Skeletons are polite enough to stay in the closet but ghosts will take over your entire town. Ghost towns have been popping up over the entire United States as people abandon their front porches in favor of their TV, phone and computer screens. Since the introduction of the internet and popular search engines like Ask Jeeves and Bing, the digital world has grown exponentially while tangible reality around us fades to the background.
The ghosts are all around us now. On the internet, remember those old comments and pics you posted on social media 10 years ago? Remember when you thought that was cool and/ or funny? Yeah, we’re all haunted by those too.
We, ourselves are ghosts on the internet. Intangibles hidden behind our usernames, ghosts in the machine. Thank god the internet has remained a safe and civil place where people all over the world can share ideas, opinions and good experiences with no backlash. In an alternate evil dimension, I can imagine a world where people use the shield of their computer screen to spout derision, hate and ignorance. That would be a really mean internet to be a part of. A world where creeps follow in the footsteps of Casper the Friendly Ghost and act as ‘nice guys’ while harassing people online.
Through the cautionary tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, the rich, powerful and influential have learned to ally with the ghosts.
The ghost of sensationalism haunts the halls of our newsrooms. Pioneered by men like Benjamin Day, journalists and news sources have transformed into Attention Merchants. According to the FCC, news isn’t even a classification it seeks to create. “We do not have any rule or licensing requirements in which a cable channel might categorize itself as news vs. entertainment.” While poor news for the citizens of the United States, this is great news for the blossoming career of I Hope This Is News.
The ghost of freedom creeps throughout DC. Through its hauntings it has misled politicians on what freedom actually means. Politicians believe the word freedom must be broken down into its two components, ‘free’ and ‘dom’. While they look to increase tax payer contributions and increase the value to themselves to make their lives as free as possible, they do so off the emphasis of the second half of the word, ‘dom’. How embarrassed are the politicians going to be when they find out we’re not the subs to their dom. Boy, will their faces be red when they realize oppression isn’t our kink.
Who are these ghosts you ask? Through absolutely no intensive research I believe these are the ghosts from Pac-Man (politically referred to as a Super PAC). The ghost’s names: Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Or, using their direct Japanese name translations: Chaser, Ambusher, Fickle, and Feigned Ignorance. Tired of their Sisyphean task of harassing a gluttonous Super PAC their ambition grew to bully us all.
And so the alliance was formed. The rich and powerful would use mainly Feigned Ignorance to achieve their agendas. What ever happened to the Panama Papers?
While the Superman radio show of the 1940s is responsible for the downfall of the KKK in that era, we now have a new hero. Today, the KKK still dresses up in their robes and live-action roleplays as ghosts. Daryl Davis, a black man and real-life ghostbuster, armed only with compassion, has convinced over 200 members to leave the KKK organization.
Contrary to heat of the moment emotion, when faced with that which will do us no good, we must embrace it with compassion like Daryl Davis. Evil continues to become more and more intangible and spooky. Good must become more tangible and less about likes on the internets.