Boredom, Disaster, Purpose & Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene recently ripped through large sections of the southeastern United States. This hurricane, while a strong storm (Category 4), was not the strongest category possible. What it did have unfortunately, was a very large size and a large wind field. The area where tropical storm winds were experienced was much larger than a typical storm. These two factors have caused huge amounts of calamity. For the state of Florida, the coastal areas of Florida’s west coast saw huge amounts of flooding because the large wind field pushed enormous amounts of water onto land. For the mountain areas of North Carolina and Tennessee, it caused even worse damage because it created flash floods all over. These floods wiped our homes, roads and bridges. Entire small villages were wiped completely off the map.
Please do go support the efforts to assist the people who live on the coastal areas of Florida but more importantly please help the people in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Their voting patterns prefer the “wrong” candidates, so they are being ignored by the media and federal/state governments. Huge amounts of assets that could be used to help them remain unused. They need our help because government won’t be helping them. I’ll leave it at that.
This post will focus more on those people who actively wish for a natural disaster to hit them, so that they can portray themselves as victims for social media clout. You may think I’m making this up, but I’m not. In the days leading up to the arrival of Hurricane Helene, the weathermen in the Tampa Bay area were being inundated with people arguing with them about the path of the storm. They were refusing to listen to them that the hurricane was not going to make landfall in the Bay area.
For background, hurricanes can have very predictable paths or very erratic ones. It all depends on several factors that can steer them. For Hurricane Helene, there were two high pressure systems, one on each side, that gave very high certainty about the path the storm would take. It was very clear that the storm would be going to the panhandle of Florida and then up into the southeastern US. All of the weathermen were in unanimous agreement on this and were very transparent about what was steering the hurricane.
So for those in the Tampa Bay area, the weathermen were adamant that we would not see much in wind damage, but they were very clear that coastal areas were going to be hit very hard from flood waters. They clearly and emphatically told people on the coast to prepare and then evacuate. They were calm, measured and had the appropriate level of warning in their broadcasts.
What came next was an onslaught of people who lived inland who were really and truly upset that the hurricane was not coming towards them. On social media the weather guys were getting berated and called all kinds of names because they were not being overly dramatic and predicting impending doom for inland areas of Florida. They were arguing with every post or response the guys made. These people were telling them they didn’t know what they were talking about and that we were somehow “due” for a hurricane to hit the Bay area. For a long while, the weathermen responded with calm and measured tones for everyone to calm down. They were very confident the storm would hit the panhandle area.
Eventually it got so bad that the weathermen started being much more blunt and forceful in responding to these people, and rightfully so. One guy was arguing so much with one meteorologist that the meteorologist asked him why he was watching him if he thought he was lying. Another woman asked if there would be flooding in Lakeland, Florida. (Lakeland is about 40 miles from the coast.) It got so bad that they were even saying in their broadcasts to knock it off. The storm was NOT going to come to our area, but instead it was going to hit the panhandle.
These people would not accept the truth. They were DESPERATE for the weathermen to tell them the storm could be heading their way. Now what would cause someone to respond like this when you are told that a storm would not be coming towards you? Who does that?!?
Well the reason these people were arguing so much is because they were upset that they couldn’t get attention for themselves on social media. They were ANGRY that they were not going to be victims. They wanted to post about themselves and have everyone pay attention to them. They wanted victim status so they could post about it for online clout. They were actively rooting for calamity just so they could get attention. It was just gross.
We live in an unserious age when most people are perpetually bored despite having the world at our fingertips. Entertainment of every kind is within easy reach, yet we are living lives of quiet desperation. The reason for this is that our society has turned away from God and has no purpose to their lives. What intensifies this lack of purpose is our social media culture. People everywhere are suffering from Main Character Syndrome.
Main Character Syndrome is when someone views all of life like a TV or movie. They believe they are the main character in the “story” and everyone else is just supporting cast. This has exploded with social media because everyone can post every single thing about themselves online for clicks and likes. Those participating in Main Character Syndrome view everyone around them as props that can be used for their own goals, rather than individuals with lives of their own.
Entertainment and recreation are peripheral things. We need these things from time to time as an accessory to a life of purpose. But they are NOT the purpose of our lives. Mankind needs purpose and we don’t have any. That’s why are always listless and continually run from one dopamine hit to the next.
Man’s purpose, as the Baltimore Catechism so succinctly stated, is to know, love and serve God so that we may find happiness with Him in Heaven. Everything else is secondary to this. If you succeed in every other goal you have, but fail in this, your life is a failure. And if you fail in every other goal you have in life, but succeed in this, your life is ultimately a success. Mankind today has rejected God and in so doing, we have rejected the entire purpose of our lives.
These people are desperate for true meaning in their lives. But rather than turn towards God and our actual purpose, these people were looking for attention and prestige. They were running to the grocery store to buy up every case of water, and panicking if the water was out of stock. While panicking, and no doubt posting about it online, they were ignoring entire aisles of sports drinks, juices, sodas and other beverages. You don’t need to survive a month in a desert. You just need to survive until the grocery stores are open again. Basically any beverages that can be at room temperature are fine.
What’s ironic in all of this is that these people are searching for meaning in their lives, and finding none. Because perpetual dopamine hits are not a purpose. What they end up with is perpetual boredom. What comes when you are perpetually bored is wishing you were part of a disaster, just so you could get some attention. You get angry that the hurricane didn’t come your way. You get upset at the weathermen for giving you good news.
Our culture values victimhood more than anything, so people today relish the opportunity to be victims. They are now hoping for a natural disaster to come for them so they can show off their victimhood status to everyone on social media. This isn’t hyperbole or a joke. People were hoping for calamity to happen to them so that others could pay attention to them.