You Have No Idea Whats Going Online

All right All right, I found a new Twitter feed to follow if you like seeing images of you know America How it once was but actually America how it still is in many parts of the country. This one is called Appalachian aesthetics Appalachian Aesthetics and this is an example of the kind of content you will see I love this stuff this this for some reason this Picture is so appealing to me.

Don't really know how to explain it, but I I do enjoy it. I never lived in Appalachia Appalachia Appalachia my mom lives in West Virginia now, but They drive through it and stuff, but but I don't know I just I just always have this kind of reminds me of New England a little bit too to be honest.

So maybe that's what it is. I don't know but I like this stuff. I like this stuff. So Appalachian Aesthetics give it a follow on Twitter. Twitter kind of stinks these days. I got to be honest. I I think it sucks.

It's that ever since Alon took over it's actually much worse. I don't know why maybe the algorithm maybe I'm just addicted to the algorithm I don't know, but I don't really do much on Twitter these days anymore.

The Value of Local Reality Over Online Noise

Let's actually talk about something else I was following well, I was I was reading some some posts from L L is a noted conspiracy theorist banned account with a profane name according to the New York Times a harmful misinformation actor according to twitch a fringe blog, of course, according to Rachel Maddow and You know, she talks about a lot of various things.

She does a lot of internet research and she has a podcast. I've never watched the podcast to be honest. But her feeds on gab and she's actually on Twitter again because I think she got banned a long time ago.

Her feeds are always pretty interesting. So I definitely recommend a follow there. She had mentioned a few times that if you want to get a more clear window into Exactly what the elites are up to like what they what they really talk about you got to go on LinkedIn because LinkedIn.

They're much more open about their Their stuff and I agree LinkedIn is a disaster. I use LinkedIn every single day for my job. It's a very good Database for me to start a lot of my research when I'm looking for particular candidates or potential clients and things like that.

It's a very good starting point. So I use LinkedIn very often. But it is a cesspool. There is there is no question about that. LinkedIn is a complete cesspool. You know lately I've been seeing a lot of you know I got laid off type posts right and there's a few different patterns in all of these posts, you know.

Some of the posts on LinkedIn they'll say something like, you know, I was impacted by the layoff. It's a very particular turn of phrase impacted by the layoffs and it's a kind of an awkward turn of phrase, too.

It's led many people to believe that they've they've signed a certain agreement in order to get the severance package. Which a lot of these companies are offering pretty generous severance packages. Well, at least the big tech companies are.

And so they have to either say nothing or say something like I was impacted and it's a very Passive sort of thing. It doesn't really describe what happened. You got fired. You know, you got let go you got Discarded in in many ways and I think to be honest, I think that these layoffs were done via an algorithm.

I don't think that it was like a decision that a human beings made. I think that a computer program decided who was gonna be laid off and who was not. And that's very impersonal. It's very cold. And even the way they've done.

It is very cold. You know a lot of people according to LinkedIn of course a lot of people either they got an email that told them they were being let go or They just couldn't log in to their during in the middle of the day, you know, they they're there started their day.

They tried to log in they couldn't and that's how they found out they were laid off and you know Obviously that's that's pretty cold. You know that you spent you know, ten years at a company and then one day you can't log in because you got fired.

That's kind of messed up now, of course the severance package definitely makes up for that. If you get one because the thing is there's a lot of people companies laying off that aren't Google that aren't Microsoft that aren't Amazon that aren't these companies and They're not getting quite as generous a severance package.

And so, you know a lot of a lot of people are kind of in a tough spot right now I think and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of recruiters are being let go a lot of diversity equity and inclusion recruiters are being let go and I mean, obviously I've I know why that that is.

Of course, they don't they're they're thinking that these companies are Not committed to the mission, which of course they probably aren't because it's not really part of their money-making mission but in any case a lot of stuff is happening, right and What I wanted to say today is that you know, you really have no idea what's going on at any given time.

You don't have any clue what's going on on any at any given time online anyway, because here's the thing like What you see presented online Is so often the complete polar opposite of what the truth is.

