Reclaiming Our Intelligence: A Call to Wake the Hell Up
Who Benefits When We Stop Thinking?
How can I talk about the loss of intelligence when I am not sure how much I have left? I have always been curious, questioning, and wanting real answers to why things are the way they are. I also have a few basic assumptions, like kindness is better than cruelty, being fair makes a better scene for all, and supporting people is better than taking advantage of them. Basically, “Golden Rule” stuff, or treat others how you want to be treated.
I feel driven to write about the current events of early 2025. So much is happening so fast, I already forgot much of last week’s headlines! Things are incredibly real and life and death for many. Consider these crises:
Measles Outbreaks: anti-vax propaganda supported by RFK, Secretary of Health.
Attack on Education: Banning books, words, and ideas. Tearing down the system that ensure all kids have access to education, reintroducing religion to classrooms, rewriting history, and more.
Move Fast, Break Things, Kill People: All the firing of federal workers has put many people at risk. From planes falling out of the sky to disease prevention and monitoring getting shut down. Most of us have never been this at risk.
Healthcare Crisis: Insulin and other drug prices are more costly now, hospitals are underfunded and closing, especially in rural communities.
Shifting to Authoritarianism: Voting rights at risk, dismantling of institutions that have served us well, normalizing of political violence. I bet a guy in 2016 that we would call him Three Term Trump, I hope that friend is watching the news!
Social Support Loss: Social Security and Medicaid may disappear while billionaires profit and privatize everything.
Ongoing Destruction of Everything: Nothing is safe, not Canada, Greenland, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, our relationships with every ally, it is all damaged or soon to be.
Many of the things going on are unrecoverable. Every life lost, all the broken relationships, economic damages, and our trust.
WOW! This Sounds Bad!
The U.S. is going through a major change, and maybe we had control that we just gave up. I could dig into intelligence what it is, how we lost it, and who has it now. Instead, let’s just say I get it. I believed a lot of stuff in the last 63 years and explored many rabbit holes. I know the ‘joy’ of scrolling YouTube Shorts. I get lost in chasing information or sometimes confirmation when I should be doing something productive, I get stuck in many of the same tar pits of attention draining traps.
I feel fortunate in that I never took to sharing my life on social media. The six-inch screen on my phone is hard to see, and touch screens are very awkward for me. When I am out in public, I am watching all of you, hopeful for a connection, while listening to music, not staring at my device. I turn into a screen addict when I get home to my mouse, keyboard and 43-inch screen.
The things on our screens are hurting us. It is the constant stream of comfortable, bias-confirming, content that is taking our ability and desire for critical thinking and equitable resolutions. The talk about algorithms forcing content on users is valid, you see stuff you like and agree with because that is how they designed their systems.
Animal lover: Like a couple of animal posts, watch your feed grow with animal rescue, GoFundMe posts for injured or sick pets, and other emotional content looking to manipulate your empathy. It’s about conditioning.
DEI and LGBTQ: If this is the content you engage with, social media platforms will stuff your feed with yummy posts that delight you, and others crafted to cause fear and anxiety. When the sight of red baseball caps makes you nervous, billionaires are winning.
Pro-USA, Patriots, and Constitution: Some content cleverly coaxes you with a message any American should agree with. The deeper you explore this rabbit hole, the darker your world becomes. You will likely find your stream filling up with content justifying political violence, civil war fantasies, and full support for authoritarian rule.
Who Benefits When We Stop Thinking?
Social media platforms profit when you consume, click, or comment on the content they push into your feed. The longer you scroll, the more advertising you see; advertisers also profit. The people posting content also benefit financially, with status, or by supporting their agenda; but there are far more people being led down dark paths than there are manipulators guiding them.
How about some good news?
There are far more people being led down dark paths than manipulators guiding them. It’s why I write, post, comment, and make eye contact in the real world or virtually! If 1% of Americans shift to real talk instead of reactionary comments, the world would notice. If 10% of us, or about 35 million Americans learned to talk through our differences, we could change the world.
How Does This Work?
The manipulators include anyone posting content, Elon, Joe Rogan, politicians, and me. We all want a reaction to our content. Some want you to buy something. Some want you to fear. Others want to drive your hate like it’s their personal tank. People like me are looking to inspire you to question everything, starting with what you believe right now. I question a lot and trust very little. In 63 years I learned many things, not all of them truthful or valuable. I am still learning and shaping my worldview.
I am not really a leader, but I do try to lead by example, so I reveal a lot about myself. I am learning all the time, but lately, the lessons are more existential. Understanding doesn’t come from memes, it comes out of examination and experience. If something you see, hear, or experience triggers an emotion, pause and acknowledge the emotion, it mattered; then examine with every who, what, and why question you know.
I don’t have all the answers. Questions are a better start. I believe that as we examine and question things without our biases engineered by social media, agreeable solutions will become obvious. Shedding those biases is hard. They often started with a like on a post or two, then grow under the dark cloud of social media pressure. I rarely visit the Internet without waking up my inner cynic, he has a strong bullshit meter.
It takes a lot to write like this, at least for me. I cry, I scream, I throw things (sometimes). I could try writing sales or commercial content for clients, but my broken heart won’t let me be part of the problem in that way.
If you have a moment, take a look at some wearable messaging I’ve created to help start real conversations.
*Writer’s Portfolio * TeePublic Merch * Moral support (kofi) *