Brain Rot

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch

Quick, what day is this? If you said Tuesday, you're wrong. It's Giving Tuesday, the day after Cyber Monday, which came after Small Business Saturday and Black Friday. I am not ashamed to admit that I have not partaken of any of these subliminally implanted "holidays."

More and more, life feels like a "Black Mirror" version of George Orwell's 1984. The Powers That Be, whoever they be, are always conspiring to make us do things, feel things, or see things, for reasons having to do with feeding their needs, not ours. 

For example, in last Sunday's Arts & Leisure section of the New York Slimes, there were full-page ads for five movies cited as "THE BEST!" by someone important, or at least self-important. Of course it follows that they are all also "Must-See!"

Well, I already saw one of those "must-sees" and although it was a successful diversion from real life for a couple of hours, seeing it was not essential to my health or happiness in any way, and in fact I already forgot most of it. But now I'm actually thinking I should see it again it it's so damn good -- maybe I missed something.