[Spooky23]

My son and I went to Rome, and the ridiculous behaviors from people getting their must have shots is ridiculous.

My favorite shots are selfies… one with the two of us on the tarmac in front of the plane on arrival, the other on a random street.

I lost my wife to cancer, and regret that pre-kid, we took very few pictures relatively speaking, and I cherish the ones I have.

[ivape]

When you watch those episodes of Maury where they have a father-less baby up on stage, and they are trying to figure who the daddy is, you have to contend with the fact that there's an entire audience in-person and at-home that are just taking part in the sheer entertainment of what will ultimately be that child's most embarrassing and deep sorrow in life. Not only that, but we film the spectacle. This was a hit show for decades and commonly accepted to be hilarious, especially those situations. At no point in those decades did society stand back and examine just how heinous it is.

I suspect this is true for large scale exhibitionism and voyeurism (which is what this is, you are either a subject or the voyeur in these pictures, and if you are both, then you are narcissist). It's been going on for decades and it's heinous. The sheer scale of it will not allow our society to stand back and examine it. I consider all these things part of our current public crucifixions. And like litter, the harmless gum wrappers (the selfies, the "look where I am" photos, etc) have accumulated into a pure garbage world. That's the power of accumulation, and now we all live in Garbage Land.

Our society is nasty and has been for as long as we can remember. It takes constant reflection to clean the grime and address our hygiene, in all its wonderous forms (put the fucking camera down please).

Rorschach out.

-----

I had an idea for a small short story about the after life where God pulls you into a small video editing room and makes you sit through every frame of what your eyes recorded. It would take a lifetime to get through, and every time you are committing a sin he pauses the giant film and you feel the utter presence of judgement. This goes on for every frame until you are begging for mercy with a newfound realization of just how damning the concept of an "observer" is. Smile, someone's watching. Sure as hell aint going to fool him with our curated album (can't we just look at the good stuff?). We look at all of it or none of it. Which brings us to the final point - did you fool anyone?

[scrollop]

Your idea for a story may be a glimpse of a memory:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-6-the-life-review/i...

This podcast somewhat changed my life.

[ivape]

Interestingly enough, this concept of a life review is actually also described as a particular detail of Christianity. There is a very specific supernatural phenomena that is explained, where the spirit of God "convicts" you of your life (conviction by the Holy Spirit, this what Christians believe). I'm not pushing Christianity, I'm just saying there are multiple parallel ideas of what this thing could actually be that's been brought up across, it seems, science, religion, and philosophy. As in, a lot of different fields have broached this topic leading to at the very least, a pretty interesting coincidence. Of course, first-hand testimonies just add to the mystery.

Totally checking out the podcast!

[selimthegrim]

This kind of sounds like the aerial toll houses of Orthodoxy

[genewitch]

I've read that idea before from some sci-fi author. However wasn't there a Robin Williams film where he did the viewing and editing of lifetime reels?

[blooalien]

> ... "wasn't there a Robin Williams film where he did the viewing and editing of lifetime reels?"

Yes, yes there was. It was called "The Final Cut" from 2004. Just one more of many proofs of Robin Williams' stellar acting talent.

[Der_Einzige]

Hell is other people. Why? Because of The gaze.