A few days ago, I received an e-mail that saddened me. It was from Roscoe’s newsletter.
Roscoe is a father. He has a newsletter that helps other fathers and men suffering from alcoholism and addiction. I don’t suffer from alcoholism. I don’t drink alcohol because I’ve seen the ravages and destruction of addiction. I’ve seen lives destroyed. And I know how these contents are lights for those who need them.
He wrote 62 posts in one year. That’s almost one a week. Posts aimed at helping people in distress. Many of his posts were available free of charge.
1 post per week. That might not sound like much. When you read a 6 minute read. It’s 6 minutes. It seems like nothing. But when you write it, it’s between 2 and 6 hours of work. Creating, organizing, writing, editing, proofreading, publishing.
Roscoe’s e-mail wondered if it was time to stop. And I understand that. He’s in a complex niche. Surely one where it’s hardest to succeed.
A niche where you’re often a silent reader because you no one wants to talk about his addiction in front of everyone eyes. A sensitive subject that’s hard to open up about in the comments section.
To Roscoe, whether you stop or not. I want you to know that to me. You’re a hero. You give of your time to others. You use your experience to try to help others. You try to make this world a better place. I’m sure your son will be very proud of his father. For what it’s worth: I’m proud of you.
My e-mail is not an invitation for him to continue or to stop. Everyone knows what goes through them at a given moment. And everyone knows what’s best for their lives. But this e-mail is to celebrate the heroes of the shadows.
All those people who work to make our societies better and are not rewarded for their work. People who do thankless but necessary jobs and are poorly paid. All those writers / content creators who write and wonder if they should stop. All those artists who make our world more beautiful.
All those who see the world as more than just financial exchanges. Because otherwise, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing.
This e-mail is also an observation.
It’s a strange world out there. You open your feeds, silly content makes millions of views. Or content exploiting your vices by using the deadly sins.
Surf on these sins and you’re sure to find an audience.
With millions of views on these videos, we live in a society that collectively celebrates vice.
Content that destroys us thrives.
Content that builds us disappears.
It reminds me of a movie I saw about fifteen years ago, Idiocracy. At the time, it was just a tiny comedy. Today, it feels like a great prophecy. This movie will age like a fine wine.
The director imagined a world where a not-very-intelligent man wakes up 500 years later. And he has become the smartest man on the planet. Human cognitive levels have collapsed.
A bit like ours. Technology continues to evolve. Butare we?
Attacked from all sides by algorithms that know everything about you. (The irony is that we ourselves provide the bullets to bring us down.) They exploit our vices to hook us to various applications/videos.
They offer exactly the content you want to see. And when that’s not enough. They exploit your vices.
That e-mail was probably a rant. But it saddens me to see people trying to make the world a better place fail. And content that exploits our vices thrives.
But I guess that’s the idiocracy we live in.
And I have to accept it.
If you’d like to support Roscoe for the work he’s done over the past year. You can send him a little message here.
I find that if I post something 'light' or funny on Facebook people will read it or react to it but if I post something serious or important very few people read it. It's sad.
Just as a note I am interested in The World Within but I find it too expensive for me. I would like to support it.
I felt the same about this too. I commented on his letter -I’m going to share it with my community too.