In Today's Episode...
Today Sleestak mentioned a fun flip side to what for some would be a paranoid fantasy: Assuming he's always under observation.
No, it's not some 1984-ish/Homeland Security affair, but, in his case, something more passive -- voyeurs from the future.
Since another passerby admitted to similar antics and I very often do the same thing, it started me wondering how many of us do this?
For the past few generations we've been raised in a culture of voyeuristic entertainment, and since we all ultimately tend to think of life as The Me Show it really shouldn't surprise us that we'd be mugging it up in front of a two-way mirror hanging on the fourth wall.
Sleestak, as mentioned above, puts on a show for "researchers" from the future, in the process making of himself a star of the future. Meanwhile I find myself attempting to suck up to lurking entities that might skew the odds in my favor or otherwise lend an assist. In a pinch they're someone to blow off steam in front of. Sometimes it's entertaining to do just on the distant chance that some more mortal and terrestrial person is watching or listening; throw a little guilt and uncertainty their way.While I suppose many do this thinking in terms of God or angels, that's not the case for me. Even if I believed in God as some focused, conscious entity, this sort of thing would be too far below His notice. And if I don't really believe in the Big Guy then angels aren't angels -- though I suppose whatever they are they could think of themselves that way.
In my scheme of things the entities aren't really malign, but they do have an ego-deflating agenda. Bold declarations of almost anything are almost irresistable invitations for them to make it anything but so. In a system where hubris merits a two by four to the back of the skull, humility's essential. Maybe you have better writers or a different sort of show, but that's how things work on my show.
This sort of thing could drive one crazy if maintained around the clock, especially depending upon who one thinks is watching. Think about how poor Kyle was momentarily messed up by thinking his dead grandmother was watching him every moment?Shinto would be a terribly wearing religion unless one has next to no imagination at all or is a member of some shamelessly terrible family line like the Borgia or Bush clans.
No wonder the Japanese are so stressed out.
So... how about you?
Tags: under surveillance, paranoid entertainments
Comments
I feel more like I live in a bubble. Or, bubbles within bubbles. I pop one, just to find I'm in another.
I can never hear/read enough news. And assuming I'm getting the facts -- and they are presented truthfully -- I end up wondering where exactly I fit in, if at all. And, if I'm thinking too much about that, odds are I'm not paying attention to some other thing that really needs my attention. (Like getting so caught up in all the political goings-on prior to voting in November, that I'm not paying enough attention to some medical issues my parents are having.)
Sometimes I feel I have to erect bubbles on purpose, in order to focus on immediate, day-to-day concerns..... -- grey_zealot