though we are morally obligated to correct them.
And it occurs to him a little late in the game We leave as clueless as we came From the rented heavens to the shadows in the cave We’ll all be wrong someday
We believe our anonymous comment to a random stranger across the planet — or maybe right across the street; who knows — is the morally right thing to do. Or maybe we’re just bored.
Or, do we do this because we’re narcissistic and want to show others, and ourselves, how morally and intellectually superior we are? The one thing I can’t answer is why do we care? Do we have no lives at all?
Neil Degrasse Tyson’s golden rule for arguments
If an argument lasts longer than five minutes then both sides are wrong. This is coming from an astrophysicist who has to debate flat-earthers.
What Tyson means by this is that after five minutes of arguing, then all you’re doing is wasting oxygen. In the case of social media, wasting your life. As one of my favorite biblical passages points out, you’re casting pearls among swine.
Although, who knows, is your advice even worthy of being called pearls? And who’s to say you aren’t the swine? Arguing in the YouTube comments is not a professional debate. Your opinion, especially in an online forum, does not matter if we’re cutting to the heart of it.
You have to earn a valuable opinion. Work, sacrifice, and experiences give your opinion context, moreover, credibility. That context is mostly lost in a Twitter argument.
The irony of “Ballad of the Dying Man” is that he’s just as pretentious and sanctimonious as the people he criticizes. He’s a dilettante (A word I just recently picked up!).
Live through your actions, and speak to those actions only after they’re finished. Realize, also, that many internet warriors are provocateurs who just like stirring conflict. There’s no consequence to deliberately pissing people off online like there is in real life.
The comments are still open for business
I still love venturing into the comment discussions in both articles and videos.
Sometimes there’s careful criticism or hilarious post that brightens my day and allows me to view content differently. Additionally, commenting creates a community. The comment section on Joe Rogan’s old podcasting videos was family.
My own Medium comments have given me a wide range of emotions. From love, excitement, curiousness, critique, frustration, annoyance, and even inspiration to create separate articles of their own.
When it’s your comment section, I think it's important, moreover, impactful to stay engaged. Maybe try not to obsess over comments— you do have content to create after all. But Medium is a community, and engagement with you, yes you, is often an amazing part of my day.
The folly that Father John Misty alludes to is the online communities that are window dressing in your life. They’re superficial and add nothing to your life.
There’s nothing wrong with allocating a little bit of free time for this. But you shouldn’t inverse the process of content creation and meaningful work. It isn’t the entertainment you should be obsessive over, but the work that brings meaning to you and others who experience it.
“The Ballad of the Dying Man” is not a world I want to live in. Yet I feel as though we’re heading towards there. This comedy of a world we live in can quickly become a tragedy. How long does this human experiment have left if we continue to judge others based solely on toxic internet exchanges?
“I hate to say it, but each others all we got.” — FJM
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