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It’s Paddy Chayefsky’s World, We Just Live in It
The internet has allowed each of us to be our own media publishing company. We can make our own talk radio station with a podcast, our own TV station with a video streaming channel, or our own publishing company with a blog (like those on Ricochet). With the internet, our voices can reach around the world and affect the lives of millions.
But for most of us, that just doesn’t happen. There’s a saying in the world of internet marketing that goes back at least a dozen years: “The good news is, we’re all visible on the internet. The bad news is, everyone is two inches tall.” There are literally millions (if not billions) of people out there on social media, all of them updating their feeds and snapping pics for the ‘Gram at a prodigious rate. That huge amount of background noise drowns out most of the messages we create. Yes, your friends and neighbors may Like that cute picture of your pet or your video on how to make the perfect creme brûlée may get some play on YouTube, but most of the content out there barely makes a ripple in the world wide pond of the World Wide Web.
This can be a problem if you’re really, really, really passionate about saving the world, or more importantly, letting people know how passionate you are about saving the world. The actual “saving the world” part is the secondary outcome. What’s important is that people know that you want to save the world. That’s what matters.
So what do you do when you’ve reached your social media limit? What do you do when your co-workers get tired of listening to your diatribes around the Keurig? What do you to make those ignorant fascists realize just how much changing the world means to you?
You throw a Molotov cocktail into a police car, of course.
“This **** won’t ever stop unless we ****** take it all down. And that’s why the anger is being expressed tonight in this way. This has got to stop. And the only way they hear, the only way they hear us is through violence, through the means that they use.”
This wasn’t spoken by a member of an oppressed people group. This was spoken by a graduate of New York University’s Law School and her corporate attorney partner in crime. “The only way they hear is through violence” are the words of someone who’s tried to express themselves through other means and failed. Now, in her child-like mind, violence will solve the problem, as she has given up on using words.
They’re mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore.
We have gone from “be the change you are looking for” to “burn it all down.” Paddy Chayefsky was not able to tell us about life after Howard Beale. Maybe there are some places that were too dark for his mind to explore. We are in a brave new world of violent cowards whose infantile narcissism blinds them to the ultimate destination of their actions. We need to grow up, and quickly.
Published in Politics
I think part of the problem is that people are dreaming of, and vying to become, “that ripple” that changes the world.
Mother Theresa, Ghandi, MLK. They did not build their sainthood portfolio by being dramatic, but by building a culture of change.
15-seconds of fame always seems like the first step to becoming a powerful influencer, until someone does something bigger and more influential.
Those 15-second motivations create action that is distorted. Unfortunately, they are also the actions that are curated by the media, and receive the most attention and applause.
Yes, there are a lot of Greta Thunbergs out there.
Kevin Creighton
The number of people killed by police officers has been going down since 2015. Maybe the Molotov cocktail worked.
In Network, the scene of the black militants eating a bucket of KFC is priceless!!!
You summed it up beautifully. And this is going on all over the world. “Social justice” is the petulant cry of the spoiled child. Not the Golden Rule, not “can’t we all just get along”, not neighborliness, and not respect (let alone love) shed abroad.
I have many friends who are stupendously good at handing out violence, and to be honest, I’m not bad at it myself. However, my friends and I, having studied violence and what it does to victim and attacker, will do almost anything to avoid it. We know that it is a bell that is almost impossible to unrung.
I do not have that same confidence with the people on the streets.
Gee, I wonder who was president in 2015 when all those police killings happened. Couldn’t have been the wonderful healer, could it?
Kevin,
The woke are the true idiocracy. I like your Chayefsky reference. He was the only one to really catch the crazy 60s-70s politics at their core.
Regards,
Jim
If people like this woman believe violence is the only way to get their message across, perhaps we should get our message across by inflicting violence on them. Our message is, “Stop rioting, looting, and assaulting people every time something you don’t like happens.” Maybe then they’ll see calm dialogue works better for everybody . . .
I regret that I have only one like to give to that comment.
I like the scene where Faye Dunaway meets with the terrorists for the first time. It’s a deal meeting with high priced lawyers and media advisors!
I highly recommend revisiting Network – a truly great film with multiple layers and as true today ( and amazingly prescient) as ever.
There are two three Howard Beale scenes/rants. The ‘mad as hell’ is the most known but there’s one better above.
Thank you for the Network, @franco!
Perfect turn of phrase. Consider that stolen, brother.
Go to the range?