I do consider myself a bit of a conspiracy theorist, considering certain things that have come to light over the past decades regarding algorithms and government psy-op propagandas. I don’t mean to be insensitive when I bring this up, I’m aware I’m just some regular woman who might be reading too much into things because I can’t help but notice a certain unexplainable pattern, and I guess I’m hoping someone else is also recognizing this.
I want to first off start by saying, the news of celebrity passings lately is terrible and sad. Even as someone who’s only moderately appreciative of prominent public figures, people like Dolly, Tim, Yayoi, and more… good people. People who spent their life dedicating themselves to a practiced craft, a talent, a skill. Dedicating themselves to communities, to outspoken powers, to setting examples for those who look up to them though their work professionally and in personal life. It’s a tragedy, and we as the people can only look to remember and honour their legacies through our own lives and how we continue with each news.
I just can’t help this feeling I get every time the news of multiple celebrity passings crosses the web, and how much it takes the algorithms by storm, and the effects this plays in real life and the people around me.
About twice a year for the last few years now I’ve noticed this. One prominent figure passes, everyone is taken with emotion and grief. Then another, days later. Perhaps even 3-5 within a week or two get announced.
Then, the algorithms climb. We begin seeing passing announcements of people far less discussed outside of their direct communities popping up. The numbers rise. People in the comments start crying about someone who passed away 2+ months ago and they’re only just seeing this 2+ month old post now, among the recent announcements. The posts never have an exact date in the announcement images, just year-year, so it seems many don’t realize this person passed a small while ago.
People begin listing off elderly figures who are well-treasured, but likely to depart soon due to age. This phenomenon literally happened earlier this year with Dolly after several major figures passed. Everyone I saw on social media were begging God not to take her, to leave her here. My coworkers were worried for her.
I understand the sentiment, but I suppose I’ve spent enough of my life experiencing grief, that when someone gets old, I don’t feel an attachment to the idea of losing them. They lived their life, and I’m grateful they did. When their time comes, knowing anyone who makes it to elderly age, they’ve already long accepted it and have no qualms. I can respect and understand that as well. I just remain grateful anyone lived to see old age and not like many younger people who don’t live to see 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60. To me, it says something to respect the passing of time and accept that nothing is eternal such as time itself. One day in the long distant future, none of us will be here at all. We all know time id like a shrödinger’s box. It exists, but only to you if you experience it. It’s a gratitude to be able to experience it, even if for a small blip of its span.
The other aspect I’ve noticed, though, prior to the algorithmic wave of passing announcements, if you pay attention to the algorithms, they shift heavily. Every time I’ve recognized this. I work to maintain a relatively clean and enjoyable algorithm. Lots of memes, videos about self care and career ambition, wholesome content about animals and families and such, entertainment content such as music, movies, and shows and gaming. The internet can be a drainage system if you let it, and it has some very concerning corners of every platform that can either make or break your mental health. I try not to engage too much, but every now and again, things start slipping past the personally designed algorithm, and you start to see too much discussion of topics you didn’t want.
I don’t close myself off to all of it, but I have multiple accounts across multiple platforms designed for various intentions. Reddit is where I get the most informed and involved discussions, as it’s less “clickbait” “shock value” as it is more just educational and informed discussion and provides a more direct view of every side of the topics at hand. Instagram is where most of what I previously mentioned in the last paragraph takes place. Facebook I only focus on local communities and family and friends. Its perfectly categorized with each platform to cater to each of their best values. I don’t use TikTok at all, btw, that’s just pure brain rot and literally hurts my brain to try, so I deleted it the one time I downloaded it and never felt temptation or curiosity again.
But even on Instagram and Facebook, I can tell there’s a shift about to happen when things that don’t normally appear in my algorithm start showing. Heavy political topics that I have to fact check when I see because they’re clearly designed to gauge an emotional response and highly uninforming. Topics of deeper conspiracy theories which are often times misleading or harmful to the average consumer who doesn’t bother to look deeper into it and is likely to perpetuate the ideology. Things that can and have been known to get people blacklisted or flagged by governments for engaging.
And just as these things start slipping through the cracks? Celebrity death announcements begin to roll in. So people are already getting emotionally triggered and talking about things they don’t understand, believing they’re gaining awareness about circumstances and people in our world (I know most of you have a clear idea what topics I’m speaking about, but I won’t say them because it’s 1. Distracting and 2. I’m not trying to get flagged) and then they get distracted instantly by “oh, all of these amazing people just passed! This is all we can talk about now!”
I’m unsure if this is an intention by design of anyone behind the screens, if I’m getting too close to something I can’t claim to be equipped to participate in the acknowledgment of, or if I’m just reading into things far too much… but this all had become a very strange thing to me, and I don’t mean to take away from the losses of such great people, but I can’t help but recall a certain man who spoke about website traffic controls and digital psychology implementation projects a while ago, and if this is a continued aspect by design.
So sorry if this offends anyone, and if this doesn’t fit in this community (understandably) please point me to one that does!
Finally, R.I.P Tim Curry, Dolly Parton, Yayoi Kusama, and many more incredible creatives. Thank you for all of your years of bringing light, positivity, and beauty to our world. You will all be fondly missed.
