Crazy for Content and the Guide for Common Sense

What is it about this generation and their desire to get the most likes on Instagram? Or if it’s not that it’s about getting the most views on Youtube or some other social media site where they want others to take note of their existence and press that like or heart button until they can’t anymore. I’m not sure I get it, I mean sure it’s nice to share your stuff with the world if your into that sort of thing, but why share it for any validation? Isn’t that putting too much pressure on your life?

In a recent article I read about a man who was being charged for something I think was bound to happen eventually to be honest. In fact, this man probably represents a good chunk of the world that is out searching for something that could give them an edge in the world, you know give them just a little something to put themselves on the map. Though I think this individual might have had an added sociopathic problem to boot as he took his cell phone out in hopes of getting the next viral video and maybe some news coverage.

How the man in question thought it would be okay to approach the scene of an accident where two teenagers had just been in a car crash and film it instead of help the poor souls is something that has to make you wonder about how low our society has fallen into the grips of social entertainment because let’s be honest, despite our surprise and disgust at how the man could do such a thing, you can’t deny the fact that there exists more than enough people out there who want to see that footage, let alone buy it. I suppose there’s comfort to be found in the fact that the police are looking to charge him with trespassing on a crime scene, still I doubt the family of the one deceased child care much. Then again I also suppose I can’t assume that the man’s earlier efforts to help would have made any difference.

It’s funny the lengths people will go to in order to get content to showcase on their social media profiles. The chances people seem to take are bordering on the extreme and nobody seems to want to draw the line anytime soon. Well almost, nobody. Out of all the places in the world who would have thought that Russia would come up with a useful guide that would attempt to at least discourage risky behaviour in the search of the perfect selfie.

What’s sad is the fact that such a guide is even needed. It’s like common sense took an extended vacation as it up and left this generation. I wish I could laugh it off and say we don’t need such a guide because we’re humans, top of the food chain! But the sad truth is that in the last two years alone you could find some of the weirdest and most stupid accidents resulting from people trying to get the perfect selfie.

* Fatal accidents involving selfies*
*Man shoots himself in head after trying to take selfie*
*Pilot selfie crash*
*India train selfie kills three students*
*5 deadly accidents caused by people talking selfies* 

It takes that whole saying ‘to die for one’s art’ to a whole new level, one I’m not so sure most people even mean to live by and is a ‘selfie’ even considered as art? I mean sure, some guy in New York is technically stealing people’s images, tweaking it a bit and calling it ‘art’ but is it really worth nearly dying or killing over it? These are some serious things to ponder.

I don’t know, maybe I just haven’t felt that special feeling when someone likes the stuff I share, or maybe I need more than one someone to do it, who knows. Personally I don’t see myself hanging from a tree for a like or stripping down for a view, it’s just not my thing but then again I’m just not the type and the world needs and has all types. I just wish all types didn’t have common sense as optional.

The Power Struggle - Fighting The Big Stick

The world has become an interesting place, or maybe it has always been like that and all we’re doing is discovery it bit by bit as we advance further and further with things like technology and science leading the way. An interesting thing about technology though is how as we grow as a society more and more dependent on its existence, we see many things that have always been around slowly begin changing. Take for example a simple thing like Power.

Such a thing has existed since the beginning of time, though it has changed forms and been understood in various different ways over the ages, one thing has more or less remained the same and that is that power has been given to those with the ‘bigger stick’ or in today’s terms we could say the ones with the most influence.

Yet as technology grips our society and runs with it, becoming an integral part of it, we see that power suddenly shifts with the times and it’s no longer the guy with the big stick who commands things. In fact, it becomes almost laughable to think that one man with a stick of any size has a right to do any sort of commanding at all once you have technology introduced.

Technology has brought about a form of communication that has effectively transformed the meaning of what defines Power, or at least it has begun to do that. 

In a string of recent articles I found floating about the web I came across something that fascinated me. A group of Kpop fans seemed to be attempting to trend the news of a woman and her two children’s story, which was truly horrific to read through. Through the many links provided I discovered the full story and I have to admit, despite my initial doubts, the story holds quite a surprising amount of possibility in it. Still if it is a scam, which I hope it would be simply because I wouldn’t wish such horror on my worst enemy, it still brings to question many things with regards to how quickly we judge the things the web tells us as well as how horrible we have probably became as humans in this day and age when corruption becomes something we can so blatantly look away from.

*Woman and her two sons begs for help after being forced into prostitution by husband*

*Alleged victims Lee Jung Hee and sons speak out about abuse and sexual exploitation*

*Korean woman makes desperate plea for help after 20 years of sexual slavery at hands of pastor husband and family*

But what’s interesting isn’t so much the story, so much as the call for help from a desperate woman who has taken to the internet in the face of a powerful enemy. This woman, who claims to have almost nothing to her name but the desperate desire to save her two children and give them freedom, has sought out the help from strangers whom she wouldn’t know without the help of technology. Curious, isn’t it?

*Sexual abuse survivor Lee Jung Hee's sons make on-line plea for help*

*Help Lee Jung Hee - Facebook*

*Help Lee Jung Hee - Twitter*

*Help Lee Jung Lee Updates*

The powerless then suddenly becomes just a little powerful as a few listen to this woman’s plea and heed her call, in however small capacity they can. Already you see the effect this has on others as they try to get the attention of the world as they prompt action to be taken. 

*Police investigations launched*

*Timeline of events:...[please refer to the following video]*

It’s interesting to see what will happen with such a standoff as people fight to go against powers higher than them while wielding nothing more than the tools that we currently construct our future with. It would definitely be something to witness the masses change the way power is defined after all these years of the ‘bigger stick’ winning. Something tells me that would be some ground-breaking stuff right there.

Still, it will be a messy process no doubt. No one who has ever had power has given it up easily. Humans are sadly like that. I just hope Lee Jung Hee and her children aren’t the collateral in the process of learning how the new definition of the shifting of power will be. If anything, I hope they become a case study as we evolve with the new way power is defined. Then maybe the world could prove not so gloomy and dark a place as I always imagined it to be.