As we grow older, it becomes more and more difficult to remember what once existed.
For this reason, I thought carefully and tried to remember when it all began :
When did the world I knew disappear ?
What small signs should have let me know what would happen to us in the future ?
One day, many years ago, I was watching a live video on YouTube and they introduced a group of people called “moderators”.
I remember wondering who would ever agree to “moderate” others in a public chat room without being paid.
Non tutto il male viene per nuocere. Gone were the ones who kept making flames…
By now we had all gotten used to the morons, the idiots, the psychopaths.
It was part of the experience of the previous years.
Maybe the environment would have been more pleasant and less irritating.
But in the end, the rules were dictated by the owner of YouTube.
Gone were those who constantly fanned the flames, expressed politically incorrect ideas, insulted for no reason, or used vulgar language.
Of course, I am not saying that all of this was pleasant and should always be allowed, but I have always believed that it is better to confront evil than to ignore it.
Evil retreats when it is attacked.
Of course, this does not mean that it is defeated, but it does make it more difficult for it to take over.
Also, it bothered me to see other people taking on the role of “cops” against others, without any economic incentive to do so.
Why did they do this ?
Was it the presumption that they were more “holy” than others, or the power they wielded over “others” ?
I thought about this for a while, but then decided to ignore it all.
I was wrong, because this was nothing more than the beginning of a world I would have to get used to.
A world where there would be no need to hire policemen or make laws, because everyone would control each other.
But who gave them that right ?
One day I went to a party.
In the main room, people in their 50s and 60s were laughing, drinking and partying, while in the back room, the younger people (including minors) were very quiet and polite, talking in low voices.
Some of them even spent all their time on their cell phones.
On another fine day, I went shopping in a department store, where I encountered the so-called “electronic checkout” for the first time.
I could have checked out quickly and easily by myself.
Not all evil is bad. They lived their virtual reality…
I didn’t like it at all.
It was a machine, not a cashier, with a gruff but smiling air, talking about the weather.
Then one day I found out that we no longer had to go to the video store to rent movies, and that I could just stream them.
Suddenly, the special days of movie premieres were over.
We no longer “really” needed them.
Later, I began to watch young people much more closely.
I soon noticed that for the most part they had stopped looking people in the eye.
I could not meet their gaze in any way; it was as if they were afraid of it.
Afraid of eye contact.
It was as if living in the real world was like being a fish out of water for them.
They were surfing the Internet even in real life.
They lived their virtual reality.
There was a time when I moved and the service was really terrible.
They were late, completely disorganized, and did everything really badly.
In the end, when it was time to leave, the owner of the company realized that he had provided a really terrible service.
At that point he asked for a hug.
His question completely overwhelmed me.
Then suddenly I understood.
He wanted to tell me this:
“Please don’t give me a bad review on the Internet”.
I hugged him.
And I didn’t give him a bad review.
But you really have to be desperate to hug someone to get a good review.
I finally understood the harsh reality.
I no longer understand the world today.
And I’m afraid I’m not the only one when you start reading articles like this.
But maybe not all evil comes to harm.
It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a deeply sick society.
