A Modern Day Hydra.

~ the britchy one

I started reading an advice column a few months ago. If I’m honest it’s because I found the advice so awful I felt like I was literary rubber- necking.

It has been very please yourself everyone’s wrong don’t tolerate… and there’s the crux.

This particular site is EXTREMELY political. It’s full of male hate and militant feminism.

I’m extremely pro women’s rights incidentally but up to and including equality only. I don’t believe women deserve MORE rights than men or that we need to subjugate men. This particular site absolutely preaches the opposite.

We are not aligned in the least.

I’ve stopped reading because it’s so toxic. The advice actively encourages people to cut off family for having different views. It tells people not to help aging parents, that those parents need to fend for themselves and kids shouldn’t help them. It encourages teenagers that they are right to not discuss things with their parents. In short, it’s destabilising family life.

I’ve heard a lot lately about the possibility/probability of civil war and I’ve come to realize, if that happens, it will be wholly the fault of the media for inciting it.

The rise of social media is an absolute parallel to Greek Mythology. The tale of the Hydra is a story about a perilous monster with seven heads. You could only defeat it by cutting off a head. Every time a head was cut off, two grew in its place. This is an exact parallel with social media. MySpace, AOL, ICQ, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter.. the list is long and never ending. As fast as one platform loses favor, more surface.

Kids today are more influenced by what they read online than what they ever learn at home.

Growing up for me and even my kids meant parents and teachers were our biggest influencers. My kids had little exposure to either the internet or cell phones until they were 15/16. Thankfully, internet capable cell phones were still in their infancy at that time.

I firmly believe the biggest problem facing the world today isn’t ISIS. It isn’t guns. Not drugs. Not cancer, obesity or AIDS.

It’s both Social media and Journalism.

Parents, limit your kids exposure to both as they are toxic beyond belief.

Published by the britchy one

A PROUD American Citizen who was born and bred in England and now resides in the US. I’m married to an American who really didn’t have a clue what he was letting himself in for - poor sod! I’m a cranky bitch who loves cats and books and hates chocolate, politics and Dave’s. Oh and mosquitos. I hate those blood sucking parasites but since I’ve already mentioned politics I’m repeating myself! I’m a short, skinny redhead, 3 kids, 2 dogs, not enough cats and a mouth with a death wish. Blood group - certifiable.

41 thoughts on “A Modern Day Hydra.”

  3. I could not agree with you more on ALL of the above!
    I gave up social media a while back and you know something, I survived. I didn’t even experience withdrawals.
    New’s? That’s an utter joke. I turn it on and instantly become angry or depressed.
    Kid’s haven’t gotten a clue what is hapening unless an emoji is attached to it.
    There is real (REALITY) stuff hapening in this world that needs attention and their little fingers are on rapid speed texting, sexting, selfies, and sharin what they ate for dinner.
    Give me a damn break already.
    Let’s pay attention the real deal of what is taking place in this world today!
    Okay… I back to be calm now. LOL!

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  5. Isn’t it ironic that social media… which was designed to bring people together… has done anything but? The divide in this country over politics, culture … and basically anything we can sit on our couch and bitch about…. is frightening.

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      2. Exactly. I can’t even say it’s all about voting though. Everything is being a hot topic because ‘news sites’ – tv, radio, newspapers and internet are being deliberately provocative and in turn social media is disseminating what we even get to see. We’re being stirred up to hate each other because then we’re not watching those we really should be watching. Classic magicians trick but without the white rabbit

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      4. We used to have reporters and columnists. One reported the news, the other wrote opinion pieces. Now all we have is opinion pieces and you can get eight different versions (or more) of what happened on each of eight sources – and very few shared facts, if any. The 4th estate decides which stories they release and which they squash in order to promote their own agenda.

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  6. I have no children, and if I had, they’d have been the parents of this new generation of device addicted people with the attention span of a flea UNLESS it’s on some device or other. Today I was having coffee with a neighbor, who likes to drink her coffee and read the actual newspaper (the hand held, I killed a tree version). I was appalled when looking at the front page of that newspaper (and it’s the better – used to be the best) available in Utah; that I found there were NO real news items at all. Just a whole page of what used to be called ‘fluff’ pieces about shit that does NOT MATTER. The only semi-relevant to actual news story was about how many fatalities had occurred on Utah highways over the Thanksgiving weekend. Everything else? Alleged ‘news’ about idiotic, temporary celebrities and just crap. It was discouraging to realize ‘they’ don’t report news any longer, they report sound bites and fluff only. My God.

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  7. I 100% agree with you. The school systems are teaching kids how to be good test takers instead of how to think. I hate the term “fake news” but honestly, how much real news is available? I have to dig to find it. All the pretty, perfect, plastic “Insta Lives” are causing low self-esteem. Consumerism and throw away culture… the list goes on. The Hydra is very apt.

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  8. Information is all guess work. Imdb is great, til you get to the comments. Even the weather channels are guilty. I recall a clip where the guy with a mike was weaving and trying to stay upright in the wind, he had on heavy rain gear and was discussing the terrible storm..behind him, in the puddled street, crossed two young men in shorts and sweatshirts who had no trouble whatsoever in walking. I did see they looked to see if the news guy might need help.
    Our social media is responsible for a great deal of wrong..the people who use it to spout off without thinking first are a huge part of the wrong.

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    1. The trouble with all this deliberate lying, especially by the weather forecasters is that we all have become rather immune to it. They hype everything so much we just shrug off the warnings now. Eventually they will be right about the severity and no one will believe them

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  10. As usual, you have your finger on the pulse of the latest nonsense. The media is definitely pushing the Civil War thing. Behind them (as all media is owned by six global corporations), are the [insert descriptive term here]. All of this is purposefully engineered to “herd” us in one direction…or another.

    As long as they keep us in *freak out* mode, they can hide what they are doing.

    I just read a post, today, about a 14 year old boy that committed suicide, at home, while his parents were there. They had NO CLUE that he was in dire straits. His friends had no idea. His girlfriend suspected something but, couldn’t figure it out. It is still under investigation but, something happened via social media and he took his own life because of it. I am SO thankful that, when I was a teen, there was no such thing. I was already awkward and online bullying would have probably gotten me.

    I certainly hope cooler heads prevail as this country does NOT need another civil war. The last one was wholly devastating. But, there are “interests” that would love to see the US descend into madness…or, the whole planet.

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    1. I agree. It’s scary how easily manipulated people can be.
      That’s so sad about the 14 year old but a case in point to what I’m saying about outside influences. Family values are being so eroded that there’s no stability for kids anymore

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  15. I know you can’t see me right now but I am standing up and applauding you 😀

    I wholeheartedly agree with every single one of your sentiments here. It has long been my opinion that the rise of celebrity culture was a deliberate attempt to dumb down the people. People may disagree but that’s how I feel. If media can get someone focused on a fake selfie or the latest ‘trending’ whatever that you must BUY NOW – they won’t have time for actual news – as in people dying, in dire need of shelter, clothes, food, etc.

    My blood is boiling right now just thinking about how insanely shallow culture and the people in it have become. What actually matters in this world no longer gets attention at all – if it does – it lasts for a whole 2 minutes. Then on to the next meaningless topic.

    Oh how I grieve the loss of all common sense, decency and lives lived authentically. My heart breaks for everyone who has been indoctrinated by this toxic belief system. It’s something we have to actively fight against because it is affecting everything around us. Real, genuine truth has been replaced by all things phony. I pray that some day people will wake up and realize the lies they’ve bought. A gal can dream, right? (and pray!) 🙏🏼

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