You've seen that picture I think it was on the New Yorker or something like that of like a social media influencer and like she's like, you know. She's like dressed up nicely from here up. She's got her makeup on she's like smiling and stuff.

But the picture is an image of her entire room and like she's like not wearing pants and she her room is a mess. She's got pill bottles over here because she's depressed. She's got empty liquor bottles over here because you know, she drinks all the time and she it's just a disaster.

But from here up what you see on the camera. That's totally put together. So often what you see is the complete polar opposite. Let me give you an example I I know a lot of companies and I know a lot of CEOs and I know a lot of businessmen and I see what they promote online and the kinds of things that they promote online.

In fact, there's one company that comes to mind I will not name this company, but one company that comes to mind that in January laid off a third of their company. So over a hundred people, let's just let's just call it that I think it's I think it's over a hundred people.

But if not, it's close. They let in in January the one of the first things they did was lay off a third of their company in December in December mid-december. We're talking like maybe right before Christmas.

So a couple weeks prior. They had a post on online on LinkedIn. About how great they had done that year how great they had done. They had improved their their revenues. They were they were so grateful to all of their employees that had such a tremendous impact on it.

They're there. They were growing there. They were growing their payroll. Everything was looking up and it's like if you looked at December 15th the post that they put online. It's like man, this company is growing they're hiring I can't wait to see what they do next year.

They're gonna probably double in size again. The revenues are all headed in the right direction they're gonna be hiring, you know all this stuff, right and Not two weeks later. They let go of a third of their company because they didn't hit the revenue number or whatever it was, right?

And you got a figure. Two weeks prior they already knew That they were gonna be doing this and yet they posted anyway about how great everything was going. Now I'm not saying that's wrong or right? I'm not saying that that was the wrong thing to do.

But what I'm saying is that you as the observer You don't know what's going on. You see the post about how great everything is and you don't have a clue. You need to keep that in mind. I think especially as you consume Internet content I Think that that I started looking into a theory called the dead internet theory.

Have you heard of the dead internet theory? It is very very interesting. I don't know. I just started looking into it. So I don't really know what to believe about it but the dead internet theory basically says that like over half or either now or in some point in the future more than Half of the content that you see is completely fake.

In other words the people that comment on your videos the people that watch your videos the people that engage with your videos. Your blog posts are written all this. It's all computer-generated. There's a lot of fake people out there.

There's a lot of fake content out there. And when I say fake I mean not created by a person right like an article not written by a person written by a computer and things like that and so. People are getting these these signals all based on a fantasy.

That was somebody created in a computer program. It's almost like a matrix like you've seen the movie the matrix where everyone's kind of plugged into the matrix. It's not quite as hardcore as that but it's similar because it has you engage and occupied and spending your time and money and Attention and all that on things that aren't real.

They don't exist in reality, right? There was I guess in a social media influencer that had you know millions of followers and it came out that she was actually not Real she wasn't even a person she was computer-generated like things like that and and and the dead internet theory says that.

They've got you all kind of wrapped up and at each other's throats. With this fantasy world that they've created. It's like the matrix except it's not as hardcore. It's just It's layered kind of into reality, right?

So when you engage with that article that makes you so upset about the libs doing this or that that could be computer-generated. It could be completely fabricated situation and you aren't any the wiser.

You can't figure out whether it's true or not. It's a money-making scheme primarily. But also it's it robs you of a lot of your energy, right? It saps you of energy and things like that. And you know, I've often wondered this too.

It's like, you know when you see like one of your enemies. You know. It's often it's like they're like it's almost like they were created in a lab, right? Like everything is perfect about them. Like you think about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right like her whole backstory and her whole personality and even her appearance.

Everything is so perfectly on the nose lib that it's like it was almost like she was created. To annoy you as much as possible even or the way her voice sound it's annoying as all get-out. And it's like she's just too perfect, right?

You know Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi was the third most powerful person in the entire world not too long ago, right? And you look at her and she's you're like, how can that be because you look at her and she doesn't appear powerful she doesn't look like she should have anyone respecting her whatsoever and just like it gets you all like Upset, you know on the inside.

