Who has ever started writing a piece by stating, “I watched a movie last night and it got me to thinking”?
Well, I did.
I watch a decent number of movies, shows, videos, and documentaries. I tend to stay on the non-fiction side, or I’ll appease my spouse by sitting through horror, thrillers, or something cerebral.
Yes, I am guilty of an above-average portion of fiction.
I prefer non-fiction, but hey, a little imagination is not bad.
Who all has witnessed raven-haired girls crawl from wells in real life?
Hold on, please don’t answer that!
The difference? I can distinguish between fiction and reality.
This pertains to the “news” and what I consume through social media outlets. The very art of journalism is a sacred thing, and opinions, fabrication, and increasing disinformation and propaganda are eroding it.
It saddens me. Maybe this has always been a “thing,” and as I get closer to half a century on this planet, I find my fellow species, well, lost.
What is lost?
I am not any subject matter expert on human psychology or any related field, but I do find myself disheartened at a decent portion of my fellow Homo sapiens.
I find people in general are very credulous.
Not everyone, but more people than not.
This, my fellow readers, is troublesome.
I could take this globally, with examples and cases to investigate or discuss, but for this post, I’ll keep it within the realm of my immediate surroundings — what surrounds me in my everyday life: acquaintances, friends, family, and those I interact with regularly.
This is in no way meant to defame or belittle anyone. It is meant to bring forth a thought process about what is happening and, possibly, just possibly, derive a concerted effort to change the course of humankind.
Yea, I know, far-fetched.
Saddened is the emotion that comes to mind as I think about this.
Saddened that so few seem to feel the discomfort of cognitive dissonance — that flicker when your beliefs don’t match what’s in front of you. The confirmation bias instead is absolutely stunning.
Who or what do we blame for this?
Lack of education?
Technology abuse?
What?
In the movie I watched, a man was scared of stepping into a role that would allow him to help others, help the planet, and so forth. The dialogue made this clear.
Decisions were left to him: sacrifice the lives of many or sacrifice his own.
In the end, he chose to save many by sacrificing himself.
Epic.
Yet, we ALL have “good” inside of us. Instinctually.
Whether we allow it to surface is the dilemma.
I’m not saying we all run out and sacrifice ourselves, but if those very rare conditions presented themselves, would you?
Bringing this down to my own country, the United States of America — we have allowed social diseases and narratives to spread.
Cult of personality.
Partisanship over principle.
Tribalism.
Political idolatry.
Ideological capture.
Look around. It is prevalent everywhere.
We stand around and allow a person, and the ones around them, to spread false narratives, lie, steal, and grift.
We, as complex organisms, are better than this.
We are more powerful than this.
Our voices.
Our values to protect one another and lift up instead of push down.
Perhaps the greatest threat to humanity is not artificial intelligence, foreign adversaries, or economic collapse.
Perhaps it is our growing willingness to abandon empathy, curiosity, and self-awareness in exchange for belonging and certainty.
We were not meant to worship politicians, influencers, parties, or ideologies.
We were meant to think.
To question.
To grow.
To care for one another.
If we lose that, we lose something far more important than elections or arguments online.
We lose ourselves.
I do not believe humanity is doomed.
I am an optimist at heart.
I think we are distracted.
Spiritually exhausted.
Addicted to outrage, identity, noise, and the comfort of belonging.
But underneath all of that, I still believe there is goodness in people.
I still believe most people want truth, peace, purpose, and connection.
The question is whether we are willing to quiet the noise long enough to hear our conscience again.
So here is the ask.
One thing. This week.
Pause before you share. Pause before you nod along. Pause before you write someone off for a hat, a flag, a feed.
Sit with the discomfort. That flicker is cognitive dissonance — the first sign you are still thinking.
We don’t change the course of humankind in a day.
We change it in a pause.
The movie ends. The credits roll. The screen goes dark.
And then it is just us.
Empires do not fall when enemies arrive. They fall when truth no longer matters.
History is filled with people who traded truth for belonging. It never ends well.
~ David