Prince Philip is dead, apparently

Daily life, Media, News

Someone told me that today Prince Philip has died, this morning (Friday 9th April 2021). He was 99 years old.

I’ve still not actively looked at any news this year but I caught bits and pieces accidentally, over the last couple of months. Examples:

  • Kim Kardashian and Kanye West divorcing
  • A woman got raped, murdered, dismembered by a police officer (in London??)
  • A ship got stuck in the Suez canal (?)
  • From yesterday: troubles in Northern Ireland

Last week, I stopped subscribing to a print news magazine, because I’ve not been reading it, and I also deleted Facebook a couple of months ago.

I’ve lately been imagining the world as The Matrix, where all the digital people permanently plugged into information are like the Matrix human pods. I’m like Morpheus – I’ve stopped taking the blue pill, by disconnecting from the constant stream of information. It feels very freeing – I can breathe!

Another useful side-effect of deprogramming myself and reducing noise from irrelevant sources has been clarity of thought. With fewer content to clog up my bandwidth, I see everything crystal clear.

For example:

  • Language and communication is just a tool that you can use to ‘build reality’ (discourse)
  • Politicians and other people who want to manipulate you in some way or other (e.g. your employer / manager etc.) will use it as such
  • Because of this, you can (and should) do it too
  • That doesn’t mean it’s real what you read / hear / see etc.

Another film (alongside The Matrix) that is a good example of what deprogramming feels like is John Carpenter’s (1988) film They Live. It’s about some guy who finds sunglasses and, when putting them on, realises that the ruling class (= rich cunts) are aliens concealing their appearance and manipulating people to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo via subliminal messages in mass media. Basically like what Boris Johnson and his pals have been doing for the last 5 years or so.

The final good thing about unplugging from The Matrix has been that I’ve had a lot of room to do good stuff – for example, I’ve started playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, which was a freebie on the PlayStation Plus in March. I’m really enjoying it!

Life is so rich.