Originality is scarce today. Making something unique requires thought, something not needed in the modern age. Thought involves study and patience. These once required disciplines are no longer needed. Comforting is the thought of never thinking deeply again. You get a headache from doing it anyway. That settled, the next question is where should we outsource our thinking? What better place than the modern day “marketplace of ideas,” the internet. I can boot up YouTube, find someone entertaining, and my entire worldview has developed in fifteen minutes. Online influencers seem compelling and have tons of followers. It is tempting to think they’ve thought about the world more than I. The “marketplace of ideas” lives up to the name- online, we buy political worldviews at a bargain price and consume them for comfort. Whoever has the best product, slickest advertising, or shiniest object wins. Don’t buy it if you don’t like it. Don’t listen if it’s not entertaining.
Why go on a diatribe about the internet? Let me first say that there’s nothing wrong with looking online for information on current events. My issue is with online commentary. Among people our age, the online political “influencer” reigns supreme. There is an indefinite number of times I’ve heard a political discussion start with, “Well, I follow this dude on TikTok, YouTube, etc., and he said….” Stop. What’s implied here is authority. I’m supposed to assume that a random person on social media is more qualified than I am to have political views. They are somehow a more enlightened being than I, the unfamous, social media plebian. Worse, the influencer becomes the valid source of political thought. “Maybe I would take your thoughts seriously if you had a following online,” the person implies. You become the uneducated. The people I will dub “personality plagiarists” follow this logic. Your usual personality plagiarist views the content creator as gnostic. The influencer must have some access to truth not available to you or me. They wouldn’t be so popular otherwise. Rarely do the plagiarists investigate their leaders. Is it their thoughtful commentary? Or is it video editing, music, and general entertainment they provide. I find the former rarely considered and the latter relied upon.
A good antidote to personality plagiarism is to investigate the personality. In cooler times, this was expected. C-SPAN used to let viewers call in and ask prominent journalists any question they wanted. The journalist had to be intelligent with the reply or risk ridicule. Good political thought stands up to the worse Republican and Democrat. Bad thought depends on hype. But, of course, I too am a personality. You decide on my views. But be warned, you may get a headache.