Inactions of the useless

I took this picture while driving through the countryside not far from Adelaide, that was 2006. The last time I was in Australia was a little over 10 years ago, something I still kind of find a bit strange, considering I have had the possibility to travel a fair bit in that time. Of course, while it would be great to see family, it is a very expensive trip to get to Australia, miss work for 4-5 weeks and not actually see anything new.

I am hoping that in the "not too distant" future, I will have more flexibility to travel more and this will of course be with a family hopefully. At the moment it isn't really practical and with my wife's new job, she doesn't actually have any holidays for the next year anyway, in the same way that I didn't have any this year.

I think travel is a great experience, although I reckon that will depend on the person and their focus whilst travelling. Some tend to look for what is different, others look for what is familiar. I believe the same thing goes for general thought processes, which is why some people constantly find what they are looking for, even though to do so they have to remove all the components that don't support their position. Information blindness created by a personal silo and due to the availability bias of the position, they can always feel right, even though they have to exclude information to feel it.

People see what they want to see.

Yesterday I was proofreading some work from colleagues and because they have spent so much time working with it, they are blind to the errors because they know what is meant to be there, even if what is actually there is not what is meant. People often do the same thing when they read any kind of content because they are primed to see through some shade of tint from their experience and because their blurred vision matches their thinking, they believe they know the truth of something. Some repeat this truth over and over until it dominates their world and, it is all they ever see.

You see this a lot in those who subscribe to left and right politics, as if there is a side. When they look at what "the other side" is doing, they will look at it without charity, but they do not apply the same filter to what "their side" is doing. It means that ideas are supported or rejected without consideration, without looking at what will lead to where anyone needs to go.

I reckon most of the politics people talk about is entertainment-based to draw attention away from what actually happens. Those that engage with it think that they know and may even think they are making a difference, but it is like those people who watch to much TV and believe that the actor in a show is that same character in real life. Delusional.

Again, it is like that proofreading case where people see what they want to see. However, regardless of what one knows, if it doesn't lead to changed behavior and betterment, what is the point? I think that a lot of the internet is filled with people who "know" so much yet they are unable to apply it to even their own lives, let alone use what they know to improve the lives of others. More entertainment of the mind, time wasting of the body and useless waste of energy - although they will not think it is this at all.

Like the guy preaching about the end of the world on the street corner.

They think themselves heroic, some kind of savior yet - what have they done and who have they saved? Delusions of grandeur by ignoring the feedback or lack of feedback from their position. But I guess, they live a life and end a life believing that the time they spent mattered. It mattered to them at least. As the quote says though, we all die alone.

However, what we do doesn't necessarily die with us because our actions in life will have ramifications past our death. For example, the way I treat and raise my daughter will live past my life and affect hers and those of her children. The environment I provide will influence her body and mind, the world conditions I help or harm will impact on her also. Raise a child in pollution of body and mind, and the probability is that the potential of a healthy child turns into a sick adult.

It all adds to the discussion of life though and while some will benefit from the words they hear, others will be harmed. Words are meaningless until there is context and they are useless until there is action based upon them. There are lots of words on the internet, how many are acted upon? Lots of people screaming into the digital void at passersby, like the preacher on the corner yet, there is no action, no movement created.

For me as someone who writes a lot, I can create a lot of words, but are they acted upon? Well, I act upon them at least and perhaps that is the most important person to act for if I am unwilling to back my own words, why would anyone else? Yet, I don't write directly, I don't write How-to-Guides, I have a conversation, I talk about experience and hypotheticals, maybes and predictions of where things could lead. It is what I enjoy.

Some like to read books from other people and onboard the philosophies as their own, the positions as their own and believe they are correct because someone smarter than themselves said it. Do they act upon those books though? In my experience, experience itself is the largest driver of personal change and the most consumptive are the least adaptive as they have a lower rate of experience, steps removed from the experience itself.

It is funny how many people believe they know what is the best for everyone, yet are struggling themselves to be their best own version, unwilling to change because they already think that they are the best they can be. That means that they can blame the world for all of the things that aren't right because, it can't be them that is the problem.

The internet is the perfect breeding ground for personal silos and screaming "truth" into the void, because there is no need to worry about actually meeting the people and facing consequences. It can all be kept at the world level without requiring the action or proof of support of those words. You know, the people who claim about being financially successful yet still are chasing or complaining about their Steem earnings on their shitposts? Their behavior gives away their real positions.

The internet is a fun place and it is getting more interesting once life and internet are increasingly intertwined. At some point, activity is going to matter, not just words.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]