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None of This Matters
Another week, another dumb internet outrage. This time it was about the Covington kids. Before that, it was the fake news story and that celebrity who said the thing and a mean lady who yelled at a nice man and the bad man who was mean to the dog.
Each time, the usual suspects bellied up to their keyboards and rage-typed at each other until the next “scandal” made them type at different people. If you want to remain sane in the face of today’s Outrage-Industrial Complex, I’ll let you in on a secret: Twitter doesn’t matter. The viral video doesn’t matter. Our opinions don’t matter. This article doesn’t matter. None of this matters.
Conan O’Brien gets it. From a New York Times interview about his retooled talk show:
At this point in my career, I could go out with a grand, 21-gun salute, and climb into a rocket and the entire Supreme Court walks out and they jointly press a button, I’m shot up into the air and there’s an explosion and it’s orange and it spells, “Good night and God love.” In this culture? Two years later, it’s going to be, who’s Conan? This is going to sound grim, but eventually, all our graves go unattended.
Interviewer: You’re right. That does sound grim.
Sorry. Calvin Coolidge was a pretty popular president. I’ve been to his grave in Vermont. It has the presidential seal on it. Nobody was there.
He continues:
I had a great conversation with Albert Brooks once. When I met him for the first time, I was kind of stammering. I said, you make movies, they live on forever. I just do these late-night shows, they get lost, they’re never seen again and who cares?
And he looked at me and he said, “What are you talking about? None of it matters.”
None of it matters?
“No, that’s the secret. In 1940, people said Clark Gable is the face of the 20th Century. Who [expletive] thinks about Clark Gable? It doesn’t matter. You’ll be forgotten. I’ll be forgotten. We’ll all be forgotten.”
It’s so funny because you’d think that would depress me. I was walking on air after that.
That quote went semi-viral when some people worried about the talk-show host. “Is Conan ok?” More ok than a lot of us.
Much of the current hysteria is fueled by people who don’t get this. Some saw the first Covington video Saturday night, didn’t catch a context, and moved on. Many other ill-known scribblers saw it and decided, inexplicably, that their opinion mattered. Hundreds of blue-checks needed — needed — to Issue Their Official Judgment on this non-story for inclusion in the annals of hot-take history. As if the rest of us mooks were slapping our refresh buttons, desperate to know what [insert journo with 13,172 followers] thought about a staredown between some teenager and an old dude.
I can pop off my opinions all day; hell, I’m paid to do it. Albert Brooks can make movies and Conan can entertain millions on late night. But none of it matters in the stretch.
What does matter is holding a damp towel to your sick kid’s forehead and bringing in the groceries for your elderly neighbor and surprising your wife with take-out from that Vietnamese place she loves even though you hate fish sauce. Almost no one will notice it; certainly not the strangers who “follow” you online or the historians of the next age. These little acts still matter more than anything.
But Twitter, the internet … this? None of this matters.
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Published in General
All true. But I think part of his point is, things like this happen every day. The difference is, not everyone used to know about it or need to be involved through comments and hot takes. An outrage machine doesn’t solve anything and often just makes things worse. Take care of those around you.
On a happier note:
Thanatopsis
BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And healing sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts Of the last bitter hour come like a blight Over thy spirit, and sad images Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;— Go forth, under the open sky, and list To Nature’s teachings, while from all around— Earth and her waters, and the depths of air— Comes a still voice— Yet a few days, and thee The all-beholding sun shall see no more In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, And, lost each human trace, surrendering up Thine individual being, shalt thou go To mix for ever with the elements, To be a brother to the insensible rock And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. Yet not to thine eternal resting-place Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales Stretching in pensive quietness between; The venerable woods—rivers that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,— Are but the solemn decorations all Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death, Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness, Or lose thyself in the continuous woods Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there: And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone. So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw In silence from the living, and no friend Take note of thy departure? All that breathe Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care Plod on, and each one as before will chase His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave Their mirth and their employments, and shall come And make their bed with thee. As the long train Of ages glide away, the sons of men, The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, By those, who in their turn shall follow them. So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
So should the group of anti-Nazi kids known as the White Rose have just chilled out and focused on their personal lives? After all, they certainly didn’t *expect* to be remembered in 50 or 100 years.
