Darkness has clearly overwhelmed the soul of actor Mark Hamill.
The Twittersphere has reduced conversation and debate to a such a flatline level of demise, paralleling the one trick pony silver screen career of Mark Hamill riding the coattails of a four decade Turret’s syndrome of painful monotony, that simply existing within certain circumstances deserves a deluge of ostracization. Silicon Valley tycoons are free to laugh at the ongoing joke that captivates a proportion of society thanks to the zany and addictive social experiment, as the billions pouring into the offshore banking coffers sparks wild dreams of totalitarianism grandeur.
Unfortunately, the technicolor dangling carrot of validation and instant gratification propagated by the vast online communities has replaced real life conversation with fragmented vapidness, and decency with pathological and toxic morays that actually incite emotional outbursts (please take care of choosing the proper emoticon, or the younger generations could endure a perpetual tantrum). Delusion has replaced sensibility in the digital hinterlands, that the idea of a fan authoring a whiny post on the injustice of the home crowd not giving her congratulations for the four score beat down is inexplicable modus operandi of the social media phenomenon. The aforementioned Mark Hamill defies stereotypes, as the original Luke Skywalker is a prominent icon on Twitter, and chooses to actively engage fellow smartphone users through derogatory activities that assaults free will and threatens to tear apart an already divided nation.
Without prompting from special interests and extremist lobbyist groups, Hamill opted to unleash what is construed to be an unabashed and deplorable attack in these confusing modern times, on Ivanka Trump and her family. The trigger, one of the children was donning a Stormtrooper costume in an image posted to Instagram. How does this relate to Mike Leach? We will get to that.
Hamill blatantly crossing the line of decency with creepy inclinations, comes in the wake of 16-year-old Greta Thundberg’s emotional plea in front of UN leadership and the subsequent online storm of praise and unscrupulous scrutiny. Politics aside, kids are absolutely off limits to castigation and ridicule, and adults who choose to engage in proliferating this awful content are disgusting and cowardly individuals, hiding behind the bully mentality of anonymity in most cases and with a lack of consequences. Apparently, the underlying message of the Force in Star Wars, that every being in the universe possesses an internal goodness, does not apply to certain political factions.
Washington state head football coach Mike Leach endured a less than a sterling weekend in the absence of success and decorum. After the Cougars were thoroughly annihilated by Utah squad in a critical Pac-12 conference match-up, the former Texas Tech head coach and co-inventor of the Air Raid offense, took the podium and absolutely lambasted his players, much to the delight of the media and opposing fans. In a post game tirade, Leach deployed a series of not-so-subtle adjectives to describe the overall team effort in the blowout loss resulting in referring to his players as “fat, dumb, happy and entitled.” Known for his quirkiness and biting wit, the tenured coach no stranger to controversy finally exploded after the epic 67-63 loss to UCLA last week, where WSU blew a 32 point 3rd quarter lead. He put the edgy references in context with this statement.”We’re a very soft team. We get a lot of good press. We like to read it a lot. We like to pat ourselves on the back, and if we get any resistance, we fold.”
In the aftermath of the comments that went viral, Leach faced the antithesis of the ugly social network scenario facilitated by Hamill. While the former Luke Skywalker was thoroughly praised, folks unleashed series of snarky tweets to emphasize that Leach is Trump supporter, rather than a successful coach who suffered through a couple of horrid weeks on the gridiron. This is where the annoying and insufferable narrative from extremists rears its ugly head. Any Trump voter is a Trump voter first and foremost, and not an electrician, teacher, bar owner, or football coach, and with the stigma, comes and unjustified association with racial bias and misogyny. At this point, things become unrecognizable and convoluted, and any reasonable debate is cast out the window with the force of a Waterford decanter in a suburban poker game gone wrong.
The adoption of a new world order of double standards by the digital left, manifests itself by the complete lack of standards and leading to ardent propaganda, and a complete banishment of reality. Thus, it is okay to attack a child or a football coach, if the idea of Trump is someway linked to the individual. On the other side, any criticism or negative connotations surrounding a variety of subjects and ideas deemed sensitive by radicals is disallowed and creates a retched environment of hypocrisy, which is fully taken advantage in shaming any contrary opinion. Though digital communities are not public spaces and do not have to adhere to First Amendment principles, the disingenuous perception echoed by corporate leadership that the lucrative entities exists as bastions of free thought is downright wrong, and the knife is twisted in the wound by deliberate efforts to bury any opposing ideology which does not support a progressive narrative.
With all things being equal, the snide and entertaining track record of Leach suffering his annual come to Jesus moments meltdown in calling out everyone in the locker room including himself, his fellow coaches, and the entire team, is light years more palatable and endearing than the tiresome antics of simply another celebrity beating to death a haggard and weathered click-bait topic that becomes more and more embarrassingly cumbersome with each pathetic and garish attempt to discredit the president.
Dishearteningly, an overwhelming majority of Twitter users supported the despicable actions of Hamill, a not so shocking indictment to the degradation of society and a volatile moral code which is seemingly rewritten with each instance of a social media controversy.
On a cultural note, the prominent member of the original Star Wars cast managed to inadvertently tarnish the reputation of an all-time classic cinematic series with one deliberate finger click of the smartphone screen, as history becomes a victim to the monster of self-aggrandizing lowest common denominator bumbling pontification destroying anything that is worthwhile.