A field day for the dark triad!

The Hater (Hejter, Polish; 2020)

It is not something that we do not already know. The cyberspace has become where everything is made possible; a false narrative can be oft-repeated the gospel truth. Truth can be bent to suit the flavour of the day. A non-issue can be made the next game-changer. Deepfakes can change the path of one's career or fate. Destiny is determined by the trolls and influencers.

There is a concerted effort by news spreaders to mould one's thought process in sync to the agenda of their paymasters. 

The modern world, it seems, is divided into the right conservatives who yearn for the good old times when the world was a place of milk and honey, where politicians were honest, policemen cared for the public (not look at them as perps) and outdoors were healthy. At the red corner is the leftist who basically plays devil's advocate aim for anarchy and pushes the boundary to the point of entropy. 

The leftists, outwardly seem to have the downtrodden at heart. They appear to fight for the plight of the oppressed and the minorities. They go all out to tarnish governments and civil societies just to create mayhem. They are the true wolves in sheep clothing but the internet has the ability to expose these but who is buying it? It looks like the democratisation of information does not make people wiser, but rather more confused.

The Hater shows us the modern world of the 21st century. Social media is the primary way to access people and get people's assessment of anything the 'majority' feels relevant. The problem is that the 'majority' is not the true majority, but a fake one propagated by paid trolls. They spread 'lies' (or bent truth, who knows?) of alleged fascism, Islamophobia, homophobia, misogyny or abuse all over the net. Are they opportunistic scumbags, victims of online culture that has destroyed decency or are there just to earn a living?

Tomasz, a law student who got expelled from his law school accused of plagiarism, moves around in a daze, hiding the fact even from his sponsors. His sponsors, a rich couple who delves with art pieces and moves in high society, had earlier taken a liking to him during one of their summer vacations. Tomasz realises that his guardians are putting a front when dealing with him. He proves it by leaving his mobile phone recorder on as he left their home, just to their vile sneering. 

He is living during heady times in Poland, where the society is struggling to keep its borders closed to immigration. Tomasz's sponsors' associate, a left-wing politician, is sympathetic towards immigrants.

As the movie progresses, we see Tomasz's almost psychopathic behaviour as he uses his position as a computer whiz in a PR firm to expose the hypocrisy of the leftists and make himself a hero through a series of truth-bending social media messages. 

It seems that the militant ultra-right-wing terrorists have another platform to communicate. If radiofrequency or cyberspace can be intercepted, now they can communicate freely incognito via the numerous game platforms that computer gaming can offer. Peoples' brains have all been so fried up that they cannot appreciate what is real and what is mirage anymore. We have way past passing the Turing test. And we do not know what is good and what is bad anymore.

The net has become a fertile ground for individuals with nefarious

intentions to churn out untruths and spew vile baseless accusations

under the cloak of anonymity. The globalist has set the agenda and
anyone found not conforming this narrative is cancelled off in this
new culture. Back during the pre-internet days, to break a 

functioning society it took slippery Machiavellian manoeuvres. 

In the cyberspace, psychopaths are having a field day. A single 
negative remark and the herd will follow, aided by the algorithm.

(Credit: AqS)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

What were they thinking?

The whole nation has been hit by a spate of bullying, of late.Youngsters, without batting an eyelid, have no remorse to resorting to violence to assert their authority over the others whom they perceive as weak, disadvantaged or just different. perhaps, they are just apeing their role models, their parents or even leaders.

In the latest incident, the nation is reeling from the death of a 19 old boy who never gained consciousness after being hit on and sodomised for being effeminate. Although the information is patchy, the gist of the string of events is that a quarrel ensued over a heckling which progressed to a lopsided fistfight and bashing of the victim and his friend by four other teenagers.

Looking at the faces of the helpless relatives, one can just wonder at the meaning of this violence. Forget the fact that we should all live within our boundaries, live and let live.There are people that who are different from us for us to learn and appreciate but not to change them to follow our path.

Imagine what would have gone through the minds of the perpetrators as they pounced and punched with the anger so intense to make a pulp out the boy, all because he was not 'man' enough! The pictures of the accused which had been circulating in the social media just show faces of regular guys whom you would not give a second look of suspicion if you had seen them on the street. Telltale signs of scarred face and triad tattoos are conspicuously missing.

It is not that their minds are so juvenile or primordial that they are unable to differentiate what is right, virtuous and hurtful. Is there a competition for territory, mate or food? Just perception of what is right and should be accepted as the norm! This, fueled by the pleasure of power and control in a mob-like situation in the company of the herd, the reptilian brain took charge. Here we see an interesting interplay between the pre-frontal cortex which is the new kid on the block which processes thoughts with emotion and the lurking primitive feelings of the archaic reptilian brain.

This whole scenario reminds of the case of Leopold and Loeb in the US Courts in 1924 in which two highly intelligent young men decide to do the perfect murder, just for the heck of it, because they could. The trial was dubbed the trial of the century and for the first time brought in experts in the field of forensic psychiatry. They were incarcerated with life imprisonment.

If there is any way of destroying hatred and all that goes with it, it's not through evil and hatred and cruelty, but through charity, love, understanding. (dialogue from 1959 Hollywood blockbuster 'Compulsion'.)

http://famous-trials.com/leopoldandloeb

Welles delivers a stirring plea for the lives of Leopold and Loeb in the climax of the 1959 film Compulsion. 

      The final summation is taken directly from the transcript of the real trial. As good an oration against the 

death penalty as you'll ever hear.

Some people thrive on hatred?

Look around the world! There is much so of hatred all around us. There is division all around us. Even amongst apparently homogeneous appearing societies, there is suspicion and desire to dominate over the other clan. There is the West and East, North and South, Muslim and Christians, the fair skinned and the dark skinned, Sunnis and Shiates, indigenous people and immigrants, moderates and conservatives, between differing political ideologies and the list goes on.
Left in desperation with the will to survive against a common enemy, people will flock together and put their resources together. This is evident from scenes from major catastrophe like earthquakes and tsunamis. Even then, there would be people with economic reaping on their mind rather than helping the downtrodden. Maybe, we are waiting for Armageddon or attack from an alien civilization to take over Earth like in 'War of the World' by H.G.Wells.
After the dust has settled from the tumult, leaders will instigate  fear by dousing suspicion against fellow beings to garner support and loyalty to usurp power and stay there.