What is going on with the attacks from the Left in this country today is not just politics as usual, but something much more sinister.
White Rose focused on helping out in the real world. They didn’t issue hot takes and sick burns on Twitter.
They published leaflets, which were the closest 1940s approximation to Twitter.
What about those who got the evil white dude version and then found out it was a lie ?
I don’t believe at all that the story of the Covington kids hasn’t made an enormous difference in a positive way to the power of the media.
Agreed, I would would put them in the ” red pilled” column, or heading in that direction. However, not everyone received the ” it’s a lie” message”. Passive or casual consumers of the news and or apolitical, seldom know when they are being lied to .
And your outrage will do what to help them?
And what can you do to hold those people accountable?
I’ve struggled with depression my whole life, which has caused me to go through a lot of therapy. One of the key messages of that therapy has been to focus on my sphere of influence and ignore the rest.
I have no influence on Donald Trump or Nancy Pelosi or media talking heads or idiots on Twitter. Therefore, I treat them as I treat the weather: something to be aware of and planned around, but not something to consume my energy.
It really does make for happier living; I recommend it to everyone.
I bailed on Twitter a few months back, because I found myself getting upset at what complete strangers were saying about things they clearly did not understand.
Which is not a good use of my time. Or anyone else’s. So I let that go and have felt much better ever since.
Life is too short to waste it.
I have always really liked Connan O’Brien. His Late Night Show (CBS), work on the Simpsons, I’ve always found him hilarious and intelligent. Some of his recent forays in to politics is really unfortunate (Hat Tip Dennis Prager – ‘the Left ruins everything’).
For those interested – Netflix has a Connan series (5-episodes): the Cuba and Italy ones are terrific, the Korea (meh) the Haiti and Mexico (horrible!). The commencement address they played of his when George H.W, Bush had passed away was really profound and sweet – I’d recommend it as well.
Should I not show empathy with victims of injustice? Or should I just say “la la la doesn’t affect me!”
I get Jon’s point. I also get Reticulator’s point.
It might not matter fifty years from now, but it matters now. It matters to those kids and their families; it matters to the people threatening and showing themselves to be hysterical or tyrannical. It matters to our ability to continue on with our American experiment with any kind of good faith. It matters to me, because it will also matter when I face God and receive judgement. Did I protect the weak when I was able? Did I do what I could? Can I do more than make a stink from afar?
Anyway, the alternative is nihilism. We do good because that is love and God is love.
If your show of empathy isn’t going to be seen by those who are the nominal recipients of your empathy, it’s just as much useless virtue signaling as the leftists denouncing the kids.
None of what you say matters!
I’m trying to persuade people in my sphere of influence how to be happier. I recognize that I’m a failure at doing so and so my effort doesn’t matter, but at least I’m not sharing my outrage to show everyone what a good person I am by being outraged at the things I think all good people should find outrageous.
There’s a 4am shift at the coal mine?
I’ve visited Coolidge’s grave as part of my Black Hawk War travels. It was a family connection (nothing to do with my own family, though).
You’re basically lecturing us that we shouldn’t care about things that have no direct effect on us. That they shouldn’t matter to us. We shouldn’t hold any opinions on such things.
Which pretty much negates the whole point of this website.
Which I frequently find attractive.
I’m not saying not to hold opinions on such things.
In my meaningless opinion, the point of this website is to have persuasive discussions and build a community. It’s not to go “harumph harumph harumph” and decry one’s fellow members because they didn’t harumph loudly enough at the leftist/ Trump/ Never Trump outrage of the day.
I understand. Evil can be attractive too, and good can be difficult and distasteful. Nihilism is empty, though. Worse than empty sometimes. If nothing matters then nothing matters, including me, you, human dignity, right, wrong, justice, pain, joy, pleasure, sacrifice, charity. All of those things are human constructs, no matter how much the new atheists try to claim we don’t need God for what we know of as morality. Nietzsche’s superman doesn’t avoid the abyss either, he just attempts to squeeze as much agency as he can from it, but a more super superman will impose his will over yours eventually and it won’t matter to anyone or anything.
The internet is a funny thing. On the one hand, it is informational and constructive. On the other, it is an open drain of social voyeurism and angst. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, whatever: it draws us in and for some becomes a consuming torrent of indignation.