How can this be? How can this be my overlord? You think about you think about that all the trainees that are in positions of power and authority and you're like How can we be ruled by this? It's almost like someone did it put them in that position just to put us in a state of anger.

Despair and all of that kind of stuff and I've often wondered I wonder if they actually do do that if they pick certain people because they know their appearance and their whole backstory and their whole their their track record is just going to Flummox you you're gonna be so confused as how is this person rise to the top and it's gonna be you're gonna be Despairing because it's like if this person's ruling over me, what can I do, right?

The truth is you don't know what the heck is going on. You mean, you know, it was Barack Obama Manchurian candidate who knows who knows maybe probably yes, who knows? And so the point is you don't know what's going on online half the time, right.

Real Relationships, Church, and Family Are What Matter Most

But that's okay because this is the thing people will fall into despair like well, I guess nothing's real. You know what? I mean? It's like that. It's like that's not true. It's not that nothing's real.

It's that it's just that the things that are real the things that you know about the people that you know. You know them you in fact, you probably spend time with them. You know what? I mean, or you talk to them on the phone or you you know, you have your zoom calls with them and stuff like that.

Those are the people. That you should be putting the lion's share of your time into not only because you know, they're real. But but also because they're the ones that matter the most right your your local community your local church this is the church is just it's like the last bastion of like reality right because we know when we go to church and we See the faces of our friends and our brothers and sisters and you know, our elders our deacons.

You know things like that are we we see their faces. We know what they're about. We know their pain. We know their their their their joys and we can celebrate that with them together. It's our families.

Your kids are real, right? You know, your kids are real. Your wife is real. You know, your wife is real. And so that's where the lion's share of your energy and time and focus should be. Providing for them spending time on them.

Building for them, right if all of your time and energy is spent in the internet. You need to come to terms with the fact that that might not be real. And you know, here's the thing. I Wondered myself is like, how do I know like my videos right now they get like 3 ,000 views.

Maybe a good video will get you know, 6 ,000 the view something like that. What if I found out that 95 of those were fake in other words, and I'm not saying you're fake obviously you're real but It's it's without question that there are farms that farm views, right?

They'll watch your video for a few seconds and all of that and and and and make leave a comment. At least a lot of times. It's a weird comment, but it's not real. It's not a real view. Would my content be different if I knew that maybe I don't know 300 people were watching it 300 real people instead of 30 ,000.

You know, what would my content be different? What I would I would my life beat it would I spend my time differently? I don't know how to answer that question. But I think the answer is yes. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. Very interesting stuff here very interesting stuff. Indeed what is presented online is so often not read the truth. Not the reality and we've got to consider that when we're engaging with people.

That's why I think I find I'm always happy when I meet somebody that I know from online like I met Joel Webin, right? I'm gonna be on Joel Webin show again Soon and Joel was a great guy. He was the the same guy that he is online.

At least that's how it appeared to me. And his family was wonderful. He has a real wife. He has real children and it's great. You know and we spent some time with them and that was wonderful John Harris same thing and then so many of you that aren't Content creators, you know, you've come up to me.

You've introduced yourself to me and we've had you know short or long conversations and it's been fun, you know. And that's real and that's the kind of thing that I'm willing to spend time on and so, you know I think you know if if if it was like Mike my audience is really 10 of what it seems to be and it's you guys.

Let's still do the videos, right? Would they be different? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. But the point is that Evaluate your your own your own life, right because what they feed you. What the algorithms feed you what you get all upset about, you know, the latest controversy between you know Crowder and Ben Shapiro and and all that kind of stuff.

All of that is is put it's given to you for a reason and I don't think that the reason is because that's the important thing. Call me crazy call me crazy. But I don't think that the reason they give it to you is because that's something valuable to spend your time on.

I don't know. I mean maybe maybe not. I'm not really sure even what this video is about. But it's just I've been thinking about this because of that that one company that I know was was touting their success and then getting rid of a third of their company and The same thing with these big tech companies and and all of that.

It's just it's it's just amazing to me. It's amazing to me. How these things go down in any case? I hope you found this video helpful. God bless.