As I had said, I ditched most "social media" during Lent. By that, I meant things like Facebook (which I do have an account for), as well as others like Twitter or Tik Tok or what have you. And then, primarily the 'debate' sites. I reserved the right to access Facebook if a picture of the grandkids was posted, or our city government, which only posts updates on Facebook, mentioned some news I needed to check out. Otherwise, I steered clear.
When Lent was over, I decided to go back and see what I'd been missing. I'm sorry I did. I even went back to sites I had stopped going to long before Lent. Simply because of their toxic nature. It was like being on a month long Mediterranean Diet with daily kale salad chasers and then suddenly going to the state fair and eating fair food all day. Enough to make you sick.
I said it's no wonder mental health problems, drug addiction and suicide are rampant across the board when it comes to our youth and children today. Look how the adults are behaving. We like to tell ourselves that everyone in the past was as bad as our various problems and failings today. Which I've often thought has to be the worst defense ever. I mean, how bad to you have to reek when your go to excuse about different failings, or evils, or problems is that they were always as bad as we are today. Think on that.
I'm sure several folks out there watched the 60 Minutes interview with Senator Ben Sasse. That was an eye opener. Talk about facing the inevitable with grace and strength. And, as so often happens in the face of the tragic, a deal of wisdom. Yet it's amazing how many people heard what he said and reverted to 'But his politics!'.
Does this mean this sort of thing only happens because of social media? That's what Senator Sasse meant when he speaks of social media being a major problem? No. I think we're at that stage where we're realizing no matter what we come up with or how clean and sterile we can make things, we're just people. People who will never learn. Mark Shea once said people are part angel, part alley cat. I like that. Whether it's in caves, castles, or on computers, we don't really change, do we? And nothing we come up with can avoid the taint of a fallen world. Be it democracy, equality, capitalism, you name it. Pick the best thing in the world humanity has produced and stand back and wait.
I think that hit me when I returned back to those social media sites. But it wasn't just those pesky Twitter snipits. Perhaps it's my old timer ways, but I allowed myself to visit blogs during Lent because, quite frankly, they still seem to be less toxic. Perhaps because the toxic people have moved on to other forums. Or maybe they don't lend themselves to quick, pithy digs and zingers followed by more of the same. I don't know. I do know I'm almost done with the others. Even after Lent, I see no Easter reprieve. Quite the opposite. Because of Easter, I think there are better ways to go about living and communicating.
Just like the thing we used to call the news media. I often think at this stage in the game the world would be a happier and more informed place if we didn't have the media. Likewise, I can't help but see a net positive for moving on, at least from these late generation social media platforms that seem to draw out the worst in people like extracting puss from a wound.
But it's not just the format or the outlet of course. It's why and how we approach it. Because I confined myself to blogs, I found myself looking about for different blogs to read. Believe it or not, whether Catholic or topical or hobby, many blogs have sort of gone the way of the butter churn over the years. I even decided to go back to Mark Shea's blog, which I haven't graced on my own in many a moon. And I saw something that was telling, and a bit sad.
I know from years gone by, sometimes around the big holidays like Easter or Christmas, Mark would back off a bit. He would dig into his archives and bring back older articles or sections of books he wrote when he was less political partisan. He appears to have done it this year. And from what I can tell, he's still doing it. No MAGA Nazis! No Trump Hitler! No lying death cult gun murder blah, blah blah. It looks to be something from one of his books back in the day, basically his take on Catholic social teaching. Not his later one, but from years ago. Like most of what he wrote back in the day, it wasn't bad. Not the highest level of scholarly insights, but nowadays that's not altogether a bad thing.
Yet do you know what I noticed? There were no comments. Now blogging itself has declined to be sure. Was a time that if a post about Harry Potter or the A-Bombs on Mark's old page that garnered only a hundred comments it was a slow day. And his wasn't alone. Blogs with comments in the dozens for even a trivial topic weren't uncommon. That has obviously changed as other outlets and platforms have taken over. Today even some of the more traveled blogs might only see a few dozen comments addressing the hottest button issues of the moment.
But I noticed his had - none. At all. Day after day of scrolling back I couldn't find any comments. I mean, I know his readership has dropped, but nothing for days on end? I had read some links to his blogs in recent years when they were emailed to me, and I definitely recall seeing comments. Maybe not many, but at least something. After scrolling back several weeks I only saw an occasional comment here, or a few days earlier there, and that was all.
It wasn't until I got back to his pre-Lenten leftwing rage machine that guess what? In came the comments. Not tons, and largely the same individuals. But those same individuals, who commented almost daily whenever the post was a variation on Satan Hitler Trump and the MAGA Nazis, suddenly vanished throughout Lent and through Easter thus far. And that was a sad, and disturbing thing.
After all, it doesn't take a game show host to figure out why. Given the comments I did see, what they said, and what type of post they were responding to, it's pretty obvious that Mark, to many of them, is merely a tool. He trashes what and who they hate, and they appreciate it. But when he gets back to that Catholic and Christian teaching rubbish, not the kind that attacks conservatives, but actual Catholic teaching? Eh. Obviously no big deal. That's not why they show up each day. They show up to have their partisanship, their hatred of anything right of center, of America, even of Christianity, affirmed. Or at least affirmed in such a way that whatever they do or think, they are free to do so without concern for any forthcoming consequences.
I've thought about that a lot. Right now we're in some pretty big life changes, and that has sapped much of my time and energies. Nonetheless, on coming back I think I'll start reframing how I approach things. I'm thankful that I can post pretty much anything under the sun and various folks will still comment. Maybe not as much as some hot button topic, but again, that's nothing new, and not automatically bad.
Nonetheless, I think I want to stray from harping on the same things that others are day after day. In the past, I announced I would either step away from, or at least alter, the blog and how I approach it. The most noteworthy case being on the eve of the Kavanaugh hearings, which were quite the eye opener to say the least. Prompting me to rush back in with observations about the obvious.
But now, I'm wondering. Not sure how I will approach things. I think on those Catholic convert celebrities I've mentioned and always imagine there but by the grace and all. Yes, I enjoy the blog, and I always enjoy the comments, even when they say I'm wrong. Sometimes especially, because that can give me things to think about.
Still, I realized with looking at Mark's blog and what it's been reduced to, that I don't want it to merely be 'look at those sinners over there!'. I mean, it is what it is. Most can see the problems today, and sometimes I think they need to be mentioned or called out. But I do miss the older blogs that were certainly geared toward the issues du jour, but also dwelt on other topics as well. Sometimes fun, sometimes trivial, sometimes personal interests. I think there's a healthy mixture there that's too easy to forget as we rush in each day to say 'Oh no, did you see that!'. That's why I still visit blogs, like The American Catholic, that do a good job mixing the headline take downs with various other topics, Catholic reflections, personal interests, or just plain fun.
With all that said, not sure what things will be, and I don't want to make any predictions. After all, there could be another Kavanaugh moment coming around the corner. Nonetheless, as times and life changes make the daily post a thing of the past, I'll likely pull back and try to put more punch into fewer posts themselves, or at least topical ones. Heck, I might even proof read something beyond hitting spellcheck! Reserving the right, perhaps this time finally, of expending more energies on personal interests and frivolous matters that are easier to toss out, like the family or whatever tickles my fancy, yet are no less important when you think on it. Especially if those interests coincide with family times and memories. As Mr. Sosse articulates so well.