It’s fascinating in a way, how wading into this pool simultaneously and contradictorily affects our behavior – we are desensitized to some stimuli, hypersensitized to others. Whatever the basis and presupposition for one’s moral or emotive reasoning, most of us are animated by the need to get to the truth, set things right, and take stands against injustice, foul play, and general unfairness. I would argue that this is, in general, a good thing, but there are risks in allowing our participation in those online battles to overwhelm our immediate responsibilities and reactions to people within our personal sphere. Because it is true, the behavior we succumb to in fighting everyone who is “wrong on the internet” can carry over into our dealings with real people. Additionally, as a finite being with finite capacity – overflowing with indignation and outrage at “every” perceived injustice I find is a limiting factor on my ability to be kind, graceful, and present to the people around me.
There are a couple of things going on here. First, with regard to the OP and the Conan O’Brien quote, I really see that as commentary on reputation. Whether one is “on the right side of history” on any little incident or outburst on social media – none of this matters in the long run. Reputation is fleeting, a chasing after the wind. But on Twitter and other places, chasing after the wind is great sport, inflated beyond its true value, and with little regard for the truth or facts of any given situation. AOC isn’t far off, surprisingly, when she advocates being “morally right” over “factually right”. This is how people behave – and yet it is horrifyingly wrong when the facts don’t support the pontification.
Secondly though, there are things that can and do trigger our moral sense of right and wrong, and justice. The Covington School incident should be considered differently than what some outrageous thing some celebrity or politician “says” about some topic. One offers the potential for real conflict; the other is merely a triggering provocation or offense designed to attract attention and to enhance one’s reputation in the eyes of an adoring tribe.
To close out the thought, I simply cannot summon animated feelings toward every incident that comes across the social media wire. I have a limited capacity, and the truth is, I make more of an impact in my personal sphere than I could ever do so online. I have to pick my battles, as it were. Solomon saw that much of human endeavor was meaningless in the long run, but he also acknowledged that some things do matter. Justice and mercy matter, reputation not so much.
I’m related to a once locally prominent miner in Southern California. One of his mines is still extant and part of a not well-kept trail of mining remnants. The map of those things spells his last name wrong.
This story was frustrating in how little it actually mattered.
Let’s look at the Kavanaugh controversy where you had a Supreme Court nominee, so already important, accused of *rape.* It was clear that neither Kavanaugh, his primary accuser, nor their respective supporters were backing down, we were in this until the vote came and it would take something like a 9/11-level terror attack against the US or a Cat 4 hurricane slamming into the East Coast to have a chance of knocking this off the front-page for more than one or two days. Anything less would be a 24-48hr interruption. Because it was an important story.
As for Covington? This story should not have continued after Martin Luther King Day. The only reason was, I guess, the media (and everyone else) had more or less gotten bored with the shutdown story and the constant threats of an emergency declaration by Trump. So the media didn’t really have anything to talk about until Friday when Roger Stone was arrested and the shutdown ended.
Well, aside from the diplomatic crisis with Venezuela, but foreign affairs don’t get the traction they used to. Or should. But I digress.
Jim Chase: The internet is a funny thing. On the one hand, it is informational and constructive. On the other, it is an open drain of social voyeurism and angst. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, whatever: it draws us in and for some becomes a consuming torrent of indignation.
I really feel like a century from now (or even 50 years on) people may be looking back at the early 21st century thinking we were such bored, trivial people. We must not have had much to do.
The above (as well as the paras I snipped) is well-considered. Caring and commenting both need to be considered in the context of the health of the carer/commenter. There have always been political junkies, but they have never had so constant and pure a drug stream.
It is interesting that we want our presidents to comment on non-political news of the day events and ourselves insist on commenting on each one as it comes up.
To an extent we need to do this in the same way we need to purchase products. If we all simultaneously stopped caring quite so much, the internet would fall over and die. But constant outrage will shape us over time; into ragers.
Save it up.
One can hope – but I fear it unlikely that such maturity will manifest itself within that time span.
Our descendants will still be bored trivial people, they just won’t understand our diverting trivia.
yeah, unless they’re busy rebuilding society.