_{Tinfoil-man is talking to you, telepathically..}

Dear frequent / addicted / dependent / emotionally-attached users,

Congratulations. You are one of the chosen ones. Welcome to Virtual Reality. No, I'm not talking about those funny-looking headsets. I'm talking about Steemit - the real deal. Oh.. I have much to tell you. About Virtual.. Virtual Insanity. Just play it, get into the mood, and continue the read will ya?

_{Borrowing some inspiration from Apple Inc - I'm just that unoriginal ;)}

Okay. First off, let me begin by saying this. Please don't get offended by anything in here, alright? Also, please don't take anything in this too seriously, maybe. I'm just telepathically beaming content into your minds, y'all. Take it nice and easy. Read the words - let them take over. Or you can choose to stop reading anytime. I'm just a tinfoil-man, man. Not a control-freak.

I'm just going to get real in here, and speak the truth!

Okay, now you may try to feel feelings of schadenfreude, if you're laughing at all the drama on Steemit like @kevinwong. He's just an @asshole. And you too. Shame on you, if you've been having fun while others are gettin' butthurt! Alright, before you start tin-foiling, @kevinwong's not the real @asshole. I'm just saying that he's an @asshole. This post being one example of his @asshole-ness, trying to drain the reward pool. What a jerk.

If you don't understand or relate to what I tried to say earlier, sorry. I'm just a tin-foil man again, man. I can't read minds, and I certainly wouldn't know what to say to please your ears.

Now, now. I get the feeling that Steemit has been a rollercoaster for some of us, including me - a very keen observer. Aliens must be lookin' in and thinkin' - these guys are nutjobs! Well, I certainly cannot speak for you because I'm simply not in your shoes. You might as well be a soulless robot, for all I know. Or a sneaky three-faced con-job.

Or if you've been very emotional around here, you've probably been putting too much hope or stakes on this very wonderful beta, experimental platform (just like any other platforms out there). Anyway, I'm totally covered with tin-foil - the most independent, undisturbed observer in this universe. So trust me!

It's probably getting quite real for some of you especially if you're becoming dependent, which is why this is Virtual Reality. Perhaps there's something that makes this place tick, more than any other place on the Net. Or maybe I'm just over-imagining here. I guess Virtual Reality is what happens when someone combines currency on top of a high-speed social network. It becomes realer than Real Life!

Okay, by all means, Virtual and Reality are pretty much converging these days. Hear me out.

First world, third world, all worlds are colliding.

Which is why just about everybody is "quarrelling" on the platform (well, other platforms too but they don't have any currency so it's not that serious, or if they do.. it's like 10 seconds per transaction and you have to pay to be social). That said, the conversations and butthurts are getting real here. Conflict and resolution on the blockchain, driven by people from all walks of life, illuminated in their own truth, in search of their own piece of Paradise on Earth.

Some are poor. Some are rich. Some are getting younger. Some, older. Some think fast. Some, slow. Some feel righteous. Some feel entitled. Some make funny in-your-face memes. Some feel offended. Some feel that others are hypocritical. Some feel that the world is unfair. Some don't see themselves in the mirror. Some may be bigots. Some are dogs. Some are cats. Some are communists. Some are anarchists. Some may be sly, deceiving psychopaths (we come in many forms).

Some come in peace. Some spend their lifetimes just to serve others. Some just solely around for self-interest, Ayn Rand style. Some make good life decisions. Some make terrible ones. Some think that life is futile and we will never learn. Some think they've all the solutions in the world. Some are trying. Some don't give a shit. Some just laugh things off.

But maybe, maybe the better version of reality is more like this: we're a little bit of everything, experiencing real truth, fabricated truth, imagined truth - seeing a little bit of our reflections all around us. Not a trick question - is money fantasy or reality?

We were all born naked, clueless, and crying - only to grow up looking at the hot mess that we have to go through along with other saints and sinners, generation-after-generation. Some of us were well taken care of. Some of us were abused. Some of us were left alone and abandoned. We have love-hate relationships with mum, dad, friends, communities, authorities, and governments. Pretty much everybody, including ourselves. It's virtual reality, virtual insanity!

Welcome to the millennial fair.

Also known as civilisation. It's something that has been building up ever since the day we made babies and invented language, trying to get information from our minds into each other through so many different modes of communication. Imperfect stuff, but we try to get by. We are driven by our hopes and fears.

But if you disconnect now, get out, go to the fields, lay down, look up into the sky. What do you see? What do you feel? We are all but dusts, suspended in space. Pretty insignificant, but alive and kickin'. All we have are ourselves and our fantasies. There's no one way to live. Who decides that, anyway?

Or maybe.. there are alien overlords around, and we're on zoo planet, waiting to have our flesh harvested for an intergalactic fast-food chain. Or perhaps we're all just dreaming. And maybe.. all the dramas that you're seeing around the world are staged. Even the ones that you're seeing on Steemit!

_{*Tin-foil intensifies*}

All the world's a stage.

It's just me being unoriginal again. What if everything has been staged to test our resolve, since we do not really control whatever happens in the market, even on the blockchain? Just quoting this in light of all the recent drama and flagging that's happening all around the platform. From William Shakespeare's monologue:-

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I don't even know what I'm trying to prove here. It just sounds cool. Plus, The Oscars just happened recently, and according to my observations, Steemit definitely has plenty of talents that may fit the awards. Don't you think that everything that has been going on between whales, developers, and users are all 100% staged just to make the platform better?

What will you decide to do as an actor, a player?

Are you ready? Welcome to Virtual Reality.

Best regards,
Tinfoil-man

_{28 February 2017 (2.10pm)
Follow me @kevinwong}

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_{All images for open-use, attribution-free.}