Facebook hacked, IG spoofed
And some philosophical ponderings
Hey everyone, I’m about to publish my next essay. You’ll see it in a day or two. I got delayed dealing with a hack of my Facebook account. The hacker locked me out and started spamming out ads paid for by my financial accounts linked to Facebook. If you receive anything from me via Facebook, it isn’t me. If you receive DMs from me on FB, do not open the links. Also, someone impersonating me is spamming people on Instagram. I have been unable to get a response from FB or IG customer service. I have tried to recover my account by uploading my ID to no avail. On the grand scale of the human drama, this is not a big deal. No need to get indignant on my behalf. However, I thought I should let you know in case you receive something from “me” on those platforms. When I restore ownership I’ll make it clear that I am me.
Yeah this has given me a fun opportunity to meditate on such questions as, “Am I impersonating myself?” “What part of me hijacks my true identity for dishonest ends?” “In what ways do I merely pretend to be me?”
When things like this happen, lots of us ask what we are being shown symbolically, in the mutual mirroriing of inner and outer. It’s always worth some reflection. On the other hand, I am wary of tidy explanations. What I’m being shown could be any number of things, or it could be nothing at all. Best not to get too hung up on “What is this showing me about myself.”
I recently saw a meme on a conspiracy channel that said something like, “Everything, I mean everything, is happening for a reason, as part of the global control agenda.” I think it was in the context of the Uvalde school shooting. This is one of the conceits of the modern mind: that everything is amenable to our understanding, can be put into acceptable categories of reason, can fit into something we would recognize as a plan. This conceit sponsors the ambition to dometicate all material reality—to subsume it within our own plan. There is a certain perverse comfott in believing that every senseless tragedy and random act of violence is in fact part of a diabolical plan. Because then, in theory, we could eliminate all such tragedies. The alternative is to step into the mystery, and to get comfortable with the truth that we will never subordinate all of creation to our understanding and control.
A more dilute version of the same mentality informs the rush to enlist each tragedy in a political narrative, reducing it to “It is because of this,” “It is because of that.” Maybe it is. Maybe it is not. But I think it is healthier to abide for a while in the shock and grief of it, before jumping into political narratives.
The same perverse comfort applies to the idea that every misfortune in our own lives can be explained by some flaw in our psychology, some negative belief, or some unkind act. Then, we could get life fully under control as well through a campaign of self-perfection. But that comfort turns quickly into anxiety, as the campaign never seems to come anywhere near its goal. Maybe here too it is better to accept the mystery. We can still ask why—Why is this happening to me?—as long we accept that there may well be no answer, now or ever, to that question.
Frankly, I think this is an outgrowth of a metaphysical viewpoint that has crept into everyday thinking and discourse across all political and belief systems. “There is a plan behind the scenes controlled by ______.” Fill in the blank with white hats, cabal, God, Satan, Obama, Trump. Take your pick. It is reassuring and no where near as frightening as “It is the randomness and chaos that is the life experience.”
In a cancer support group after my mastectomy (many years ago), I remember one cancer survivor saying that “the worst part about this is the loss of control.” Another man, with mesothelioma said, “That’s the crux of it right there: you never had control; you just thought you did.”
If you read this, Charles, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts...
BROKEN KIDS, NOT GUNS
https://ttfuture.org/blog/michael/broken-kids-not-guns
"On Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report titled “Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021,” which logged sixty-one mass shootings last year.
The violence we see all around us, personal and global, is a failure of development. Period. The seed is not the cause, or to be blamed for being planted in poor soil, not being watered, isolated, shoved in a dark closet, screamed at, compared, humiliated, ignored, beaten, or illuminated by a screen instead of nature’s sunlight. Then, when these stunted plants grow sharp tangled thorns, we blame them for moral failure, punish them, chastise, incarcerate, and kill them, self-righteously.
To blame guns, TV, video games, Twinkies, the bully next door, bad genes, and all the rest, for the pervasive violence, self-mutilation, self-medication, suicide, and similar unbelievable acts on others, is simply a misguided defense, empowering our justifications to continue to fail at our most basic challenge and responsibility; modeling what it means to be a whole, connected, available, awake, sensitive, empathically-entangled human beings. After all, that is what every child needs and is desperately screaming about, real and inspiring models.
We are responsible for the society we co-create by our willing acceptance and participation, not guns or any other tool. We are responsible for the behaviors we model and allow at home. We are responsible for everything that happens at school, the form, structure, comparisons, curriculum, rewards, and punishments. We are responsible for everything our children experience with screen technologies. All the barbed wire around our schools, police, and metal detectors, won’t fix a thing. Rather, more of the same will only intensify the loneliness, hopelessness, despair, and inner rage our broken children feel."
"And in fact, more damage occurs with the sensory deprivation of pleasure than the actual experiencing physical painful trauma, which can be handled quite well in individuals who were brought up with a great deal of physical affectional bonding and pleasure which carries with it emotional trust and security. We really have to look at the trauma of sensory deprivation of physical pleasure and that translates into the separation experiences, the isolation experiences of the infant from the mother. [Basic trust.] That’s the beginning."
"Failed nurturing, broken bonds, abuse, and betrayals of intimacy of young boys, who are far more vulnerable biologically and therefore psychologically than females. These are the predator males that grow up drawn to positions of power; heads of corporations, finance, the military, police, and politicians. What goes around, comes around.
What is not apparent to most is that early sensory deprivation of affection, abuse, and neglect lead to play deprivation in children and adults. Play being nature’s design for optimum growth and development. No basic trust, no play, no real development, rather, defensive conditioning."
"Our children become what we are, not what we tell them to be. The greatest gift of being a parent is the realization that the love we experience for our children is the most powerful wake-up call to be the best human being we can be because our kids are watching, every moment, from the inside out. Holding on to our kids implies modeling our very best, and simultaneously this holding and modeling creates the strongest and most resilient shield to protect our children from the predators who are less fortunate.
As every pregnant mother knows, eating and breathing for two changes the care and attention she gives to every bite and every breath. Mindfulness on steroids. For the connected parent, that mindfulness never stops. Realizing how we act, the way we speak, the care, attention, presence, and empathy we model every day is what our children are becoming, in their own way, of course, becomes the greatest incentive to uplift ourselves, and therefore the world. Something cell phones, surveillance cameras, police, and metal detectors can never do."